Godolphin’s grand stand

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CHANGE: Meydan commercial director Mohammad Nasser Al Khayat credits the company’s teamwork on the significant speed of the project.

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WORLD-CLASS: Meydan will be a racing facility of the highest level, says CEO Frank Gabriel.

Dubai is bidding to become the global capital of horse racing with the super fast-tracked Meydan project taking shape in the desert surrounding the famous Nad Al Sheba Racecourse - home to the world's richest horse race.

Claire Ferris-Lay reports on how the biggest event in the sport is about to get even bigger.

At night you can see the lights illuminating the sky around Dubai's Nad Al Sheba Racecourse from miles away. The work never stops on this construction project which could have the tightest timetable of any in a city where the sound of building work is never far away.

For the first time ever, this year's tickets for Dubai World Cup sold out before the event.

Some 50,000 racegoers attended the highlight of Dubai's racing calendar and the richest horse racing event in the world. In two years time, capacity for the event will swell by 20,000 and it will be housed in a new iconic stadium, Meydan Racecourse - one the largest and most ambitious projects in the UAE.

"It will be one of the most unique and iconic buildings in Dubai," says Frank Gabriel, CEO of Dubai Racing Club.

Meydan Racecourse will be the final plank in Dubai's emergence within the billion dollar industry.

A keen horseman himself, HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Prime Minister and Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, is the project's biggest supporter of propelling the city onto the international horse racing circuit, unique in this region.

He is the founder and owner of the world-famous racing stable Godolphin, established in 1994.

The success and growth of Godolphin has undoubtedly assisted with the rise of Dubai's international profile for horse racing, culminating in the world-famous Dubai World Cup, established shortly after Godolphin.

The event attracts thousands of visitors to Nad Al Sheba Racecourse and has been dubbed ‘the duel in the desert' by the international racing community. It is also the city's largest social event.

With 15 countries competing on one stage for a prize of over US$21m, Dubai World Cup is unique in thoroughbred horse racing and unique in sport, says Gabriel.

Both Godolphin stables and the Dubai World Cup have been instrumental in encouraging the horse racing community to race outside of their home turf. The result of which is that Dubai's racing season is one of the most diverse in the world. "The racing itself has put Dubai on the map," explains Gabriel.

"The first Dubai World Cup in 1996 was in a place that no one had ever heard of and where people were intimidated to visit, but it set the tone of what Dubai wanted to offer everyone.

Meydan has already netted about US$2.7bn in sales for the project that will extend across 76 million sq ft and will be the new home of Dubai Racing Club.

The development will include a 3000-seater ‘Sky Bubble' with private elevators at the top of the grandstand for unrivalled views of the racing below.

"It will be a racing facility at the highest level; a first-class operation for horsemen, in operation and in the enjoyment of the races," insists Gabriel.

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READERS' COMMENTS

MEYDAN
Posted by Desert Orchid on Monday 9 June 2008 at 09:08 UAE time


I'm surprised Frank Gabriel still has a job after the appalling fiasco, and catalogue of easily-avoided errors that was the 2008 DWC.
Racing in Dubai is fantastic, but the rules are being changed, and the unique character of the sport is changing. Godolphin dominated this year's carnival, for instance, which is hardly an advertisement for local and international owners to come here and try to battle the Sheikh's multi-billion dollar operation.
My worry is that Frank Gabriel - blinded by the bling of Meydan - will forget about the real reason for all of this - racing, and will instead build a ludicrous fairy castle in the sand, in the process destroying a perfectly good set-up.

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