Al Shira'aa Stables, which is now naming the competition in Falsterbo, has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Behind the company stands Sheikha Fatima bint Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is part of Abu Dhabi's royal family.
The new sponsorship deal has sparked widespread criticism - mainly due to the United Arab Emirates' lack of human rights.
Many link the agreement to sportswashing, where authoritarian states use sports to improve their reputation.
Anna Vidén is a researcher at the Middle East and North Africa program at the Foreign Policy Institute.
It's an enormously patriarchal society where women have very few rights. Then we have the entire kafala system, with migrant workers that they have tried to reduce the number of. But there have been no revolutionary changes, says Vidén.
Repressive regime
She describes the regime as repressive, where dissenting voices, or opinions seen as a threat to the leaders' eyes, are eliminated.
There are enormous problems.
At the same time, she notes that the new partnership with Falsterbo is not necessarily an example of sportswashing.
I think they rather see the investments made with Falsterbo and other well-known competitions as a genuine attempt from them to profile themselves within equestrian sports. Where they see it as a fairly large monetary market that gives prestige.
In addition to Falsterbo, Al Shira'aa Stables also sponsors the Hickstead Derby in the UK and the Hamburg Derby.
I think they want to be where it's interesting to be. And then Falsterbo is a bit prestigious. Then they might think they haven't entered the Nordic market yet, and then it can be a good start now, says Anna Vidén.
"Show off"
Vidén highlights how important the horse is in many Arab states. Owning a fine Arabian horse is seen as a status symbol.
But it's impossible to completely rule out that the sponsorship might be a possible strategy for the United Arab Emirates, she says.
It's an enormously rich country. They want global companies to have their headquarters there. So part of the investments is to show off as better.
Other countries clearly associated with the concept of sportswashing are neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Little political influence
All three are states with very little political agency for the common man. It's about creating societies and symbols on a global scale, which makes people in these countries proud and continue to accept not having any direct political agency.
TT has been in contact with Falsterbo's chairman, Jan-Olof Wannius, who refers to an interview with DN. There, he said, among other things, that the competition still "stands for the values that are the core of Swedish sports".
With the knowledge we have about Al Shira'aa Stables and Sheikha Fatima, I haven't made the connection that the country would want to be involved in Falsterbo on Sweden's southern coast for sportswashing, he said.
