Dr. Jim Hay, the renowned Dubai-based businessman, has announced that the official launch of Uplands Racing Yard will take place on Saturday, September 16th and includes an open day at the Yard and sponsoring the 2:25PM Uplands Racing Nursery Stakes at the Newbury meet. Uplands Racing is the business name of Stan Moore’s operation at the famous Uplands Yard in Lambourn, once home to Fred Winter and Charlie Brooks. The joint venture with JMH Group, a $350 million (AED1.258 billion) company based in Dubai, is set to put Uplands back on the map, but this time as a flat yard.
JMH, headed by Dr. Jim Hay and his wife Fitri, have invested an estimated £4.4 million (AED30.15 million) in purchasing the Uplands Estate in August this year. The yard currently has a capacity of 67 boxes, all weather gallops, horse walkers, indoor school and an equine swimming pool. Future plans include a complete overhaul and modernisation of all the existing facilities. This will include increasing the number of boxes to over a hundred, the installation of a new five furlong grass gallop and extensions to both the offices and owner rooms. There are also plans to operate a stud from there.
The two-day Newbury September Meeting is the oldest meeting in Newbury’s annual programme. The inaugural meeting at Newbury took place on Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th September 1905. The winner of the very first race at Newbury was Mr. D J Pullinger’s Copper King, trained by Charles Marnes and ridden by Charles Trigg.
The September meeting underwent a major overhaul in the year 2000 when some new races were introduced, as well as a new sponsor, Dubai Duty Free. This meeting is now one of the highest quality weekends in the Newbury Calendar, with prize money of £220,000 (over AED1.5 million). One of the highlights is the Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes, a Group 2 event for two year olds run over six furlongs was introduced in 1972 in recognition of the achievements of Paul Mellon’s wonderful champion.
Uplands Racing is a joint venture between Uplands Acquisitions and JS Moore Racing. Uplands Acquisitions is the new owner of Uplands and a subsidiary of the JMH Group, which has interests in the construction chemical, financial, country sports and beauty care and fashion sectors.
The JMH Group has an annual turnover of $350 million (AED1.258 billion) and is owned by Jim and Fitri Hay. Dr. Hay is a former BP senior executive, where he worked for over 27 years. In 2002 Hay decided to pursue his ambition to buy and manage his own company. The opportunity arose in the shape of Fosroc, which BP was in the process of divesting. This company had arrived in BP as part of the acquisition of Burmah Castrol. It was a good fit with the investment criteria set out by Dr. Hay.
