Emirati lady jockey up for Melbourne challenge

The Emirati, is without benefits of an apprentice jockey, as she goes up against experienced rivals in her second race of career.

Anoud Al Suwaidi will race a different horse in Melbourne. Courtesy Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival

ABU DHABI // Anoud Al Suwaidi, the Emirati female jockey, will take part in only her second race on Saturday in Australia.

She made her debut in the opening round of the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship in Oman on January 17, and now travels to Melbourne for the second round of the 14-race series, which culminates in Abu Dhabi on November 9.

“Australia will be one more experience for me,” Al Suwaidi, 31, said. “I have continued to work hard and looking forward with excitement for my second race ever. So fingers crossed.”

Al Suwaidi will ride Coolinda Park Dance With Me and start from Gate 5 at Caulfield racetrack in the eight-runner field that also includes two professionals, Michelle Payne of Australia, who has ridden 247 winners, and Lee Ah Na, the South Korean rider with 29 wins.

“I am trying to gather as much information as possible of the racetrack as well as the horse I ride so I can prepare as best I could,” Al Suwaidi said.

“For me it is a learning curve as I have to compete with some of the more experienced female jockeys.”

Sofia Nordgue, a former professional jockey from Sweden and now her instructor, feels Al Suwaidi should receive the same weight allowance an apprentice enjoys in flat racing.

“It is also a more difficult task for her because she has to ride a different horse and ride on a different track in every race she competes,” said Nordgue. “Basically she has to ride a horse that she hasn’t seen a day or two before the race and handle a racetrack you have never ridden before.”

Al Suwaidi has been working for over a year with Eric Lemartinel, the Frenchman who trains at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club, and for the Emirati Majed Al Jahouri at the Al Wathba Stables.

The second race of the series carries a purse of €30,000 (Dh150,530), the highest for a Purebred Arabian race for ladies.

The race meeting in Australia will include two races for Arabians, the ladies race and the first round of the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup, an open race for a purse of €35,000.

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