By Surender Bhutani
Warsaw, Aug 25 (IANS): Indian jockey Rupa Narpat Singh won a thrilling race to win the Ladies World Championship at the Sluzewicz race course here. It was a fantastic win where 10 women jockeys from various countries were invited to participate and the 32-year-old showed her talent and class to win in tricky rainy conditions.

"Hats off to Rupa who showed her skill in a such a short time and that too where jockeys were forbidden to use a whip," said Andrezej Wojtowicz, the trainer of the winning horse, Nicolas, Sunday.

"What had helped Rupa to win this championship was her light weight, as she is only 48 kg, and her tremendous experience over the years," added Wojtowicz, a renowned Polish jockey of past years and now a successful trainer.

Rupa hails from a horse loving family and since the age of 13 she has been riding horses. She has already won more than 500 races in 3,000 outings.

"A young lady of her talent can create wonders with her dedication anywhere," observed Josef Siwonia, a leading Polish trainer.

"I smell horses and horses smell me," Rupa told IANS.

"It is great to be in Poland though my visit is extremely short but I would like to come for a longer stint here on this beautiful track," she added.

The Shikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Championship Cup was sponsored by the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Ministry of Tourism which has selected Poland this year to promote cultural and touristic activities.

Poland has a long tradition of breeding Arabian horses and every year it exports horses worth millions of dollars. Now, the UAE is showing keen interest to tap the Polish market as many princes and wealthy businessmen are proclaiming their love for horses.

"Poland is relatively a new market for us but we are happy to realise that soon our people will come to choose Polish horses. They have many world class stud farms and many of their horses have won many classic races in Europe over the years," said Asim Mirza Al Rahmah, UAE's ambassador to Poland.

"No doubt it was a great experience to see an Indian lady jockey win the first Ladies World Championship in Poland. There should be more participants from Asia, particularly from India. Poland is truly on the global radar screen for horse lovers. The UAE should be congratulated for organising a day for Arabian horses in Warsaw," said Davinder Singh, an Indian businessman who owns a few horses here.