Arabian Racing

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midi

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Does anyone know much about Arabian Racing, is it big anywhere in the world as thoroughbred racing?
Is it something thats possible to get into from doing something like the BRS course?
Just curious! as I would like to try get into working on a racing yard for a few years but still love the arabs and wondered if i was possible to combine the two!
 
I went to an Arab race meet at Exeter races a few years ago, I couldn’t believe how badly behaved all the horses were to be honest.

Sorry I could be of an help.
 
http://www.aroracing.co.uk/

Here's the link for the Arab racing website. As far as I'm aware it's run in the same vain as point to points being an amature sport (although I may be very wrong in saying that!) I know that pretty much anyone can train and ride so long as the relevent paperwork is filled out.
 
There is lots of info on the arab racing website. From memory to get your riding licence of have to get the form sighned by a trainer saying you are capable. But everything you need to know is on line. A couple of girls I worked with at racing yard did arab racing in spare time. Its no where near as big as horse racimg and nobody I know makes a living from it they do it as a hobby, its pretty easy to get a licence to train your own too. Feel free to pm me and I can forward you some contacts or if you have any more questions
 
We have a Arab racing stables near us, you see them out exercising on the common in the mornings, Arab racing is not as big as T/b racing but it is just as thrilling and competitive.
I have repaired alot of their racing saddles over the years, there's nothing to them so you'd have to be very light to ride on one safely!

Have a look at this site, might be of some interest or help to you

http://www.britishhorseracing.com/i...ut/whatwedo/point_to_point/arabian-racing.asp

Oz :)
 
I worked on a mixed yard, we had arabians, NH and started yearlings for the flat. It was enormous fun.

Our arabians were extremely well behaved, most of them were stallions and they never gave us problems, either at home, at work or on the track.

Yes it is/was easy to train your own horses, back in the late 80's, early 90's when I was involved in the game it was still very much a fun thing to do where one or two horse owners could race their own horses, often these were multi-purpose horses they would maybe do endurance and marathon races, or show etc as well.

It wasn't cheap then either, the AHS are not known as a charitable institute, back then they controlled the racing side of things no idea if they still do, so you had to be reg with them, so did your horse, and your colours, and your fees and stabling etc, etc and whatever else they thought of to screw money out of you.

To ride in a race you had to attend a course and prove that you were capable of jumping off, controlling a horse at speed, riding corners, finishes etc.

Some of the larger yards must have made an income from it, Sarah Kellaway was the name at that time, both as a trainer and a jockey, mind she had a slight advatage with facilities etc considering who she was.

My advice to OP would be to get on the Arabian Lines forum and ask the same question there they will be able to help.

Have fun :)

Here is the published list of trainers, perhaps contact a few...some of these names were riding/training when I was around !!!

http://www.aroracing.co.uk/Members_Area/find_a_trainer.html
 
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cremedemonthe said:
We have a Arab racing stables near us, you see them out exercising on the common in the mornings, Arab racing is not as big as T/b racing but it is just as thrilling and competitive.
I have repaired alot of their racing saddles over the years, there's nothing to them so you'd have to be very light to ride on one safely!

Have a look at this site, might be of some interest or help to you

http://www.britishhorseracing.com/i...ut/whatwedo/point_to_point/arabian-racing.asp

Oz :)
Click to expand...
I think I know which yard you mean, and I believe the owner is open to riders riding out with his string, whereabouts are you OP?
 
cremedemonthe said:
We have a Arab racing stables near us, you see them out exercising on the common in the mornings, Arab racing is not as big as T/b racing but it is just as thrilling and competitive.
I have repaired alot of their racing saddles over the years, there's nothing to them so you'd have to be very light to ride on one safely!
Click to expand...

Are they still there! As you know I was in Caterham in the late 80's and there was a yard around there then - same people I wonder?

Ha! Those saddles! A boyfriend of mine used to starve himself to nothingness (think about 3 boiled sggs and a lettuce leaf a day) to ride the arabs and his saddle weighed about 1lb (perhaps 2 then)... a dinky bit of neoprene with straps attached!

I used to get away with racing in a regular leather saddle and still had to carry lead :(
 
As per the links you need to contact ARO which is the main organisation for Arab Racing in this country since it was merged with the AHS. It is a lot more professional nowadays than when it was first formed and like in TB racing, heavily Arab (as in sheikh) influenced. Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum is a major major player and his horses are trained by the ex NH jockey Bill Smith. Quite a lot of the flat jockeys ride in arabian races, the top races Richard Hills fulfills his position as stable jockey to Sheikh Hamdan and rides.
The AHS have nothing to do with Arab racing now, its all controlled by ARO. If you PM me, I can give you the name of someone heavily involved who I am sure would answer your questions for you.
 
KVH said:
I think I know which yard you mean, and I believe the owner is open to riders riding out with his string, whereabouts are you OP?
Click to expand...

I'm about a mile and a half away from the stables, yes he used to let people out with his lot, they are all well behaved including the stallions, not sure if he does now as I haven't spoken to him for a while.
 
Enfys said:
Are they still there! As you know I was in Caterham in the late 80's and there was a yard around there then - same people I wonder?

Ha! Those saddles! A boyfriend of mine used to starve himself to nothingness (think about 3 boiled sggs and a lettuce leaf a day) to ride the arabs and his saddle weighed about 1lb (perhaps 2 then)... a dinky bit of neoprene with straps attached!

I used to get away with racing in a regular leather saddle and still had to carry lead :(
Click to expand...

Yes, he's still there, part of the scenery!
Yes, those straps (girth) were attached to a flimsy plastic tree via 2 thin rivets!
Oz :)
 
i know they have arab races at my local racecourse (warwick) where they do TB racing too, i assume you have to be light like a normal flat jockey and i assume its a simuler format, sorry im not of much help, im good with TB racing but not arabs!
 
wtdnh131 said:
i know they have arab races at my local racecourse (warwick) where they do TB racing too, i assume you have to be light like a normal flat jockey and i assume its a simuler format, sorry im not of much help, im good with TB racing but not arabs!
Click to expand...

I used to like Warwick track - again, I expect it has all changed now, but yonks ago arabians couldn't race until they were 4 years old and they carried 10stone (maybe more, but I know you didn't have to be light, light like the Dettoris of the flat world)
 
I used to work for one of the biggest (if not biggest) patrons of Arab racing in the UK and Dubai. The horses changed hands for similar amounts of money as TB's. Their prep was a bit different to the TB's as we broke them in at 2/3 not as yearlings. I used to do a lot of breaking of the Arabs, I'd rather do a TB than an Arab. They are funny little things but it is very competitive. Our best racing Arabs looked not so much like Arab but more like Welsh D's or very Thoroughbredy, these were the French ones. And some were huge, upto 16hh!
 
Laafet said:
I used to work for one of the biggest (if not biggest) patrons of Arab racing in the UK and Dubai. The horses changed hands for similar amounts of money as TB's. Their prep was a bit different to the TB's as we broke them in at 2/3 not as yearlings. I used to do a lot of breaking of the Arabs, I'd rather do a TB than an Arab. They are funny little things but it is very competitive. Our best racing Arabs looked not so much like Arab but more like Welsh D's or very Thoroughbredy, these were the French ones. And some were huge, upto 16hh!
Click to expand...

:D Yes to the money, the best way to make a lot of money in arab racing used to be to sell your horse to Umm Quarn or similar. I rode several horses that went that way, unfortunately none of them were mine :(

A friend of mine (on here incidentally) has a Vert Olive son that unless you knew he was French you would swear blind was a Tb. :)

The Tersk bred horses were sometimes really big, and quite plain, I remember seeing Tigre (sp) going through the ring at the sales and he was huge compared to others. On the other hand, some were much smaller, Demon was downright stunning and very araby to look at and Duma was just a tiny Tb speed machine, she can't have been much more than 14.2.
 
Thankyou for the all the replies/links.
These saddles you mention sound terrifying :p probably a bit heavy at the moment by the sounds of it.
I'm in south east kent so probably at the moment miles from anywhere, keeping hold of ARO link though.
I must admit though I wouldn't have thought UK would have much arabian racing, but does seem it's more popular/common than I first thought it would be, which is good :)
 
Umm Qarn no longer has an interest in this country, it was all sold up a few years ago and merged with their main base in Qatar.

French bred Arabs are basically TB's in disguise and these days that is what most people tend to look for in a racing Arab. At one time Russian Arabs were THE Arab to use for racing and when my Russian stallion was racing and winning on the track, that is what most of the horses were. He is Tersk bred and big, and although his head is less dished than some Arab types types, he is in no way plain. Russian Arabs were bred to race and had to prove themselves on the race track at Pyatigorsk, and Tersk used to know how to breed winners.

In all my years involved in Arabs, I have yet to see one that equals a Section D though,
 
Enfys said:
I worked on a mixed yard, we had arabians, NH and started yearlings for the flat. It was enormous fun.

Our arabians were extremely well behaved, most of them were stallions and they never gave us problems, either at home, at work or on the track.

Yes it is/was easy to train your own horses, back in the late 80's, early 90's when I was involved in the game it was still very much a fun thing to do where one or two horse owners could race their own horses, often these were multi-purpose horses they would maybe do endurance and marathon races, or show etc as well.

It wasn't cheap then either, the AHS are not known as a charitable institute, back then they controlled the racing side of things no idea if they still do, so you had to be reg with them, so did your horse, and your colours, and your fees and stabling etc, etc and whatever else they thought of to screw money out of you.

To ride in a race you had to attend a course and prove that you were capable of jumping off, controlling a horse at speed, riding corners, finishes etc.

Some of the larger yards must have made an income from it, Sarah Kellaway was the name at that time, both as a trainer and a jockey, mind she had a slight advatage with facilities etc considering who she was.

My advice to OP would be to get on the Arabian Lines forum and ask the same question there they will be able to help.

Have fun :)

Here is the published list of trainers, perhaps contact a few...some of these names were riding/training when I was around !!!

http://www.aroracing.co.uk/Members_Area/find_a_trainer.html
Click to expand...

Hi Enfys this is not directly linked,however,i am so glad you told me about training Bankara on Paignton beach.I took her and a TB ex racer to Camber sands last week,bearing in mind Bankara is too posh to step through the tiniest puddle.She exceeded my expectations,loved the sea and i will always have happy memories of her galloping through the sea,racing her TB cousin.All this at the age of 27,and she is still game for a race.Despite her time in racing she has the most exceptional temprement,both ridden and to handle.
 
What has happened to Arab racing? There were meetings all over the place at one time and it got quite big and was reported in H & H. Haven't heard of it for ages.
 
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