After a few years in the wilderness, Dubai International Arabian race day again has a date set in stone to act as the regular European showcase of the sport.
Sunday’s £158,000 (Dh903,000) card at Newbury Racecourse will be the first of three Dubai International Arabian race days to be staged at the track outside of London on the fourth Sunday in July.
Over the past four years the eight-race Purebred Arabian card that is still the only event to feature three Purebred Arabian Group 1s and a Group 2 has been blighted by a consistent change of dates.
The lack of a stable date in the calendar had a detrimental effect on the attendance, leading organisers to resort to staging the races in the early evening a few years ago.
Sunday will be the first weekend of the local school holidays and a bumper crowd is expected to take advantage of the free entry scheme made possible by the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid.
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With the usual menu of free giveaways that includes a holiday to Dubai, a car, watches and jewellery it is hoped that about 10,000 will flock to the Berkshire racecourse, although at this stage only 600 people have pre-registered.
“We are looking forward to welcoming the Arabian racing community to Newbury on Sunday and we are hopeful there will be a strong local crowd,” Julian Thick, CEO of Newbury, said yesterday.
“The event has moved around in the calendar but now that it has returned to its traditional successful slot we are looking forward to building on the excitement the fixture generates in the local area as a family event that is not to be missed.”
Across the eight races 13 individual Group 1 winners have been entered, including Julian Smart’s Djainka Des Forges.
Last season’s joint-highest rated Arabian has been supplemented but has a choice of races between the Group 1 Hatta International Stakes, which the mare won last year under Harry Bentley, and the Group 1 Dubai International Stakes.
Both are staged over 2,000 metres. Djainka Des Forges showed she was out of the top drawer when she became a third winner in succession for Smart in the Qatar Arabian World Cup at Longchamp in October.
Should the six year old run in the Dubai International Stakes, a clash with defending champion Al Hibaab, owned by the Minister of Finance, will be in store.
Djainka Des Forges boasts a rating of 118, while Al Hibaab and Djet Touy, who was second last year, are in behind with another of Smart’s runners Al Majh’hoor on 117.
Last year, 19 were entered for the Dubai International Stakes but Al Hibaab only had to beat three others after the declarations. This year there is a real belief that the 22 entries for the feature race can be converted into a decent-sized field.
There are unlikely to be any defections because of the going.
“We are currently watering the track but I think it will be a mixture of good, good to firm,” clerk of the course Richard Osgood said.
“There is a bit of low pressure set for Friday, but Sunday is set for fine weather.”
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