Racing clubs in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain will schedule talks in the coming months to discuss close coordination regarding equine quarantine and ease of travel, race scheduling and exchange of knowledge and information among owners and breeders in the three countries.
“We decided as a group that it was time to focus on ways to open up our racing to each other”
The talks between racing leaders in the three Gulf states seek to promote a more coordinated approach to the sport in the region, which will benefit all parties and eventually expand to include other countries in the wider GCC region. Prominent players in the international racing landscape, the three countries organize events that are major draws in the global equestrian calendar.
The three countries organize events that are major draws in the global equestrian calendar
The initial set of talks will take place between the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, the UAE’s Dubai Racing Club, and Bahrain’s Rashid Equestrian & Horse Racing Club.
Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al Faisal, Chairman of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, said: “With an increasingly attractive racing offering already taking place across the region, we decided as a group that it was time to focus on ways to open up our racing to each other while simultaneously making it more attractive for internationals to come here, facilitating the progression of racing standards across the entire region.
“We are in the preliminary stages of these talks which will initially take place between Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, but we are laying the foundations for a Gulf-wide cooperation that will benefit all of us and, we hope, the racing world at large, offering summer and winter racing in the Middle East.”