RACING IN IRAQ

Evening Star, Issue 19352, 11 September 1926, Page 22

RACING IN IRAQ

THE ARAB AMR HIS PONIES It is natural that tho close associa- ' tion with the British Army into which 'lthe people of Iraq were brought during '/tho war, and their even closer association with British civilians and tho Royal Air Force during the mandatory and treaty periods which followed the I armistice, should have mado thousands of young Iraqis anxious to emulate .their British friends in tho field of sport. i “ Soccer ”is already immensely popular in Bagdad (writes a correspondent of ‘ The Times ’), and many local lads are showing a great aptitude for the game. In 1925 tho Bagdad Football League was formed, and teams were formed representative of almost every Government clcpartmo-.it and every branch of commerce. Sporting games were played under the supervision of British referees, and towards the end of the League season tho enthusiasm of tho Arab players and spectators was prodigious. With every ebb and flow of many an epic contest headdresses were wildly spinning in the air. From | a thousand throats the aid of Allah the MercifuJ was invoked for one team or the oilier, while the opposition, albeit in friendly enough fashion, were stigmatised as sons of Shatan, or worse. Tho Arab, however, is essentially lazy, and it is not surprising that racing, in which horses do tho work, is even more popular than football, in which at times the soul must be wrung by tho perspiring efforts of twenty-two ymmg men under a burning sun. Horse racing is by no means new to the Arabs. Contests have been held in the desert for hundreds of years, and tvre. arc many references in Arabic poetry to the lightning-like speed lof a sheik’s favorite chargor—curi- | ously enough, nearly always a mare. But racing is now an organised sport, conc'i cbed under the patronage of King Foisal, tho High Commissioner, and tho Air Vice-marshal, with stewards, grand stands, an official handicapper, and all tho other paraphernalia of tho turf. Of course, there is no grass, the course consisting of desert land fenced round and harrowed to save the horses’ legs; and instead of bookmakers wo have the totalisator, or pari-mutuel. MODEST BETTING. Tho sport lias somo important cco- : iiomir aspects, and the benefits derived from it are not nullified by tho squan- , doring of much money on betting. There* are no turf commission agents lin Bagdad, and tho total amount invested at tho totaJisator on a single race rarely exceeds £1,000; it is usually very much less. The number of men I employed in the racing industry, including syces, already approaches 1,000. Tests of tribal horses are being held not only in every part of Iraq, but oven among the wandering tribes of Central Arabia, and most of the best horses by an inevitable process gravitate to i Bagdad or Basra for the races. An ‘ animal which has never been raced, but which has a promising appearance, may feteh as much as £IOO or even £l5O. | if it wins several races or if it is a I young horse which is “ placed ” in a 1 o-ood race its value will rapidly rise to | £250 or £3OO. As winning stakes in Iraq average I only about £SO, and it is impossible to i win large sums at tho totalisator, the value placed on a good horse would appear to be excessive. The explanation is that 80 per cent, of the horses which do well at Bagdad are puchased by : Bombay racehorse owners, who are afi ways on tho look-out for likely Arab I ponies. Races for pure-bred Arab ; (which must be born in Arabia) have for many years been a popular feature of meetings hold under Western India Turf Club rules, and tho stakes which a good Arab horso can win in Bombay, or in tho up-country races in India, age worth winning. VALUE OF A MARE.

Two well-known Arab marcs with about a score of races to their credit during tho last two seasons in Iraq would have a monetary value in Bom- , bay of £4,U00 each, but tho Arab | owners will nob part with them at any | price; not because they do not want i the money, but because their tribes 1 would object to the sale of marcs of so ; much potential value in improving the i breed of the tribal The true ■ desert Arab, will always hesitate to sell a marc; he will sell a horse without compunction if tho price suits him, but he values a speedy mare which ho or : his tribe has bred much more highly than ho values his wife, who, at the whim of her lord and master, can easily be replaced or sent back to the tents of her own people. When you encounter the sheikh of an Iraqi tribe in tho desert ho is usually mounted —hut always on a mare. Miss E. S. Stevens, in her interesting book, ‘ By Tigris and Euphrates,’ lias written tho following comments on the Arab’s love for a marc:—• A sheikh of any standing is supposed to have his own “ rabat,” that is, a mare from which ho breeds a strain. For instance, Ibrahim Beg as-Sadun, of the Muntafiq, maintains some thirty mares, all of tho famous Dhaman breed. The whole knows this, and gives him credit accordingly, Similarly the Mutair tribe of Nejd breeds the equally famous Krush strain. ; . . The principal use of a mare is in a raid. Upon her speed and her staying power depend tho success of her master as a raider and his safe return homo. If in a raid the horses of an enemy tribe are taken, each man may keep what he has captured, except the pedigree mares, which are handed over to tho sheikh. Sometimes if the owners demand these back the sheikh performs tho graceful act of returning them. The bloodhorse is sold with its pedigree in writing, certified by tho slieikh of tho tribe in whoso possession the horse first saw light. Nowadays, however, the Arabs have realised tho possibilities of faked pedigrees, and it is possible in Bagdad to-day to buy a cab-horse with a pedigree, duly stamped and sealed, which would make a Derby winner look illbred by comparison. The sale of Arab mares is complicated by the fact that an animal is seldom owned by one man. The custom of the country is that different individuals own different legs; the off-fore may belong to Majid, the near-fore to Mohammed, and so on; the various part-owners claiming the foals produced by tho mare in a stipulated manner, tho first going to Majid, the second to Mohammed, tho third to a man who owns one of the mare’s hind legs. IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY. Post-war racing has naturally icsultcd in a great improvement in tho quality, and especially in the stamina and speed, of Arab horses. In England, it must be remembered, they would be called ponies, as they seldom stand more than 15 hands, while the average is not more than 14.1 or 14.2. The improvement in type brought about by racing has had a repercussion on the general horse market in Iraq, and the export trade is very considerable. Many of the Bombay gharri ponies come from Iraq via the Persian Gulf, to which they are brought from places fax inland. It is a sorry fate for the proud Arabian steed. Tho racecourse greatly appeals to a people who are born horse-lovers, sportsmen by nature, and gamblers by inclination. The Arab horse-dealer quickly learnt all there is to know about racing, and ho has an inherited instinct for training and for bringing an animal to the pitch of condition on the day of an important race. There is much alarm lest the form of a horse should be divulged to an expectant public, and midnight trials ■ over measured distances are not uncommon in the vicinity of Bagdad. It is only

fair to say for the Arab owners that they accept defeat with a stoicism, and even cheerfulness, that command re-

spect. The fields are big. In maiden races it is not uncommon to find twenty runners or more, and it becomes a matter of great difficulty to “ spot the winner.” The uncertainty prevailing among backers is reflected by the tolalisator, which several times in the course of every season pays dividends representing betting odds of 100 to 1. The number of British nv

prisingly small, not more than 5 per cent. A sport introduced 'ly mo British is being well maintained by the Arabs themselves. Tim British residents, however, attend the raeas in considerable numbers, and the cordial relationship between the two peoples is nowhere more strikingly shown" than on the racecourse, where they meet on a common around of cood-humored optimism and sportsmanship.