New Spanish beach race festival unveiled at meeting in Germany

Article by Paull Khan

There will be a spanking new venue for official beach racing in Spain this year when the Andalucian village of Zahara de los Atunes opens its doors to thoroughbred racing on Saturday October 29th, the middle day of an attraction-packed three-day beach festival, bookended by jazz concerts and polo. Long known for its beach-bar music scene, horseracing will now be used in Zahara in an attempt to prolong the tourist season in this southernmost part of Spain until the end of October. 

The Costa de la Luz now boasts two beach tracks, with the venerable Sanlucar de Barrameda an hour-and-a-half drive up the coast.

Zahara’s stunning straight beach will accommodate races between 1400m/7f and 1800m/9f. 

Plans for the Zahara festival were unveiled at this year’s annual meeting of the European Beach Racing Association, which took place in Cuxhaven, on Germany’s north seacoast. Delegates had been privileged to witness the famed Duhner-Wattrennen races, which have been staged on the vast beach for the past 120 years. An attentive and happy-paying crowd of 13,000 attended this year’s renewal, despite poor weather. The programme was varied, with trotting (mounted and sulky) and gallop races for warmbloods in addition to thoroughbred racing. 

Cuxhaven is unique among beach racetracks in that the horses race through a shallow covering of standing water. The resultant spray, from the horses’ hooves and the wheels of the patrol vehicle, creates its own spectacle. The races are recognised as a powerful tourist attraction—a national minister attended and addressed the launch party before proceedings began.