The United Arab Emirates (UAE), are set to introduce mechanical jockeys this year.

Not (unfortunately some might think) for the thoroughbred, but for camel racing.

For many years the UAE has used children as the jockeys for camel racing with many international rights reports suggesting that children, some as young as four, were being bought or abducted from countries such as Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen, solely for the purpose of camel racing.

Some of the boys were so young they had to be tied onto the camel in order to stay on.

The UAE has now introduced a new law officially banning the use of camel jockeys below the age of 16 and weighing less than 45kg.

The idea to use the mechanical jockey was that of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The system allows the instructor, via remote control, to guide the camel using the mechanical jockey, the same way as a human jockey would guide the camel.

The first prototype was tested last weekend and it is expected that they will be in use on race-day in August, 2005.