Robbie Williams has been banned from performing at a Dubai racecourse.
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Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – the current ruler of Dubai – rejected Robbie’s concert request because the Feel singer terrified the sheikh’s thoroughbred racehorses when he performed there last year.
Dubai Racing Club chief Frank Gabriel said: “The concert affected the horses’ state of mind and their performance. That will not and must not happen ever again.”
Sheikh Mohammed is a major international figure in the breeding and racing of thoroughbred racehorses. He hosts the annual Dubai World Cup, which is the world’s richest series of horse races.
Robbie was paid a staggering UKP1 million to perform at a sell-out concert at the course in April 2006. The singer’s follow-up show was set to be the biggest concert ever held in Dubai.
Robbie isn’t the only music act to have upset equine residents.
In July, a Rolling Stones concert in Serbia was moved following fears the noise could distress horses who were housed in a nearby stable.
Serbian animal rights activists protested over plans to sedate the 300 animals during the event at Belgrade’s Hippodrome.
The show was later moved to a public park in Belgrade.
