Dubai-Owned Horses Dominated Royal Ascot This Year

The prestigious horse racing event at Royal Ascot in England has been a huge success so far for Dubai’s biggest horse owners. As things stand, 2020 looks like it was the best year to date for Middle East horses in this series of high-profile races.

All About Royal Ascot

Royal Ascot is regarded as being one of the planet’s finest horse race meetings. It is held at Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire and its history goes back to 1911 and it is one of the highlights of the British racing calendar.

Of course, this year’s meeting has a special significance, as British horse racing has just started up again following the Covid-19 lockdown. However, the races are being run behind closed doors instead of in front of 70,000 spectators, with even the Royal Family unable to take up their usual positions in the grandstand.     

Normally, around 300,000 horse racing enthusiasts turn out to watch Royal Ascot Week. Among the most eagerly awaited parts of the event are Ladies Day, the Gold Cup, and the Golden Jubilee Stakes.

What Has Happened This Year?

One of the big talking points this year has been the massive success achieved by horses that are owned in Dubai. Over the first couple of days of racing, the Al Maktoum family took control of Royal Ascot, winning more than half of the races in this time.

The first day of action in Berkshire saw Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance and the owner of the Godolphin group which is a global force in horse racing these days, get three victories. The second day saw his Hukum horse win the King George V Stakes with the help of a great ride by jockey Jim Crowley.

Another victory for Middle East owners came courtesy of Lord North. This horse was ridden by James Doyle as he romped home in first place in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, which is the outstanding race of the second day. This horse is part of the Sheikh Zayed Bin Mohammad Racing stables.

Before Ascot, Doyle had also ridden Abdulla Belhab’s Century Dream to victory in the Group 3 Diomed Stakes at Newbury. This 1,400 metre race is typically held in the Epsom Derby festival but was carried out just a few days before Royal Ascot this year.

A further series of Dubai wins at Royal Ascot established this as being the year for horses from the Middle East. For example, another winner for the Godolphin stables was provided by William Buick, who expertly ran Dark Vision home in first place in the Royal Hunt Cup.

What Comes Next

At the time of writing, there are still some huge races to come at Royal Ascot. Hopes are high that the horses from Dubai will continue to rack up more wins along the way.

After this event is over, there are plenty of other horse racing meetings to look forward to in the rest of 2020. For, example 5 September will see the Kentucky Derby take place, having been pushed back from the start of May due to the pandemic.         

It is worth keeping an eye to see whether any horses from the Middle East emerge as being among the favourites as Kentucky Derby winners. Check out the list of winners here: https://www.twinspires.com/kentuckyderby/winners

Following this hugely popular event, the Dubai racing calendar at Meydan Grandstand will start up again at the start of October.

The Beirut Hippodrome in Lebanon is now operating again, although the races there are being carried out behind closed doors for the time being.