The 2019 World Horse Culture Forum kicks off on Friday in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, and Standardbred racing in Canada will have a presence at the global event which is being held this weekend in the autonomous region of northern China.

Standardbred Canada was invited to attend and participate in the three-day conference, and will be presenting on the Canadian Standardbred racing and breeding industry.

The Conference theme is “Chinese horse culture and world horse civilization” and will cover several topics including the protection and inheritance of horse cultures and industry, as well as integrating and promoting horse cultures from various countries.

Representatives from more than 40 countries and over 10 international organizations, as well as guests from across China, have been invited.

At the closure of the event, the Hohhot Declaration of the World Horse Culture Forum will be released, with a proposal to establish the World Horse Culture Association.

Inner Mongolia has a long and rich history of horsemanship.

Photo of the Inner Mongolia Ethnic Minorities Cultural Sports Center in Hohhot. The racetrack is located to the left of this photo.

In the summer of 2019, the region took a major next step forward when the Inner Mongolia Race Course opened. The new facility, which reportedly cost more than $200 million to build, holds race meetings for both Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds.

Aerial view of racetrack in Hohhot

Darryl Kaplan, SC's Senior Director of Information and Innovation, will be on hand to present to the assembled delegates.

In 2016, Canada and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the purposes of working together, and ultimately opening the borders for trading horses, and knowledge, between the two countries.