The event culminates in the Pride of Poland auction on Sunday evening, one of the world's most prestigious sales of purebred Arabian horses.
The 48th National Purebred Arabian Horse Show sees 123 horses competing after some withdrawals from an initial 126 entries.
Judges from Brazil, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Germany are scoring the animals across 15 classes, assessing type, head and neck, body, legs and movement out of a maximum 100 points.
According to Anna Stojanowska, an adviser to Poland's National Support Centre for Agriculture (KOWR), no horse has ever achieved a perfect score, though some have come close with 95 points.
Polish-bred Arabians are appreciated for their movement and correct legs and body, she said—a fine head, while popular, is comparatively easy to breed for, whereas the other traits take generations of selection to achieve.
Stallions are presented on Friday, with mares following on Saturday.
Champions will be named on Sunday across six categories, before the overall Best in Show is chosen.
The event's highlight is Sunday's Pride of Poland auction, now in its 57th year, where 15 mares and one stallion from the state studs of Janów Podlaski, Michałów and Białka will go under the hammer.
Buyers are expected from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Sweden, the United States and Brazil.
The mare Poganinka, an 11-year-old former champion from the Michałów stud farm, is tipped as this year's star lot, alongside the two-year-old El Bella, whose sire is a well-known Emirati stallion.
Last year's Pride of Poland auction saw 13 horses sell for a combined EUR 1.33 million, with a Swiss buyer paying EUR 430,000 for the mare Adelita—the top price of the sale.
A further Summer Sale auction of younger horses will follow on Monday.
A troubled recent history
The show comes after a difficult decade for the Janów Podlaski stud, Poland's oldest, founded in 1817.
Since 2015, the state-run stud has had seven different chief executives, most without equestrian expertise, and has repeatedly posted financial losses, including a deficit of more than PLN 3 million (EUR 700,000) in 2020.
A state audit covering the 2017-2021 period found irregularities in horse sales, while prosecutors are examining alleged financial mismanagement linked to the 2024 Arabian Horse Days event.
The stud also faced scrutiny after the deaths of two horses belonging to Shirley Watts, wife of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts.
Weronika Sosnowska, previously the stud's chief breeder, took over as CEO last year.
The Janów Podlaski stud farm currently holds around 400 horses.
(ał/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP