Nad Al Sheba Racecourse was

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

facility in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

opened in 1986. It had a 2,200 m left-handed dirt

race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

and a left-handed

turf Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

course of the same distance. It operated from November through March and featured the Dubai International Racing Carnival and its

Dubai World Cup Night Dubai World Cup Night is a series of eight thoroughbred horse races and one Purebred Arabian race held annually at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. From 1996 through to 2009, the event was held at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse. Run ...

. Nad Al Sheba Racecourse was demolished in 2009 following hosting the Dubai World Cup race, being replaced by

Meydan Racecourse Meydan Racecourse is a racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The grandstand is a half mile in length, and can accommodate over 60,000 spectators. Meydan opened on 27 March 2010, replacing Nad Al Sheba Racecourse, which formerly occu ...

History

Horse racing began in Dubai as early as 1981, and in 1986 Nad Al Sheba Racecourse was formally opened. The course also featured a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

in the centre. In 1992,

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (; born 15 July 1949) is an Emirati politician and royal who is the current ruler of Dubai, and serves as the vice president and prime minister of the UAE. Mohammed succeeded his brother Maktoum bin Rashid ...

formed the Dubai Racing Club to increase the popularity of the sport in the city, and later in 1993 the Dubai Racing Club hosted the inaugural Dubai International Jockeys Challenge at Nad Al Sheba. In 1996, the Dubai World Cup was created with the horses competing for a prize of $4million. This was a significant prize purse for the era. The first Dubai World Cup was won by

Cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...

. Today the race day is worth a total prize purse in excess of $30million. In 2000, the Godolphin owned

Dubai Millennium Dubai Millennium (2 March 1996 – 29 April 2001) was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. The colt was trained in the United Kingdom and Dubai during his racing career from 1998 and 2000. He is notable for winning a series of major ...

won the world cup race with a record time of 1.59.50. In 2001, the Millennium Grandstand was opened. In 2007, it was announced that Meydan Racecourse would replace Nad Al Sheba. For the following two years, the new grandstands were visible under construction. Following the 2009 Dubai World Cup, Nad Al Sheba racecourse was demolished and now sits as part of the Meydan Racecourse facility. Cigar1

The last winner at Nad Al Sheba was

Well Armed Well Armed (foaled April 4, 2003 in Kentucky) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2009 Dubai World Cup. Background Well Armed was sired by Tiznow out of the stakes-winning mare Well-Dressed, which places Seattle Slew on the top and ...

Group 1 Races

Records

At the time of closure, the following records were held: *Top Jockey -

Frankie Dettori Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori (; born 15 December 1970), is an Italian jockey who was based in England for a career spanning over 35 years. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey three times (1994, 1995 and 2004) and rode the winners of 287 ...

(132 wins) *Top Trainer -

Saeed Bin Suroor Saeed bin Suroor (; born 16 November 1968 in Dubai) is a horse racing horse trainer, trainer in Great Britain. Formerly a policeman, he took out his training licence in 1995 and the following year was appointed as the trainer for Mohammed bin Ra ...

(213 wins) *Top Owner - Godolphin (142 wins)

Non Racing Events

Nad Al Sheba featured a golf club, which was designed in 1993 by Karl Litten. It was an 18 hole links style course, 6503 yards in length and had a par of 71. The copurse was closed in May 2007 to make way for the Meydan Racecourse development. At the time it had around 1200 members. Two major concerts took place at Nad Al Sheba. On February 14, 2004

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

performed as part of her Prior to Soul Divas Tour. In April 2006,

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

performed a concert at Nad Al Sheba as part of his Close Encounters World Tour.

References

Horse racing venues in the United Arab Emirates Sports venues completed in 1986 2009 disestablishments in the United Arab Emirates 1986 establishments in the United Arab Emirates {{Horseracing-venue-stub