Making Meydan

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DRC CEO Frank Gabriel Jr.

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Current site of the Dubai Racing Club.

Dubai Racing Club CEO Frank Gabriel Jr is working fast to lead the Meydan project towards its 2010 finish line.

Dubai Racing Club (DRC) CEO Frank Gabriel Jr took up his position on the fateful day of September 11, 2005, following 15 years as executive vice president of racing & operations at Arlington Park in Chicago, US.

Three months later, at the direction of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, DRC launched a review of the future of thoroughbred racing in Dubai, signaling the beginning of a major project for the club, the emirate and Gabriel himself.

Within two months, masterplanner TAK had developed a plan for a new horse racing venue. That June it was presented to VIPs and by March 2007, following several months of travelling, research and detailed design, the masterplan for a 76 million ft² iconic horse racing city called Meydan - close to the site of the existing Nad Al Sheba Racecourse - was revealed to the public.

"Within eight months we turned it round to a fully fledged project," says Gabriel, who is also on the Meydan Management Board and the Dubai World Cup Committee and has been involved in the sport of thoroughbred racing for 35 years.

"The name Meydan signifies a place where people congregate and compete and that was chosen by His Highness; it's a wonderful name for the competition that we deal with in thoroughbred racing and also reflects the fact that we want people to be able to come on a non-race day," he says.

Unlike some of the major developments in the region, Meydan has not lost the momentum it started with. The immoveable deadline of the 2010 Dubai World Cup (DWC) - which Gabriel says they will never sway from - means the project is continuing to move along at quite a pace.

"To do this you need a lot of hard working people and great co-operation amongst the municipalities, the RTA, DEWA and so on," says Gabriel.

"We're fortunate enough to have great support from all of them and we're doing our work to present things to them so that they can make the right decisions -and decisions that can be made quickly because our obstacle is time. We need to push forward with every question, coming up with a quick answer going forward," he explains.

Although Gabriel says horse racing is the number one priority at Meydan, it is very much a mixed-use development.

Connected to the Meydan Grandstand will be a 271-room, five-star hotel The Meydan, which will be managed by Banyan Tree, a museum and a gallery, plus the DRC office. At the end of the Grandstand will be a marina with three restaurants.

There will also be a nine-hole championship golf course, and Banyan Tree Meydan comprising 70 pool villas.

Meydan will also feature a residential development Meydan City- complete with a canal system linking it to Meydan Racecourse - and Meydan Business Park.

The mixed-use aspect is mutually beneficial to the leisure facilities and the hotel/residential offer, as well as offering a financial arm to the development, says Gabriel.

"I think it's a partnership that goes back and forth," he says.

Of the specific facilities, Gabriel adds that there is nowhere in the world quite like Meydan, where you can come to the races by canal and then eat at a five-star restaurant on a marina, for example.

"What we're also going to do is have a tram system that will go from the Grandstand to Meydan City and from there to the Business Park so that we can actually have more interaction of our people at Meydan City. They can take the tram in, come to the racecourse and enjoy dinner one night, just to make it easy," he explains.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Meydan
Posted by The Consultant, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Tuesday 22 April 2008 at 16:56 UAE time

Andrea, I'm not sure why you are surprised - remember that Frank Gabriel is CEO of Dubai Racing Club, the people that brought you the Dubai World Cup 2008 and then tried to blame "protocol" for their inability to work out how long it would take to process all the attendees through just two security gates.

I'm also interested in the definition of a "championship" 9 hole course - I can't imagine they will get a very important tournament played on a nine hole course unless they throw an obscene amount of money at it...

making meydan
Posted by andrea kayruz, dubai, uae on Tuesday 22 April 2008 at 13:45 UAE time


Mr. Frank Gabriel said in the article regarding the Meydan project that"None of the horses or stables will be afected by the development" "Infact, the only operation to be affected so far is the Nad Al Sheba Golf Club " The Equestrian Club of Nad Al Sheba is most certainly affected. It is closing in May and 200 horses have to be accommodated way over in endurance village next to Bab Al Shams. This is a very long way for those people who own horses to travel just to ride for an hour and miles from anywhere. So in fact the golf club is not, as stated, the only operation to be affected at all. Why was there no mention of this by Mr. Gabriel. A lot of people are affected, 100 liveries, until the new centre is built.

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