World Arabian Conference debates key issues

Key points came to the fore during the session that focussed on Marketing, Future and Innovation during the final day of the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival’s Fourth World Arabian Horse Racing Conference at the Centre de Congrès Pierre Baudis in Toulouse, France on Saturday, June 8

HE Asim Mirza Al Rahma, the UAE Ambassador to the Republic of Poland ; HE Abdul Rahman Ghanim Al Mutaiwee, UAE Ambassador to the United Kingdom; HE Mohammed Ahmed Mahmood, the former  UAE Ambassador to Germany;  HE Sulaiman Hamed Al Mazroui , UAE's Ambassador to Belgium and HE Saqr Nasser Ahmed Al Raisi, UAE’s Ambassador to Portugal attended Friday’s sessions.

On Saturday, the need to take the heroes of Purebred Arabian racing and present and market them to the outside world and the need to ensure children and youth got acquainted with horses at an early stage were a couple of the points highlighted in a lively session moderated by the UAE’s Saeed Mubarak Al Hajiri.

Boutrous Boutrous from Lebanon and from Emirates airlines said that though Purebred Arabian racing had made a huge impact over the recent years it still had a long way to go. “You need to identify the stars and then promote them and market them. Horses can’t talk unlike other sports personalities so the organisers will have to take these heroes to wider audiences,” he said.

Stephen Bowey of Invest AD said, “Our sponsorship of the Festival is very good as it has grown very fast and it has a very passionate following. This Festival has a vision and it not only works at the top level but also at the grassroots level.”

“For Arabian racing to be global it must be operate like a global business, it has to be really integrated. Proper communication, integration and co-ordination are needed and I feel there is still some way to go as far as uniformity of rules and regulations governing the sport are concerned,” Bowey remarked.

The UAE’s Sheikh Hamed bin Khadem bin Butti Al Hamed said, “I don’t deny the importance of marketing as a vital tool in the whole process, but I don’t agree that Arabian racing has not produced true champions; they have and they deserve respect.”

“Before 15 years, we didn’t have more than 60 UAE-bred Arabian horses but last year we had 668 UAE-bred horses duly registered in WAHO, which does reflect the success of the sport in the UAE,” he added.

Touching on the success of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Festival, Ms Lara Sawaya, Director of HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival and Head of International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR) Ladies Racing said goals had to be first set and then all hurdles on the way should be negotiated.

“We started with four races and three sponsors, today we are staging 73 races this year and the number of sponsors have also  increased. There will be difficulties but we have to overcome them,” she said.

Commenting on further growth, she said at Friday’s session, “We have Bahrain and Portugal as the next countries where the Festival could make its debut. I am very lucky to have the full support of His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, Supreme President of the Family Development Foundation (FDF) and Head of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood.”

She also urged all officials to co-ordinate their efforts and consolidate on the great platform that the Festival had provided for the sport of Arabian racing.

In Friday’s session, Yasir Mabrouk highlighted the challenges that new jockeys from the region faced and hailed Ahmed Ajtebi for the way he evolved in to a successful flat race jockey.

In the Women In Racing session, Jaci Wickham said she has never faced any hurdle being a women trainer in the UAE over the past 23 years while Bahrain’s Lulwa Al Awadi urged the current crop of women involved in Arabian racing to form a group to pass on their expertise to their counterparts in the Arab and Middle East countries.

Matar Al Yabhouni said: “The government and Abu Dhabi Sports Council are keen to develop Arabian horse racing further. Next year we will have more races and Al Ain will start with about four races. We are also looking to increase the number of races in Abu Dhabi for Arabians.”

Wayne Hodes said: “We need to find consumers. Sponsors need to make revenues on investments just like what happens in other sports. We must encourage the youth and attract them to become interested in the sport to widen the base of participation and interest.”

Top French official Yves Plantin reminded everyone of the importance of the small breeders. “As a breeder, this industry would have not survived without the hard work of the small breeders and we must encourage them by opening new markets. There are many big stables emerging but the small breeders must be looked after.”

Richard Lancaster touched on another important subject. “Before speaking about the progress of the Arabian horse races and in order to keep pace with the Thoroughbreds, some problems must be addressed. The first problem is registration. There are some doubts around the registration of some bloodlines and without solving this problem it will be difficult to expand in the industry,” he remarked.