Monday, March 29, 2010

“Horse racing returns on April 10-11 (Douglas Dispatch)” plus 2 more

“Horse racing returns on April 10-11 (Douglas Dispatch)” plus 2 more

Horse racing returns on April 10-11 (Douglas Dispatch)

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 04:26 PM PDT

Horse racing is returning to the Cochise County Fairgrounds.

Fairgrounds Manager Karen Strongin announced last week enough state funding has been allocated this year allowing her to put on one weekend of horse racing.

Strongin said the dates she was given were April 10-11.

"We plan to have a nice variety of Thoroughbred and Quarter horse races," she said. "The track has been maintained and we're excited to be able to bring the races back to Douglas this year."

The El Moro de Cumpas trials will be held in Douglas that weekend with the finals to be in Sonoita for the second straight year. The Sonoita Derby Trials will also take place in Douglas as will the John Ray Memorial.

Strongin is hoping to have at least 10 races each of the two days.

With the economic situation the way it is there will be no increase in the price of the admission or the cost of the programs.

A St. Patrick's Day dance is scheduled for this Saturday (March 20) from 8 p.m. to midnight. Money raised will be used for the upcoming horse races. There will be door prizes and green beer. Tickets are $5.

"This board is determined to continue onward with all the traditions we have here," Strongin said. "We're like everybody else … in a funding crunch."

Kingman has cancelled its horse races this year and Safford is running just one weekend like Douglas.

Safford will run this March 20-21, then Strongin said there will be no races the next two weekends.

Douglas will have its races; there will be no racing April 17-18 with Sonoita running April 24-25 and May 1-2 which is Kentucky Derby weekend.

Strongin says what happened last year was beyond her on anyone's on the boards control and they would have loved to have had the horse races but with the timing of the state budget cuts that was just not possible.

"Our legislators are working really hard for us," she said. "They don't want to see this go away either. … They just had to wait and see what kind of funding was going to be available for the fourth quarter period.

"We want to race, we will race but we had to wait to hear from the state as to if any funds were going to be available to help us put on these races. We weren't sure if there was going to be any funding at all."

Some of the money from the state is also purse money, Strongin said.

The fairgrounds manager said she met individually which each of our state representatives and explained to them how important this event is for this area and they were able to come through for her this year.

"This event is very important for this area," she said. "People around here really like the races and look forward to us having them each year. … But it takes a lot of money to put this on."

Some horses are already starting to work out on the track. Strongin expects most of them to arrive around April 1.

Strongin says she is also looking for race sponsors and volunteers.

"If anybody in the community wants to volunteer to help do something out here and they don't have a criminal background, we would love to hear from them," she said.

 

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Meydan Group to help develop horse racing complex in China (Zawya)

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 12:00 AM PDT

Monday, Mar 29, 2010

Gulf News

Dubai Dubai's Meydan Group yesterday said it will help build a horse racing facility in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

Meydan will join hands with Chinese and Malaysian companies in building the Tianjin Horse City.

The International Equine Group (IEG), the flagship investment arm of Meydan Group, and Teo A. Khing Design Consultants (TAK), the Malaysian firm, will be responsible for financing and investing in Tianjin Horse City.

The proposed development, inspired by the success of Meydan City, which resembles a phoenix will cost $4 billion (Dh14 billion). The phoenix symbolises prosperity to the Chinese, said Teo Ah Khing, the project's managing director.

In comparison, Dubai's Meydan City is a $10 billion multi-phased development that will result in a township in Nad Al Sheba area.

Tianjin Horse City will also cover 3 million square metres which will be provided by the Chinese government, Khing said in a press conference yesterday. The project will include a five- to seven-star hotel, a clubhouse, commercial offices and residential facilities, in addition to an equestrian college, feedstuff plant, a breeding base, a horse hospital and a quarantine centre.

The construction, which will be divided into two phases which will take place over 10 years, according to the proposed plan.

"The development itself [racing district development] would cost $1.46 billion. The other components [properties development] where we have the breeding farms, the schools and the academy would total $4 billion," said Mohammad Al Khayat, Commercial Director at Meydan.

The agreement is designed to be a partnership and not an ownership, said Al Khayat. "We will join hands with the government of China to share our knowhow with them where they support us by providing a land mass and some companies to [provide] finance," he explained.

When asked about how much funding Dubai will commit to the project, Al Khayat said that the details about financing haven't been evaluated yet.

"There will be residential components and commercial components that will be enough to raise the necessary funds for the development of the project," he said. "There is a really good relationship with China from the beginning of this project and we also want to continue this relationship," said Al Khayat.

"China is one of the fastest growing economies. Tianjin has a great infrastructure and is close to the main city [Beijing] which takes less than 20 minutes. It's a green area. It's also a free zone," Al Khayat said.

Asked whether Meydan plans to become a global racecourse developer, Al Khayat said that Meydan's objective is to become internationali.

See also Page 41

By Samia Badih

© Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.

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Dubai’s Meydan to Develop Horse City in China for $4 Billion (Bloomberg)

Posted: 28 Mar 2010 09:45 PM PDT

By Zainab Fattah

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Meydan LLC, the Dubai state-owned developer of the world's biggest horse-racing complex, will build a $4 billion development near Tianjin in China.

"We have been invited by the Chinese government to share our knowhow on a brand new industry," the project's managing director Teo Ah Khing said in Dubai today. "There are no integrated structures for horse racing, breeding or auctioning in China and that's what they appreciate about Meydan."

Malaysia's TAK Design Consultants, China's Zhouji Jiye and Tianjin Farm Group will partner with Meydan on the project, the company said in a statement today. They will build an equestrian college, feedstuff plant, breeding base, horse hospital, and quarantine centre. The project will also include grandstand in the shape of a phoenix, homes, offices and three hotels with a total of 4,000 rooms to be built on farmland granted by the Chinese government.

A portion of the land will be sold to "different commercial entities and end-users" to raise funds necessary for developing the project," Meydan's commercial director Mohammad Al Khayat said. "We have also other sources of funding such as banks and international financial institutions."

The project will be owned in partnership, Al Khayat said. "There is no full ownership, it has to be a partnership because the land is granted by the government," he said, adding Dubai hasn't decided yet on its financial contribution to the project.

Work on the project is expected to start in 10 to 12 months following the completion of soil and transportation studies, Teo said.

"It is estimated that the project will pay hundreds of millions of taxes and profits to the State within five years, provide employment for 10,000, and develop a horse industry economy that will establish production franchise of standard scales across China," the statement said.

Tianjin Horse City has filed its application to the Chinese Equestrian Association for the establishment of a national equestrian sports and horsing racing training base.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zainab Fattah in Dubai on zfattah@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 28, 2010 11:49 EDT

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