Laboratory clones are undermining fair play in camel racing 
Every year, from June 13 through the first week of September, summer camel races are held at the Taif camel racetrack. My father was passionate about them and owned a herd that he raced. He chose his former home in Al-Qadirah district to be close to the track but stopped racing after falling ill in 2004. It was later said that he had given up the herd before his death.
Racing camels are slender, aerodynamic animals that resemble greyhounds. These swift camels have extraordinary endurance. While even the best Western horses suffer heat exhaustion or stop running when temperatures exceed 45 degrees Celsius, Saudi camels can sprint at speeds of up to 65 km/h. Despite the extreme heat, their brain temperature does not rise, nor do they develop blood clots, reflecting a unique biological adaptation.
The prices of camels that win summer championships — known as champion camels — rise immediately, averaging SR5.65 million ($1.5 million) per camel. While the figure may seem astonishing, it is accurate.
Pricing of championship-winning camels was often excessive, and many transactions were clouded by doubt and suspicion. In some cases, camels were sold for up to 50 times their original value through a handshake, with payments made in cash rather than through banks, making the source of the funds difficult to trace.
Since May 2020, Saudi Arabia has reformed and regulated the camel sector by requiring all sales to be completed through bank transfers with electronic contracts. Ownership transfers are linked to the camel’s microchip, the Absher platform, and the General Authority for Competition.
Implemented by the Anti-Money Laundering Permanent Committee in cooperation with the Saudi Camel Federation and the Camel Club, these measures help detect suspicious transactions, refer them to the relevant authorities, and have transformed camel racing into a safe and well-regulated investment sector.
A practical solution would be to hold separate races for cloned camels and for camels bred naturally or through traditional embryo transfer, similar to the distinction between locally bred and imported horses. This would help preserve fair competition among owners
The issue extends beyond money laundering. Other dangerous practices include blood transfusions 48 hours before a race and the use of advanced growth hormones. Both can enhance performance by delaying muscle fatigue, especially in the final stretch of the race.
These methods are difficult to detect with traditional testing and are often discovered only after a camel has won. Testing can take weeks, delaying confirmation of cheating and the disqualification of winners because Saudi Arabia lacks a domestic reference laboratory. As a result, prize money may be withheld for up to 30 days while integrity certificates are awaited from an international laboratory.
A study published by the Saudi Arabian Anti-Doping Committee in June 2025, in collaboration with the College of Pharmacy at King Saud University, found that 14 percent of suspicious samples from camels in summer races contained sophisticated stimulant compounds. The study concluded that banning these substances and developing rapid testing methods could protect transactions worth about SR45 million annually from financial losses caused by legal disputes among owners.
The most challenging issue is camel cloning. Clones — genetically identical to championship winners — are permitted in camel racing but banned in horse racing, even though they raise similar concerns about fair competition. Because cloning is expensive, only wealthy owners can afford it, giving them a significant competitive advantage.
A practical solution would be to hold separate races for cloned camels and for camels bred naturally or through traditional embryo transfer, similar to the distinction between locally bred and imported horses. This would help preserve fair competition among owners.
Global attention to camel cloning remains limited because camel racing is largely confined to the Gulf states. By contrast, horse racing authorities prohibit cloned horses from competing in official races and require DNA testing to verify natural breeding. This is particularly significant given that the Saudi camel racing sector was valued at about SR4.38 billion between 2023 and 2026, according to reports from the Saudi Camel Federation, the Saudi Press Agency, and the Ministry of Sports.
The microchip currently approved by the Ministry of Environment stores only basic information about the owner and the camel for administrative and security purposes. Another chip is linked to traffic accidents. To better protect the camel market, however, the chip should also be linked to an encrypted genetic profile that verifies a camel’s lineage, identifies whether it was cloned, produced through embryo transfer, or naturally bred, and helps prevent fraud and price manipulation.
• Dr. Bader bin Saud is a columnist for Al-Riyadh newspaper, a researcher in media and knowledge management, a university professor and expert in crowd management and strategic planning, and the former deputy commander of the Special Forces for Hajj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia. X: @BaderbinSaud
