In the desert, avoiding the downpour

I swapped the downpour for the desert recently, went racing at Meydan and took a tour of the training facilities nearby.

 A week in Dubai is a total contrast to the wet and windy experience of UK in early January.

A mid-morning tour of Grandstand stables, training base of Ali Rashid Al Raihe was a great opportunity to find out what goes on behind the scenes. The horses were just coming back in from working. It’s still relatively cool in Dubai at this time of year but the horses are still hosed down and some stand in buckets of ice to cool off hard working legs.

 We walked around the horses and got to know a few of the residents. For me, it was interesting to see some of the differences. Like the feeding regime includes dates and honey. Like the horses standing quietly in buckets of ice and working steadily on the treadmill with fans keeping them cool. And like the wonderful sight of a string of horses swimming lengths in the sun with the desert in the background. Watch them on video: In for a swim.

The stable tours are available on Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings from October to April. It’s such a interesting experience and you can find out more here Meydan Stable Tours

---

On Thursday, I went along to an evening race meeting at Meydan. It’s enormous. And like many of the signature buildings in Dubai, it’s hard not to be impressed with the detail. It was the second of the Dubai Carnival meetings with races on both dirt and grass. There were some impressive winner and what I particularly loved was that there was successful older horses, such as Reynaldothewizard winning at 12 years old. That’s extraordinary when most flat racing horses finish their careers at 3 years old. It certainly indicates something about the possibilities in flat racing with the right approach to training and good facilities available. I’ve a feeling I could run (faster?) if it wasn’t so cold and wet outside…

We had a great seat, a table in the Parade Ring bar with a view of all the comings and goings. Previously, on the stable tour, we had the opportunity to look around the significant facilities of Meydan. It’s imposing, and beautifully designed with lots different ways of enjoying the racing and entertaining. It was buzzing with excited racegoers as the sun went down, the lights came on and the racing began. At this point in the Dubai Carnival, it was the second meeting, so there’s endless potential. People were looking for clues – who in the end would be standing next to the winner post in the parade ring on World Cup night.

I don’t often go racing at night and it was entertaining to see so many people out enjoying themselves, including young kids who were happy to see their heroes, the jockeys.