MUSCAT — His Majesty Sultan Qaboos presided over the annual Royal Horse Race Festival at Al Adiyat horse race track in the Wilayat of A’seeb yesterday. The festival included various interesting shows performed by the Royal Cavalry male and female horse riders including combined military march for the military procession, Hambal horse riders and other programmes.

Upon the arrival of His Majesty the Sultan at the Royal box, the Royal Anthem was played after which the programmes of the race began, which included six rounds, five of which were dedicated to Arabian pure breeds, one for thoroughbreds with the joint military march, Hambal march and Al Kholkhal march.

After that the first round of the race — Jabal Samhan for pure Arabian breeds 1,100 metres for female horse riders — began. Nine female horse riders participated in the race. Marwa bint Nasser al Yahyaie riding the horse Al Saedah for the Royal Cavalry, Azhar bint Saif al Wardi riding the horse Sabbaq for the Royal Cavalry and Azizah bint Hamoud al Bahlani riding the horse Mutarasid for the Royal Cavalry came first, second and third respectively.

The festival included a programme for arrow shooting for children and basketball for girls.  After that the second round of the race, Al Jabal al Akhdar for Pure Arabian breeds 1,600 metres long, started. Twelve horse riders participated in the race. Mutassim bin Said al Balushi riding the horse Mihriz for the Royal Cavalry came first, Yassir bin Jamil al Sunaidi, riding the horse Raqi of the Royal Cavalry came second and Hamoud bin Said al Habsi riding the horse Zaina of the Royal Oman Police came third.

The programme included side horse riding by female riders, carriage decorations, joint display for horses, Al Himmah dance and horse dance.
After that the third round of the race, Jabal al Khour for thoroughbred horses for 1,600 metres kicked off. Twelve horse riders competed in the race.

Asa'd bin Ali al Siyabi riding the horse Olympic City for the Royal Cavalry, Anas bin Salim al Siyabi riding the horse Rise View for the Royal Cavalry and Amer bin Salem al Ghunaimi riding the horse Didatous owned by Abdullah bin Ali al Ma'amari came first, second and third respectively.

After the third round there were Tuhawreeb, Rakdh Al Ardah, white donkeys race, Al Baradheen game and Al Jamkhanah. In the fourth round of Jabal Madar for Arabian breeds for 1,100 metres, 12 riders participated.  Ahmed bin Saif al Hadrami riding the horse Qadeer for the Royal Cavalry came first, Yasser bin Nasser al Jabri riding the horse Mutafani for the Royal Cavalry came second and Asad bin Ali al Siyabi riding the horse Badea for the Royal Cavalry came third.

Later a display of Troika, music performance from the carriages, display of the different breeds, and display of the different parts of saddles were held. The fifth round, Kawas Mountain for the Arabian breeds for 1,600 metres for the horses that won in the privately-owned horse races started. Twelve riders participated in the race.

Badr bin Mohammed al Hajri riding the horse Stellar owned by Sa’ad bin Suhail al Makhini came first, Amin bin Hamad al Balushi riding the horse R S Dhahab owned by Ahmed bin Abdullah al Marzouqi came second and Fahd bin Abadi al Hajri riding the horse Kazani owned by Hassan bin Mahboub Hashmani came third.

There was a display of the cavalry skills, fun race for children, carriage riding with different formations and the combined music procession.  After that the sixth round of the race Jabal Shams for pure Arabian horses — 2,000 metres — for His Majesty Sultan Qaboos’s Cup started.  The horse Fateen of the Royal Cavalry that was ridden by Asad bin Ali al Siyabi came first and won His Majesty Sultan Qaboos’s Cup. The horse has won the Triple Crown by winning His Majesty’s Cup for three consecutive times. Yasser bin Jameel al Sunaidi riding the horse Mr Del Soul owned by Dr Omar bin Abdul Munim al Zawawi came second and Shomira De Cairo owned by the Royal Cavalry came third.

After the race, there was a display of carriage race, mounted loyalty march, a carriage pulled by 23 horses and a display for colt and filly, as well as the final tableau for the festival.  At the conclusion of the festival His Majesty the Sultan presented the Cups and prizes to the winners of the Royal Annual Horse Race. After this, the Royal Anthem was played signalling the conclusion of the festival and then His Majesty the Sultan left the Horse Race Club.

The festival was attended by members of the Royal Family, the Chairmen of the Majlis Addawla and Majlis Ash'shura, ministers, advisers, commanders of the Sultan's Armed Forces branches and Royal Oman Police, members of the Majlis Addawla and members of Majlis Ash'shura, under-secretaries, members of the diplomatic corps in the Sultanate and members of public. — ONA
                                                           — Pictures by ONA, Mohamed Mustafa, Salim al Hashly, Mohamed al Rashdi and Mohammed Mahjoud