An innovative training system for racehorses is being constructed in Lambourn and is on target to be completed within the year.

Turkish racehorse owner Mehmet Kurt is building the pioneering machine, called the
“Kurtsystem” (pictured), at Kingwood Stud — which he has owned since 2011.

The method — which has cost £20m to develop — involves horses being loosely tethered
within spacious cabins that are powered by an overhead monorail. The speed can be set from walk to canter around an oval circuit of just under a mile.

Lambourn is about to give birth to one of the most unusual projects in the history of
preparing young racehorses, a £6.5 million scheme that its founder predicts will
revolutionise training.
The KurtSystem, a futuristic construction that its inventor, Mehmet Kurt, believes
eliminates breakdowns in young animals caused by rider error, as well as
strengthening muscles and bones, is about to be built at Kingwood Stud.
The prototype was developed using more than 1,000 horses on Kurt’s farm in
southern Turkey. The horses are harnessed within what looks a little like a
rollercoaster, running along an overheard rail, which can monitor their heartbeat and
breathing. Under constant supervision, the horses move at varying speeds on a mileround
all-weather track.

Mehmet Kurt is a businessman whose ‘revolutionary’ method of training racehorses could transform the world’s bloodstock industry.
Under the so-called Kurtsystems – which reduces the risk of injury to thoroughbreds by removing potential jockey error in early training – young horses undergo screening to
determine their physiological capacity and proceed to be trained in harness on a mono-rail
system. Gradually, and safely, they become accustomed to carrying the equivalent ‘bulk’ of a jockey by having small weights placed incrementally on their back. ‘Mr Kurt’, as he is
known, claims that in Turkey, his prototype system is a proven winner. Now, the Kurtsystems is being introduced to Lambourn, where Mr Kurt is building his own equestrian centre at Kingwood Stud. The British racing industry awaits with interest.

 

Mehmet Kurt and Kingwood Stud were the principle sponsors of the Spectator magazine Cigar Awards 2014 on Sunday 16 Novmeber.

The event, which honoured Hollywood A-listers Kelsey Grammer and Arnold Schwarzenegger, was attended by leading members of the UK’s political, media and business establishment as well as a number of prominent horse racing journalists. Mehmet Kurt presented Arnold Schwarzenegger with the main prize of the evening, “Cigar Smoker of the Year”.

Kingwood Stud owner, Mehmet Kurt, has received permission to build his revolutionary Kurtsystem at Kingwood Stud.

Permission was granted by West Berkshire Council in January this year and work is set to begin in the Autumn.

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To learn more about the Kurtsystem project at Kingwood, click here.

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2013/lambourn-training-monorail-gets-green-light

Lambourn, a racing village craving a boost, will soon be the base for a revolution in
training. At first glance a throwback to Victorian times of horse-drawn transport, the rail
system is actually a high-tech approach aimed at eliminating human error.
It is the brainchild of Mehmet Kurt, 66, a Turkish industrialist who has now settled in
England with the express aim of installing a £7 million showcase version of the monorail
training method he first developed and trialled successfully in Istanbul.
Up to 14 horses are loosely tethered within purpose-built cabins and are then asked to
walk, trot or canter at varying speeds, monitored by ten cameras sending back instant,
sophisticated data to a control tower. Its main uses will be for pre-training and
rehabilitation.

TWO years from now, Lambourn is likely to witness an innovative machine for training horses as a result of West Berkshire council’s planning committee approving construction of a covered monorail system at Kingwood Stud.

 

 

LAMBOURN’S future as a horseracing centre of excellence has been boosted by planners’ approval of a futuristic horse training monorail. Despite some local objections, planning chiefs have given the go-ahead for the revolutionary Kurtsystem project at Kingwood Stud. The facility represents a major investment in Lambourn by owner Mehmet Kurt, one of Turkey’s leading industrialists and racehorse owners who has owned the winner of the Turkish Derby twice.

 

NEW investment has arrived in the Lambourn area, thanks to Turkish businessman Mehrnet Kurt, and – planning permission permitting – a unique racehorse pre-training method will follow soon in the shape of his revolutionary monorail system.

It is not only the Arabs who have an intimate, almost mystical
involvement with the horse. In Istanbul for the Topkapi Trophy, sitting
beside the largest kebab I have ever seen (and, I kid you not, it was more
than 12 feet long), I was reminded by my genial host Mehmet Kurt that
the horse was special to the Ottomans, too. Their warriors, he insisted,
were unbeatable. They never changed horses and their equine partners
often saved their lives with their uncanny ability to anticipate and counter
the enemy’s moves. There was perfect synchronisation of thought and
movement between horse and warrior.

Mehmet Kurt’s own orange and white colours have twice been carried to
victory in the Turkish Derby at Veliefendi and the prominent Istanbul
owner, a construction and property millionaire, plans to have horses soon
in Britain. Touring his stables some 50 minutes out of Turkey’s liveliest
city there was plenty on which to feast the eye, notably nice two-yearolds
by Montjeu, Rock of Gibraltar and Galileo. I particularly liked the look
of South Center, by Royal Abjar.