The Rashed Equestrian and Horseracing Club (REHC), announced the opening of their new fibretrack training surface. The upgrade of the training surface at REHC’s training facility, which is located at the racecourse, will cater to all domestic and international racehorses trained in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The training track is 2100 metres round and 11 metres wide, allowing several horses to work together at one time. The new surface, developed by Martin Collins Enterprises, world leaders in providing equine surfaces, have overseen the installation from start to finish. The surface consists of silica sand and CLOPF fibre.
Commenting on the Club’s latest investment, Shaikh Salman bin Rashed Al Khalifa, Executive Director at REHC, said: “The recent upgrade to the REHC training surface is part of a series of planned enhancements to elevate the Club’s infrastructure and facilities as a premier horseracing destination, and build capability and capacity to host world-class races. With the upcoming horseracing season soon to kick off in October and an esteemed line-up of local and international racing events added to our calendar, we look forward to showcasing our new training capability to a wide audience from Bahrain and beyond”.
Neil Mackenzie Ross, Clerk of the Course at the REHCsaid: “The old sand has been completely removed, drainage installed and a new cambered base layer constructed. The sand and fibre have been mixed to provide the new training surface, following considerable research on what the best surface for our climate would be. We have been working alongside Martin Collins Enterprises, who have designed and built numerous training tracks all over the world and we felt they were best positioned internationally to assist us. I am very pleased with the outcome and I am sure that the new surface will be equally enjoyed by our local horse population as well as our international participants in the coming months”.
The Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club are looking forward to the 2022/23 season and have recently announced a 20% prize money rise for The Bahrain International Trophy and The Bahrain Turf Series. The total prize money for the Group 3 Bahrain International Trophy has gone up to £600,000, an £100,000 increase from last year. Meanwhile, each of the ten Bahrain Turf Series races will now be run for £60,000 per race, up from £50,000 last season.
The Bahrain International Trophy takes place this year on Friday 18th November 2022 and was first run in 2019 as a conditions race. Last year it was upgraded to Group 3 status for the first-time with Lord Glitters narrowly beating Barney Roy in a pulsating finish to the 1m 2f contest. The race has been supported by some of the world’s leading trainers including John & Thady Gosden, Andrew Balding, Aidan O’Brien and Andre Fabre. The second season of the 10-race Bahrain Turf Series, starts again on 9th December and will take place over five race days with the final series race day on 17th February.