Doug Watson is looking to run eight horses at the inaugural Chengdu Dubai International Cup race day next month after Meydan announced the international meeting in China on Wednesday.
The landmark meeting will be held at the Jinma Racecourse in the Wenjiang District, where five turf races will be staged on April 6.
The feature race will be the International Cup over 2,200 metres and will be supported by the Wenjiang Meydan Classic over 1,600m.
Three support races will also make up the card, including the Meydan Mile, the 1,400m Guangsha Handicap and the 1,200m Wenjiang Sprint.
“We are setting a precedent,” said Watson, the Red Stables handler. “It is just another stepping stone and it brings more people into the game. We will show the people in China how it works over here. It is exciting.”
The race meeting has been set up by the Meydan Group, under the Emirates Racing Authority Rules of Racing. It has been a slow burner, having been planned originally for the autumn of 2013.
Quarantine protocols needed to be established between the UAE and China, however, and with that in place the horses are set to return to Dubai days after racing.
“This is an exciting strategic partnership that we have entered into to assist the Chinese authorities in developing the sport of thoroughbred racing,“ said Malih Al Basti, a Meydan Group board member and the chairman of Meydan Racing Committee.
“With this ground-breaking meeting we have opened up channels of cooperation that will continue to grow between the UAE and China.”
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