Pamela file photo
14 January, Muscat, Oman ~ Oman’s lady jockey Azhar Al Wardi will be looking to make the best of home conditions in the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship (IFAHR) race at the Al Rahba Racecourse in Muscat on 15 January, 2016.
Al Wardi, one of the better-known flat-race jockeys from the Gulf region, is a previous winner of the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship (IFAHR) race when it was held in Toulouse in 2014. In this contest, Al Wardi faces two professional jockeys in the pack of ten who chase a major slice of the €30,000 on offer. The first is Australian Jamie Kay, who rides DC Royale Tigre and has a Group 3 win under her belt in her career record of 309 wins.South Korean Ahn Hyoree is the second professional lady jockey with 51 winners and on Friday will be on Munzade.
The Omani has 13 wins from 79 starts and will be on Dartanyan CS in Friday’s 1600-metre contest which is part of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival. This is the first race of the 2016 Festival and also the first in this year’s Ladies World Championship series in which the winner of every leg will battle it out in the finale in November, 2016, for the title of HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship (IFAHR) Champion.
Great Britain’s Alyson Deniel, a winner of the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship (IFAHR) race in 2014 in Australia will be on AF Al Zakhra and will join the top three in the battle for supremacy.
The others in the fray and their horses are:
- Denmark’s Linda Bro Olsen on Voyou du Pouy
- France’s Melanie Plat on Ghazi
- Germany’s Eva Herresthal on Altyko du Cayrou
- Hungary’s Rebecca Gonczi on Al Minari
- Ireland’s Jeannie Cook on Ugo Des Vialettes
- Sweden’s Jhannah Stolt on Graffiti BVF
“We are looking forward to another new year of activities and as usual we start in Oman. The HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship (IFAHR) series is the richest-ever race for lady jockeys and over the years has grown in stature,” said Ms Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, Chairperson of the International Federation of Horse Racing Academies (IFHRA) and Chairperson of Ladies & Apprentice Racing Committees in the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR).
The HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival is sustained by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority and coordinated by Abu Dhabi Sports Council, with National Feed and Flour Production and Marketing Co. LLC as associate sponsors, in cooperation with Emirates Racing Authority, IFAHR, Emirates Arabian Horse Society, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare with The National Archives as the official partner and Emirates airline as the official carriers and sponsored by Bloom, Petromal, Rise General Trading Co. LLC, Hayatna, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), Al Awani General Enterprises, Kabale, Al Wathba Centre, the UAE’s General Women’s Union, The Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Sports Academy, Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition 2016, Dr. Nader Saab Switzerland, Al Wathba Center, Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club, Eastern Mangroves Suites-Abu Dhabi by Jannah, Yas Channel, Omeir Travels, Racing Post, Paris Turf and Laboratories Fadia Karam Cosmetics.
~ end supplied release