As the horses leave the tracks, thousands of curious spectators cheer from a small hill overlooking the brown earth racing arena, which organizers promise will become the country's first international-standard hippodrome.
Though horse racing has taken place in Israel for years, Wednesday's racing event in the center of the fertile Jezreel valley in northern Israel - only a few kilometers from the biblical site of Armageddon - is an historic moment for the organizers.
"Today's event marks the birth of the horse racing industry in Israel," says Danny Attar, head of the Gilboa local council, who has played a key role in promoting the sport in the region for 15 years. "Israelis are thirsty to have a hippodrome and horse racing as a sport," he says, while gesturing with visible pride toward the nearby paddock where horses are being prepared for the next race.
Allouche, a 25-year-old slender jockey who received her initial training in Paris's prestigious Maison Laffite, pets Dontito. "He never lets me down," she says. People around clap and applaud as the two walk back toward the stables.
Israel's horse racing industry, though still considerably underdeveloped compared to many Western countries, has flourished in recent years and today counts several thousands of horse owners, trainers, and jockeys.
Organizers here are hoping that within a year there will be four to five weekly races at the Gilboa hippodrome alone.
But what is horse racing without betting?
Attar says that the government has already passed laws allowing betting on horse races. "Betting will be allowed in the near future, once the existing legislation takes effect and the red tape is dealt with."
But not everyone seems to wait for the legalities to kick in.
The noise from the crowd turns to a nervous hiss as the starting gates open and six horses set out on the 1,000 meter-long race. The second the Arabian horse Barik Al Mubian wins the fifth race, a group of men in the crowd erupt in shouts of joy and claps. "We've just won a whole lotta money," one of them says as he carries an ecstatic friend on his shoulders, ignoring the omnipresent signs reading "betting is prohibited under Israeli law."
"There is a lot of gambling among friends, and sometimes there are even organized bookies inside the crowd," a police officer later says. "It is almost impossible to prevent it."
Almost everyone in the horse racing industry agrees that betting will bring the necessary funds to turn it into as much a profit-making industry as other sports.
"A regulated horse racing system will lift the region's economy, provide thousands of work places, and will encourage the development of the horse breeding industry in Israel," says organizer Anat Mor.
Over 2,500 full-pedigree Arabian horses are registered in Israel today. Most of the day's 10 races feature these horses, known for their high spirit and stamina.
In the paddock, trainer Fadi Fuadi, owner Fuda Said, and jockey Salem Al Ukbi, all from the village of Reini near Nazareth, prepare Malkat Al Miadin for the race, wrapping blue bandages around the brown horse's legs.
"We've had races before today, of course. But from this hippodrome we can invite the entire world over," Fuadi says. "And now we may start seeing some money from the bettings."
Many of the competing horses are owned by Israeli Arabs from the north of the country, for whom horse breeding and riding has been a centuries-old tradition.
Within Israel's Jewish majority, horse breeding and racing has been a profession and hobby mostly for the rich and members of the kibbutzim collective farms and rural communities.
Ariyeh Be'er, from the town of Sharona in the lower Galilee, is the outsider of the third race. Seated on the back of an immaculately white Sajurla - "the grandmother of almost all the Arabian horses" - Be'er believes that Tuesday's race marks a new page for the industry.
"Up to now there haven't been any serious races, and only a small layer of society was involved in the field. But, God willing, the betting will change all of this," he says.
Between races, a group of six teenager animal-rights activists leap over a fence, pass security, and stop at the center of the tracks shouting "you're racing them to death!"
It takes some 10 policemen to remove the protestors who are taken out of the arena amid shouts from the crowd "get out of here - what do you know about horses."
Be'er coolly rejects accusations of cruelty toward horses. "The horses don't suffer. They enjoy it and with organized racing we will have stricter and better rules on how to treat the horses."
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
To add a comment,
Please log in:
Don't have an account?
Register now to comment on stories and stay up to date on important events and issues in the Middle East with our newsletter.