Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, owner of Manchester City, is understood to have intervened in the clean-up of endurance racing at the President's Cup ride in Abu Dhabi
By Pippa Cuckson
Six yellow warning cards were handed out, with two riders disqualified, at the 100-mile President's Cup ride in Abu Dhabi on Saturday as organisers finally reacted to global pressure to punish rule-breaking and horse abuse in Middle East endurance racing.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and owner of Manchester City, is understood to have intervened in the clean-up, and been instrumental in the installation of security cameras at vet-gates (vet check) areas and on the “crew” cars following the horses.
Representatives of Lord Stevens’ intelligence services company Quest, and International Equestrian Federation (FEI) endurance director Ian Williams were on hand to support officials.
The unprecedented move came days after Telegraph Sport’s exposure of horse-beating by a running groom, caught on video at a ride in Sakhir, Bahrain, on Feb 8.
The FEI later announced that the rider, winner Sheikh Mohammed Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, received a yellow card and was suspended.
The Telegraph
