| New entertainment for the establishment has appeared in Moscow Yesterday the 2002 racing season opened with full stands and lines for tickets at the Central Moscow Hippodrome. The organizers of the races claim that a visit to the hippodrome will soon become one of the most prestigious social events; for this purpose, in particular, the VIP zone for the most respected visitors has already been revived. Even the President of Russia is expected there, who, as is known, is the owner of three horses of the Arabian breed. True, Vladimir Putin’s horses are not participating in competitions yet, but the president has already established a prize, the drawing of which will take place on Russian Independence Day on June 12: horses four years old and older will compete for the President’s Cup on this day.
However, despite the VIP zone and expensive foreign cars parked at the Central Exhibition Center, the scale of horse racing in recent years is still far from the equestrian festivals of Soviet times. In those days, the state did not skimp on the horses themselves, nor on their maintenance, nor on prizes, and the competitions themselves were quite popular among citizens. But the post-perestroika years, when the domestic horse breeding almost collapsed completely, discouraged Muscovites from the habit of going to the hippodrome on weekends. Suffice it to say that in the 90s there were no horse races at the TsMI; testing of purebred horses (the main racing breed) was resumed only in 2000.
The revival of equestrian holidays today is primarily sought by the owners of Arabian horses - perhaps the most fashionable in Russia. The popularity of the “Arabs” is easily explained. Firstly, these horses with their own history and romantic reputation are a very well-promoted brand. Secondly, these are indeed horses of very pure blood, which is guaranteed by the stud books. By the way, there are already six such books in Russia, which indicate reliable pedigrees of animals, and they, unlike the “metrics” of some other Russian breeds, are recognized abroad. About 50 Arabian horses from state and private stud farms and farms have already arrived at the Center to participate in the races. As the president of the RUSAR association, Elena Popova, told a correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper, this organization already unites 42 owners of Arabian horses: both individual animal lovers and entire farms numbering dozens of animals, including the first private stud farm in Russia “ Oros." Ms. Popova claims that even political opponents unite out of love for this breed. In particular, the owner of Russian “Arabs”, in addition to the mentioned Vladimir Putin, is the leader of the LDPR, Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Mr. Zhirinovsky, by the way, owns the best Arabian horse in Russia - it was his gray stallion Douglas that won the Derby prize among horses of his breed at the Central Exhibition Center in 2001. And the very first prize, which was awarded yesterday at the opening of the racing season, was established by the leader of the LDPR, who, however, did not appear at the hippodrome himself. 150 thousand rubles were handed over by an official from Mr. Zhirinovsky’s apparatus: according to the rules, this money will be divided among themselves by the owners of the horses that took first place in the very first race of the season.
Victories in races in Russia also remain more of a matter of prestige. The prizes are not as large as, for example, in England or Ireland, where they reach hundreds of thousands of pounds and can make a fortune for the owner of the horse. In Russia there are few sponsors, and the state participates only in a small part. According to Elena Popova, the total amount of the prize fund for the entire 2002 season at the Central Exhibition Center is about 2 million rubles. “In our country, the owner does not yet earn so much money with the help of his horse as he spends on it,” says Ms. Popova. - The pleasure of owning it can be considered one of the most precious. Now in Russia, Arabian horses cost from 2,500 dollars per foal to 10 thousand for a decent horse. But a purebred racehorse requires a whole staff of “servants” - grooms, trainers, jockeys.”
On the first day of the competition, only two prizes were awarded for Arabian horses and four for horses of other breeds. At the same time, it was too noticeable that betting games with small bets (tickets cost 1 ruble or 10 rubles) are still more the lot of visitors to public stands. There was no excitement at the cash registers in the VIP area, while “not very important people” stood in lines to place a bet or receive a few hundred rubles they had honestly won. Irina BELASHEVA |
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