Stylish start to the season as Newbury greets Dubai Duty Free
The UAE team are poised to shine on the mats, aiming for gold medals in this sport where they hold regional and global prominence
DUBAI: Dubai Duty Free’s 2024 European horseracing sponsorship porfolio gets underway in style this week when Newbury Racecourse, UK hosts the Dubai Duty Free Spring Trials Weekend beginning on Friday, 19 April.
A recognised early season target for many of the sport’s leading stables, the two-day fixture features established trials for the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas in Saturday’s Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham Stakes and the Dubai Duty Free Stakes which both share Group 2 status.
The seven furlongs fillies’ trial has atracted 11 entries with among them Elmalka who looks set to make her Turf debut for Newmarket trainer Roger Varian in the colours of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who beat off eight rivals to win a seven furlongs fillies’ Novices’ stakes on her sole start on the all-weather at Southwell last November.
The Dubai Duty Free Stakes is one of seven races supported by title sponsor Dubai Duty Free at the fixture which was widely acknowledged as a favourite of the late Queen Elizabath II.
Colm Mcloughlin, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Duty Free said, “We are very proud of our long association with Newbury Racecourse and with British horseracing which extends back to 1996. During that time we have witnessed many changes at Newbury including the construction of the Dubai Duty Free Grandstand, but the quality of the racing has remained a constant.”
Aside from a competitive programme of races, racegoers will be able to enjoy a host of activities including the opportunity to sample Arabian hospitality in the Dubai Duty Free Marquee where there will also be the chance to win fabulous prizes including free entry into Dubai Duty Free’s Finest Surprise and Millenium Millionaire prize draws each day. The fixture gets underway with the Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup EBF Maiden Stakes which is scheduled to be run at 13.42 (BST) on Friday, 19 April.
Last week, Tribalist made the perfect return to action last Monday as he readily took the G3 Prix Edmond Blanc for a second successive year, enhancing his superb record at Saint-cloud in the process. The five-year-old stretched his record to six wins from nine appearances at the Paris track, with his other successes including defeating this season’s G1 Dubai Turf scorer Facteur Cheval in the G2 Prix du Muguet in May. A top-level victory remains high on the agenda for the son of Farhh this year and he could head to the G1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury next month, a race his sire won in commanding fashion in 2013.