Bahrain: Top riders set for Equestrian Festival

Gulf-daily-news.com

January 31, 2010


BAHRAIN Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (Breef) president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa announced yesterday that His Majesty the King's Endurance Ride Championship will headline a one-day Equestrian Festival, set to take place on Saturday next week at the Bahrain International Endurance Village in Sakhir.

Shaikh Khalid approved the preparations for the event, which will be sponsored by Marsa Al Seef.

The endurance ride for His Majesty the King's Cup will be over 120 kilometres.

It is expected to attract many of Bahrain's best endurance riders from leading stables all across the kingdom. Many other top riders from all over the GCC may also compete.

The ride will kick start the festival with a flag-off at 7am.

Race

The race will then be run over five stages, starting with a 30km opening stage, followed by 29km and 25km legs.

The penultimate stage will be over 20km, while the final will cover 16km. Shaikh Khalid has ordered for prizes to be awarded for the winners of each stage in the race, to further raise the level of competition for all those taking part.

The festival will continue at 9am with a showjumping event for Grand Prix class riders.

At 10am, a competition featuring purebred Arabian horses will take place, followed by a special "Cowboy" event at 11am.

The awarding ceremony for all the events is expected to get underway at 1.30pm, to be followed by a raffle for all members of the public who attend, in which many attractive prizes can be won.