The Forest Heath District Council officials have pledged £700,000 for funding a horse racing museum that was proposed to be set up to become one of the major tourist attractions in the area.

The Home of Horseracing project which will be built in Newmarket is scheduled to be open to the public by April of 2012. The establishment is deemed to be a world class museum for the horse racing industry wherein priceless works of art in relation with horse racing will be displayed.

The district council currently owns the buildings which date from way back from the reign of King Charles II, touted as the founder of organized horse racing.

The horse racing museum is said to cost £11 million with other funds coming from other councils who agreed to help in making this dream a reality.

The proposed changes for Dressage competitions are set for approval later this month. Once implemented, officials are confident that the competition will gain more fans due to easy accessibility of the sport.

According to reports, a dressage taskforce (DTF) has been set up to make dressage more mainstream just like any other mainstream sports wherein judges can be assessed, supervised and continually educated.

Part of the proposal includes increasing the number of judges in major championships – from five to seven in a bid to spread the influence when it comes to individual scores.

DTF member Frank Kempermann said that even if the judge has been into the sport for more than two decades, he or she should still undergo educational activities to be more updated with the latest trends and rules. DTF was formed by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI).

Two racing horses are up for the Horse of the Year honors. The judges will have a hard time deciding considering the two have never competed with each other on the track.

According to reports, racing horses Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra have great credentials that either will certainly deserve getting the award. This will be the first time since 2002 that a female horse will get honored once more.

Rachel Alexandra won eight out of eight races this year with three of them winning over male horses. As for Zenyatta, she improved to 14-0 after winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with most of the competitors are male horses.

The verdict will be determined this coming January at the Eclipse Awards, considered as the Oscars of horse racing. The winner will be announced during a special gathering in Beverly Hills.