Meydan to open Jan 28 but construction ongoing

Meydan, the new Dubai racecourse, will have a soft opening on January 28 and all construction work will be finished by World Cup night on March 27, a senior official has confirmed.

Dubai Racing Club chief executive Frank Gabriel said construction work would still be ongoing in some areas when the new mega project opens for the first race in January.

"We will have open on the first night what we need to have open," said Gabriel in comments published by the UK's Racing Post.

"There will be areas of the grandstands that are not required on January 28, but then we have two months to make sure that all the facilities are in place for Saturday March 27," he told the specialist racing magazine.

He said work continued around the clock on the kilometre-long facility, adding: "There will be no specific handover date, because we're working closer with the master planners all the time, but I can assure people who are thinking of booking for the World Cup that we will be ready."

In light of the construction programme, the carnival will take in nine race nights, one fewer than in previous years, Gabriel added.

With the Nad Al Sheba racecourse now part of the construction site, the 2009-10 UAE season, which starts on Friday November 6, is being shared among Abu Dhabi, Jebel Ali and the newly reopened Sharjah track, the magazine reported.