The H..H Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival on Sunday announced the setup of a new venture - Wathba Stallions - which will now be the breeding arm of the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and take care of his Purebred Arabian stallions in the UAE and France.
As the first step in this direction Ms Lara Sawaya has been appointed the Manager of the new firm.
Addressing newsmen at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club on Sunday, Ms Sawaya, who is also the Executive Director of the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival, said: "The new company has been established under the directives of HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan. All marketing operations for the stallions owned by HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan will now be based under the new company which will have its Headquarters at the Mangroves Hotel by Jannah in Abu Dhabi," Ms Sawaya stated.
The news conference was also attended by Dr. Ali Al Mastouri and Martial Boisseuil, Racing Manager (Europe) for the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
"To ensure that all deals will go systematically in the right way, all breeding operations of the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan's stallions would be conducted exclusively through the new company, the Wathba Stallions. A special call centre will be established at suite 314 at the Mangroves Hotel by Jannah to respond to all queries in five languages; Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Information regarding the stallions will also be available on-line through the website which will be launched for this purpose," she confirmed.
Semen from the top stallions owned by HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan including Mahabb along with his sire, Tahar De Candelon, in addition to Munjiz, Sire D'albret, Mawood, Quazar and Sarrab, just to mention a few, will be provided through the new company to breeders around the globe.
Ms Sawaya said the standing fees and fees for the semen will be decided shortly and will vary from stallion to stallion.
"Certain measures and criteria will be adopted to ensure that semen from top stallions will be made available only for well-bred mares and not otherwise," Ms Sawaya added.
"All of the stallions have proven their ability on the race tracks before they were retired to stud, and for this reason, priority will be given to ensure the breeding of quality crops to follow in the footsteps of their sires.
"And with the rising interest in the Arabian horses, and the increasing number of races for Purebred Arabian horses in Europe and the Middle East, the market is growing rapidly. But, at the end of the day, the operation will be governed by breeding the best of horses," Ms Sawaya concluded.
Source: WAM