Doha: Katara International Arabian Horse Festival’s (KIAHF 2022) prestigious Title Show championships will kick off today at the magnificent sea-facing arena at Katara Esplanade, where it will feature 309 finest Arabian purebreds coming from 11 countries including the Arab region, Europe and the USA.
The Title Show which has a whopping-prize money of QR13,990,000 will continue until Saturday.
Commenting on the class and competition, Nabila Al Ali, an international referee from Kuwait said: “With my experience of having participated in many horse festivals in Qatar and other countries, I feel Qatar is greatly developing in this field and the Katara International Arabian Horse Festival is a prime example of that. This standout event underlines Qatar’s stature as the equestrian capital of the Arab world.”
“KIAHF is very distinguished by its location, its grand hosting and the quality of horses participating from within and outside Qatar. The horses are among the finest and the competition close and strong. The attendance is quite high too. There is a distinct equestrian heritage atmosphere around the festival with the accompanying cultural and artistic activities,” she added.
Sultan Swailem, founder of Al Asala online newspaper for purebred Arabian horses from Saudi Arabia said: “We need this kind of organisation in Arab horse show championships at A level or the Title Show, and I can say that what I witness is that the excellence and perfection at KIAHF is unprecedented and hope that it will be replicated at all others festivals as well.”
Salman Al Hwaiti from Saudi Arabia, who is attending the festival, said KIAHF has set a benchmark and raised the levels of competition with other festivals.
He expressed high admiration for the organisation and the strength of participation from Qatar and overseas. Meanwhile, Mashek from Poland said coming to Qatar to participate in the festival has been an exceptional and wonderful experience.
The 11-day long second edition of KIAHF has already seen the successful hosting of the Arabian Peninsula Horse Show Championships, and the Auction - which set the record of world’s highest bid for embryo of international mare FT Shaella at QR3.2m, on Monday. The festival has a total prize money of QR17,083,500, this is besides the other in-kind prizes including cars and watches.
