Abu Dhabi: The International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing (IFAHR) has announced a partnership with the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival to stage a series of races for lady amateur jockeys and has also appointed Lara Sawaya as Director of Ladies racing.

After an IFAHR meeting on Sunday in Paris, which was attended by 38 delegates, IFAHR placed on record its appreciation of the efforts by the Shaikh Mansour Festival to Arabian racing.

IFAHR and the Shaikh Mansour Festival have agreed that the Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies IFAHR Cup will now be held under the umbrella of IFAHR.

IFAHR also appointed Lara Sawaya, the director of the Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival, as the Director of Ladies Racing in IFAHR.

The Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies IFAHR Cup will stage nine races in nine different countries in 2012 with support from the UAE General Women’s Union which is headed by Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak.

Accepting the appointment by IFAHR, Sawaya thanked Shaikha Fatima and Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, for their continuous support for lady jockeys.

“Before next year’s race series, we will be staging the Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies IFAHR Cup race in Abu Dhabi on October 30 this year. We invite amateur jockeys from around the world to take part in the event. We have witnessed lady jockeys from the UAE and other Arab countries take part in the first-ever Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak race held in The Netherlands earlier this year,” Sawaya said.

“We thank Her Highness Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak for her support to all women activities and particularly in equestrian events,” Sawaya added.

Smart win

On Sunday, just after Danedream won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for thoroughbreds, Julian Smart, formerly based here in Abu Dhabi, scored a brilliant 1-2-3 in the Qatar Arabian World Cup at the Longchamp race course in Paris.

Smart, who won the Kahayla Classic with Jaafer in 2010 on Dubai World Cup night for his Qatar connections, saw Areej, Aziz ASF and Jaafer ASF finish in that order.

The race, which carried a prize fund of €500,000 (Dh2.456 million) is the richest race for Arabian horses and was once again dominated by Qatari horses with the 4th and 5th places also going Umm Qarn’s Al Tair and Raqiyah.