http://blog.dubairacingclub.com/
Programme released for 2009 DIRC
The Dubai Racing Club has released the programme for the 2009 Dubai International Racing Carnival introducing two new divisions of races to further strengthen its global appeal.
The US$175,000 Listed DRC Gold Cup over 3,200m on the turf rejoins the racing calendar on Thursday, February 26 at Nad Al Sheba while the inaugural US$150,000 Meydan Classic, a turf race for three-year-olds, will be added to the Super Thursday programme on March 6.
Lead-up races have also been written to complement the new events.
In addition to the new races, five races have been upgraded in status and given an increase in prize-money. They are;
• Dubai City of Gold now Group 2 and increased to US$250,000
• Cape Verdi now Group 3 and increased to US$200,000
• Balanchine now Group 3 and increased to US$200,000
• Al Quoz Sprint now Group 3 and increased to US$200,000
• Zabeel Mile now Group 3 and increased to US$200,000
The Listed Al Bastakiya has also had a prize-money increase to US$250,000.
“The core base of the Carnival, the rated handicaps, remain as they have been what the Carnival has built its success on and the new races give us the chance to continue to improve and provide more opportunities to owners and trainers who may have horses that could have been unsuited in the past,” said Martin Talty, Dubai Racing Club’s International Department Manager.
“The strength of the Carnival is in those that come to compete and on that evidence it is clear that the Carnival has been a success. The upgrade of four of races to Group 3 and the rise of the Dubai City of Gold to Group 2 merely emphasizes the quality of horses that now come to Dubai in the first quarter of the year. ”
“2008 was the strongest we have seen, Honour Devil, Jay Peg, Sun Classique and Curlin all had a Carnival campaign before going on to Dubai World Cup success while Archipenko also proved himself at Group 1 level internationally but we have to look to improve on that.”
“The structure of the Carnival has shown itself to work and the new races we have introduced merely add to the growth we have in mind. They give us two new divisions of races and we now have races for all types of horses from three-year-olds and upwards.”
The Dubai International Racing Carnival begins at Nad Al Sheba racecourse on January 15 and culminates with the Dubai World Cup meeting on March 28 with prize-money totalling in excess of US$30,500,000.