Camel Jockeys- The Remote Controlled Version!
Now, this is one of the coolest things I’ve seen for a long time – remote controlled Camel Jockeys, otherwise known as Robot Jockeys. Unlike the Camel Cup in Australia which uses real humans and is more of a novelty event, the Dubai Camel Racing Club uses small, two kilogram mechanical jockeys to propel the camels around the race track. This makes the sport a lot safer as kids were once used as jockeys because of their size and weight, but using the motorised version makes Camel Racing an interesting spectacle to observe.
What happens is that the camels are followed around the track on the outside by a convoy of Toyota Landcruisers that have the operators dictating the whipping rate. Sounds hard to imagine, but stick with me.
Just near the Dubai Camel Racing club are a series of Robot Jockey shops that construct these cool things. Depending on quality and features, they fetch around 300 to 1000 dirhams, or roughly start around 80 US dollars.
Here is a photo of these robot Camel Jockeys that have been dressed up a bit.
But underneath, there is a small motor that propels the whip. These motors are the heart and soul of these Camel Jockeys!
You can even see them being hand made! I reckon the United Arab Emirates could potentially have a new export market here for people who like to be whipped!
Robot Camel Jockeys – The Video Version
I interviewed Waqar from Arabian Adventures. When he first mentioned that the Dubai camel races use robot jockeys, I thought he was taking the piss! But he was for real, and he provides a good explanation of how they work, and also this shows how big they are in comparison to human beings!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPRmC47X_7s[/youtube]
Anyway, stay tuned for a later post where I go to the Camel Races in Dubai. Believe me, it’s absolute gold!
See more at Definitely Dubai!