DUBAI — For Faisal Al Rahmani, the prospects of making Dubai an international centre for horse auctions in the near future are very promising.
“The beginning is very strong and encouraging,” said the leading local auctioneer who has organised the first horse sale to be held concurrently with the Dubai International Arabian Horse Championship.
The event which is scheduled to close today is held over four days under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance and Industry at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
“Turning this sale into an international one is possible given the first class facilities here,” said Al Rahmani.
The ambitious UAE businessman has been in the profession for the last five years and has great determination to go ahead with his plans of attracting world-class horses to be sold and bought in Dubai.
“I have sold more than 1,000 horses in the last five years, including the top Purebred Arabian performer Kerjam who claimed the President's Cup in Danville, France, in 2004,” he said.
According to Al Rahmani, holding of the championship and the auction concurrently with the Dubai World Cup is a double-edged weapon. “As the Dubai International Racing Carnival is attracting the cream of horses to our city, it is also creating a problem with the overbooking of hotels,” he pointed out.
“But this problem is easy to tackle and we are planning to organise special offer for hotels to be reserved for the people who are planning to take part in next year’s auction.
“I have also spoken to the organisers of the championship and they have promised to provide at least 300 boxes before the closing of entries,” he said.
“We also need an early closing of the entries in order to prepare the necessary literature and plan our promotional campaign in the region and the world at large, and probably we may succeed in attracting some quality horses and buyers from the carnival,” he said.
“I understand that the market is still very small and should be strengthened with hard work. We also need to dispose of the present horses by selling them to other countries in the region before trying to organise bigger sales,” he explained.
Speaking about the outcome of the present auction, Al Rahmani said it was satisfactory.
“The organisers were happy and looked very optimistic about the future of their move,” he said.
Al Rahmani, who fell in love with horses when he was five years old, established his own farm stud in Al Khawaneej in 1997 and presently has 120 horses. “I’m doing very well and hopefully everything will go according to plan,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Saudi horse continued strong performance in the ongoing International Arabian Horse Championship. Lana Al Khalidiah claimed the Class 3A Fillies (three-year-old) for owner and breeder Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz.
The impressive bay filly by Aja Sangali and The Evening Star claimed the full mark in the type, 19 marks for the head and neck, 19 marks for the body and topline, 19 for movements and 16 points for the legs taking her total marks to 365 to finish joint leader with stable-companion Magora.
Al Hojas took third position for Ajman Stud, followed by Jamilla Al Zobair for Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Bint Al Shamal for the Stables of the Saudi monarch King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and his sons and behind them came Dorar for the Royal Cavalry.
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