LONDON: The director general and secretary of the Saudi Arabian Equestrian Club has said he wants to establish the King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh as a major venue for high-class international racing.
Last month the General Sports Authority announced that the King Abdulaziz Horse Championship would rival the world’s great races by eclipsing the $16 million Pegasus World Cup that is staged at Gulfstream Park in Florida, America in January.
A date for the contest has yet to be given, but when asked whether the proposed race would offer the world’s richest purse, Saleh bin Ali Al-Hammadi said: “That is what we hope, Inshallah.
“I don’t want to talk about it, I want people to see it. As a live event that takes place here. We want the best horses on this planet earth to come and participate on the soil of Saudi Arabia, which we call the ‘Cradle of Horses’.”
Al-Hammadi also said, in a video published on social media: “It’s not a secret when I say there is a huge plan to make this track an international track for international participation. The plan is to have the biggest racing and prize money.”
The race is designed to help Saudi Arabia burnish its credentials as a key player in world horseracing, and to try to share its historic and cultural legacy of equestrianism.
According to a recent report, there are 28,000 horses in the Kingdom and more than 3,000 Arabian horses were bred in 14 studs in 2016.
Last week it was announced that the Riyadh-based Equestrian Club has undergone a management reshuffle, with Al-Hammadi now holding the positions of director general and secretary.
Prince Bandar Bin Khalid Al-Faisal has been appointed chairman, while Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal and Prince Abdullah Bin Khalid Bin Sultan are appointed members of the board, according to a royal decree.
The Equestrian Club, which was established in 1965, organizes races in Riyadh and Taif with the participation of Arabian horses.
The staging of the $17 million King Abdulaziz Horse Championship will top the lot, though, and continue the power struggle at the apex of world horse racing regarding prize money.
Dubai’s World Cup meeting has long been top dog with a purse of $10 million, but it was upstaged in 2017 when Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Arrogate won the inaugural $12 million Pegasus World Cup.
Following Arrogate’s subsequent victory in the World Cup at Meydan Racecourse two months later Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, prime minister of the UAE the ruler of Dubai, said that he had hoped to make the race he inaugurated in 1996 once again the world’s biggest payday. An announcement has not been forthcoming ahead of the World Cup meeting on March 31.
A month later it was announced that prize money for the Pegasus World Cup would be increased to $16 million.
'We want the best horses on the planet to race here,' says Saudi Arabia horse racing chief
'We want the best horses on the planet to race here,' says Saudi Arabia horse racing chief
Liverpool’s Slot says football must do more after Vinicius racism allegation
- The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend but fellow defender Joe Gomez is ready to start if needed
Liverpool manager Arne Slot says more needs to be done to avoid racism in football following allegations by Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr that he was subjected to racist abuse from Benfica’s Argentine winger Gianluca Prestianni.
Real’s 1-0 Champions League playoff first-leg win at Benfica on Tuesday was overshadowed by Vinicius accusing Prestianni of directing a racist slur at him, a charge denied by the Portuguese club, the player and their manager Jose Mourinho.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA said it was reviewing the incident, which led to the game being halted for 11 minutes under FIFA’s anti-racism protocol.
“In general you can never do enough, you can always do more to make sure this (racism in football) never happens again,” Slot told reporters ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League visit to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“We have to try as a football community to do more than society does. That’s maybe not so difficult, by the way. Protocol was followed in the game, that’s the first step,” he said on Thursday.
“I would hope my players would act in a similar way — immediately address it, and the referee acts in a similar way.”
Regarding the Forest game, Slot expects a different set-up under the Midlands club’s new manager Vitor Pereira compared to the meeting in November when Liverpool lost 3-0 at Anfield.
Former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Pereira was appointed last Sunday to replace the sacked Sean Dyche.
“We only have tonight (Thursday) to see if this new manager changes personnel,” Slot said, referring to Forest’s first game under Pereira at Fenerbahce in a Europa League playoff tie.
“The good thing is they have that game, and the manager was in the Premier League last season.”
The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend but fellow defender Joe Gomez is ready to start if needed.
Slot said his side have improved over the past few months, with Liverpool sixth in the table on 42 points from 26 games.
“We have improved compared to three, four months ago. We are in a much better place than months ago,” the 47-year-old added.
“There are more reasons, but the most simple two are how fit we are and that we’re much better at set-pieces at the moment.”
Forest are languishing in 17th spot, one place and three points above West Ham United in the relegation zone.
