HH Sheikh Mansoor Festival Director Lara Sawaya (pictured above centre) announced the impressive schedule of events planned for 2016 at a press conference in Muscat, Oman earlier this month which is set to top 100 activities in over 81 countries throughout the course of the year.

Racing at Al Rahba Racecourse, Oman saw Swedish jockey Josefin Landgren claim victory in the first of the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship (IFAHR) races on Friday, January 15 – marking the beginning of 2016’s global racing programme which will see Arabian racing promoted on a scale like never before.

The second leg of the Ladies World Championship took place in Australia on Tuesday, 26 January with Dutch jockey Cindy Klinkenberg wining by a nose at Caulfield ahead of Korea’s Mina You. Both Landgren and Klinkenberg now qualify for the Championship Finals which will take place in Abu Dhabi in November.