Amina Elbendary wrote in Al ahram Weekly

Muhammad Ali Pasha, Egypt's ruler during the first half of the 19th century, led the modern urbanisation of Shubra. He built the famous saray, Shubra Palace, in 1808-1809 as well as waterwheels to water the gardens. A wide avenue was laid out connecting the palace with Azbakiyya and the core of Cairo and by mid-century the Shubra Avenue had become a favorite upper-class carriage promenade. Shari' Shubra remains the main thoroughfare to Shubra and Rawd Al-Farag today. When the pasha found that the Egyptian army's horses were not breeding in good numbers, many of them falling sick and dying, he built new stables for horse breeding -- in Shubra Al-Khayma -- and placed them under the direction of a French veterinarian who introduced modern breeding practices. The new stables were clean, wide and airy, ensuring enough space for the horses. Fields were cultivated especially to feed these horses. The Shubra stables became the model which Egypt's horse breeding elite tried to emulate.