Article posted on -  1/16/2008 5:25:13 PM

Rain or no rain, Carnival opener goes ahead

Opening DIRC fixture goes ahead

The opening meeting of the Dubai International Racing Carnival at Nad Al Sheba will go ahead tomorrow and be run exclusively on the dirt.

Following the extremely wet weather, the three races scheduled to be run on the turf will not be run on that surface.

However, depending on the level of interest from the trainers who have horses entered in those races, they could be switched to the dirt track, which would mean the 1,777m race would be run over 1800m, otherwise the distances would remain the same.

Dubai Racing Club CEO Frank Gabriel Jr said: “The dirt course has been sealed the last three days, and there will be no training on it tomorrow morning, with the goal that we can offer a fast track.

“Everyone has had to struggle with this freakish weather over the last few days, so in that respect, we are delighted that we are still able to stage the feature races – both versions of the Maktoum Challenge.

“We will see what the response is to moving the three turf races to dirt, and make a decision on the final make-up of the card tomorrow morning.”