Azizi Riviera Meydan racing season 2026–27
Meydan Racecourse, Dubai · Organized by Dubai Racing Club
- Dates
- Nov 6, 2026 – Mar 27, 2027
- Format
- In person
- Where
- Meydan Racecourse, Dubai
- Organizer
- Dubai Racing Club
The nearest large public venue to Riviera is not a mall. It is a racecourse, and for five months of the year it is open on Friday evenings.
The 2026–27 UAE racing season opens on 22 October at Abu Dhabi Turf Club. Meydan's own season begins on 6 November 2026 and runs to 27 March 2027, when the $12 million Dubai World Cup closes it.
Meydan holds 17 race meetings across those five months — the largest share of the 64 meetings the Emirates Racing Authority has scheduled across five UAE racecourses. Two fall in November, three in December, five in January, four in February and three in March.
The meetings that carry the international field are known collectively as the Dubai Racing Carnival, which runs from the November opening through to March and exists to bring overseas horses into form for World Cup night.
The practical point for Riviera is the day of the week. Meydan races mostly on Friday evenings, with the biggest nights — World Cup night on 27 March among them — falling on a Saturday. Friday is the same evening the Al Khail and Meydan Road approaches carry weekend traffic into MBR City. The racecourse is roughly a kilometre and a half away in a straight line, so the arrival and departure peaks are audible and visible from the district rather than something happening across town. Individual fixture dates and race times are published by the Dubai Racing Club as each programme is confirmed; the season shape above is the Emirates Racing Authority's own schedule.
Source: Emirates Racing Authority checked against the source
