AURORA, COThe Arabian Jockey Club (AJC) is excited to be a part of the Heritage Arabian Racing Club (HARC), a new worldwide racing association aimed at growing a solid base of Arabian racing bloodlines and participation at the grass roots level.

The attached press release from HARC explains the origins of the idea and formation of the club. The AJC stands ready to assist in any way possible to aid in the breeding and participation of the Arabian racehorse.

ABU DHABI, UAE – For people with a passion for racing and the purebred Arab horse, a very exciting event took place in Abu Dhabi on 28th February 2015, when a vision of His Highness Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was realized. At his invitation, twenty-one like-minded people from eleven different countries all with a common belief in the purebred Arabian came together and agreed to form the Heritage Arabian Racing Club (HARC).

The purpose of this Club is to support and promote racing for those who wish to preserve the purebred Arabian of traditional type and bloodlines, and to ensure the long-term future of Arab horse characteristics, in the broadest terms, with the hallmarks of beauty, athletic ability, soundness and versatility.

It is recognized that recently, enormous strides have been made in Arabian racing through the concentrated use of certain highly selected and, at times, controversial bloodlines. The result has been a significantly improved racehorse that bears little resemblance to the original purebred, either in looks or in racing style and speed. For many Arab horse lovers, this horse is no longer recognizable as Arabian, and enthusiasts who valued the beautiful all-around athlete have left the sport and the breed. We wish to welcome them back.

We believe there must be room for all to enjoy racing their Arabians. We have taken the success of The Pyramid Society as our model, and we are making a Club on similar lines, open to people with our concerns, that, without apology, is openly protective of the lines we care about. We hope that by providing a support forum for breeders and offering HARC race sponsorships, we will not only encourage owners and breeders of ‘Heritage’ Arabians to join the grassroots of our sport and broaden the base of Arabian racing worldwide, but we will also help to preserve valuable bloodlines which can continue the heritage of their ancestors.

The founding member countries of HARC are: Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Morocco, Poland, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States of America. A Steering Committee has been formed to finalize a constitution and the definition of a HARC racehorse. This work should be completed over the next few months. Meanwhile the Committee is looking at ways to immediately begin to promote the Club and its activities.

The Steering Committee consists of Mr. Anthony Mountney (Australia) Mr. Almir Ribeiro (Brazil) Mr. Ahmed Abdelrazik (Egypt) Ms. Deirdre Hyde (UAE) Mrs. Kathy Smoke (USA). A website will be up and running shortly. In the meantime, enquiries can be sent to heritageracingclub@gmail.com.

We thank His Highness Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his generosity, and we salute him for his initiative and for leading the way forward.

A printable version of the press release is available: HARC Formation Announced