Malaysia on track to host world equestrian meet

Thestar.com.my
By ERIC SAMUEL

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is set to host the FEI World Equestrian Championship (WEC) for the first time.

The event would be held at the Terengganu International Endurance Park (TIEP) in Setiu next year.

With the inaugural Sultan's Cup Terengganu Endurance Challenge at Lembah Bidong last year under their belt, event organisers Yayasan DiRaja Sultan Mizan are confident that they would meet the technical requirements of the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) in hosting the WEC.

The Sultan's Cup Terengganu Endurance Challenge 2006 and 2007 were official trial events for the WEC.

Yayasan DiRaja Sultan Mizan vice-chairman Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor said that to get the licence to host the WEC, they needed to host two trial events with a minimum completion rate of 40% of the participating field.

"We had a completion rate of 57% in last year's competition and we are confident of surpassing the mark this year," Dr Salleh said at a press conference after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin launched the second Sultan's Cup Terengganu Endurance Challenge at the Palace of the Golden Horses Thursday.

Some 40 local and international riders from 16 participating countries will be competing in the second Sultan's Cup Terengganu Endurance Challenge 2007, which will be held at the newly upgraded TIEP in Setiu from Nov 9-11 this year.

Participating countries are Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Holland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States.

Endurance horses primed for challenge of European Open

Gulf News

photo: Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum, defending individual champion, will be leading the UAE's campaign along with his brothers Shaikh Rashid, Shaikh Ahmad, Shaikh Mayed in the European Open, to be held in Portugal on September 8."

By M. Satya Narayan, Staff Reporter
Published: August 13, 2007, 22:48

Abu Dhabi: With His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, having named a strong team of UAE riders for the European Open Endurance Championship, the horses too are being primed for the prestigious championship.

Speaking to Gulf News from Newmarket, Esmaeel Mohammad, trainer of endurance horses for Shaikh Mohammad, said 12 horses have been nominated to partner the champion UAE riders, who are a dominant force in the sport of endurance, at the European Open Championship to be held in Portugal on September 8.

"We have entered 12 horses, though we had quite a few more horses that had qualified for the championship," Ismaeel said.

"Out of these 12 six runners and a spare horse will be named a week before the championship.

Shaikh Rashid Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum, Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum, Shaikh Ahmad Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum, Shaikh Mayed Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum, Shaikh Abdullah Al Qasimi, Sultan Bin Sulayem, Mohammad Al Sabousi and Mubarak Bin Shafya are the eight riders who have been selected by Shaikh Mohammad, who has himself won the European gold four times.

Shaikh Rashid is the current Asian Games gold medallist, while Shaikh Hamdan is the defending champion and Shaikh Ahmad a former world champion.

Together with Shaikh Mayed they also won the Asian Games team gold and quite a few other international rides. Shaikh Abdullah Al Qasimi finished third in the World Junior Championship, while Sultan Bin Sulayem won the bronze medal in the Asian Games in Qatar.

Strong contenders

Four riders will make it as the team members, while a further two will take a shot at individual honours.

The UAE will be starting off as strong contenders, though other Gulf riders from Qatar and Bahrain - along with the traditional European endurance powers France, Spain, Italy and hosts Portugal - will all pose a strong challenge.

"We moved most of our horses immediately after the UAE season ended in April and we have been training them here at our Newmarket base for over four months," said Esmaeel, who has trained most of the UAE horses that have won at international rides.

"The horses have taken part in three rides here in the UK and we will be moving the championship horses to Portugal about five days before the event," added Esmaeel.

GER: A Race in Krueth

Saturday August 11 2007 KREUTH RIDE

A cool gray misty morning greeted 21 riders on the 160 km at 5 AM, and 18 senior riders and 28 Junior riders on the 120 km at 6 AM, 23 riders on the 80 km (3 Juniors) at 7 AM, 11 riders on the 60 km at 8 AM, and also 12 riders on a 39 km ride ? enough to keep any of the veterinarians and stewards very busy!

Despite the fact that the German Championships were held just 2 weeks earlier, it was a large turnout of riders for the Kreuth Endurance ride, part of the 10th Show and Sportevent for Arabian Horses, put on by the ZSAA, the German National Breeding Association. Riders from 13 countries, and multiple champions from many countries showed up for the rides, including Italian Fausto Fiorucci (2001 European Champion), Frenchwoman Barbara Lissarague (2005 World Champion), Netherlands rider Carmen Romer (2007 Junior European Champion), Netherlands rider Yvonne Van Der Velde (2007 Dutch Champion), German Klaudia Al Samarraie (2007 German Endurance Champion, and wife of organizer Achmed Al Samarraie), and multiple German Junior Champion Annette Schwartze. (And I expect I probably left some champions out!)


[More ...]

---

GER: Kreuth CEIO, CEIOYR CEI**** 160km

Merri Meldi
EnduranceEurope.net
It's a truly international collection of riders, from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Oman, Slovakia, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemborg, Poland, Italy, France, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Great Britain.

Some riders to watch on Saturday include three Omanis riding horses from Jutta Schultheis's stable: Prince Loay bin Ghalib Al Said in the 160 km, his younger brother Prince Khalid bin Ghalib Al Said in the 120 km Jr ride, and Prince Ahmed bin Ghalib Al Said in the 60 km. Not because they are Princes, but because Prince Loay is riding one stunner of an Anglo Arabian horse, a gelding named Hedgard.

[More ...]

USA: Entries for the 2007 AERC National Championship

Returning Champion John Crandell III and Heraldic lead a field of 40 in the 2007 AERC National Championship 100 mile event to be held August 22-27 in the Owyhee Country of Southern Idaho.

The 55 Mile championship has a field of 44 ready to challenge the trails of high Idaho desert.

The August event will also provide FEI/CEI***, CEIYR*** as well as CEI** and CEIYR** divisions.

Complete Entry List

Official Event Site

Foot and mouth fears halt endurance event

Wiltshire Article

AN ENDURANCE riding event that attracted Dubai oil sheikhs to Swindon has been cancelled because of the foot and mouth crisis.

The Ridgeway Ride was due to take place on Saturday and Sunday at Barbury Castle, pitting long distance riders from across Britain against each other.

But the risk of spreading the disease during cross-country rides was too great and put the future of the event in jeopardy.

Jill Kent, 54, from Chiseldon, who was the co-organiser of the event with Mike Rowe, said: "It's a tremendous shame because the event was a real success last year.

"We had Sheikh Mohammed and his sons bring their Arabian horses here and people travelled from Scotland and Ireland.

"We held extensive consultations with landowners and the overall feeling was that we should cancel."
advertisement

The 280 entrants to the Endurance GB competition were set to ride in 20-mile loops around the Wiltshire countryside, through grazing land and along bridleways.

Jill said: "The nature of the discipline requires horses to go across country and therefore through different farms and estates.

"We do thorough health checks before each race, but it would not have been possible to eradicate the threat of spreading infection.

"We rely on landowners' goodwill to make the event a success, so it was decided to cancel to allow for a clear run next year."

Unfortunately for some competitors leaving Ireland and Scotland the call to cancel came too late.

Jill said: "Some people were setting out to come here when they received the news, which must have been disappointing.

"We have a tremendous range of people and horses come to the area, and after all the bad weather earlier in the summer this looked like being a success."

The ride originally took place in Chiseldon, but as more and more riders attended Jill switched venues.

She said: "We get stallions, geldings and mares competing, who all have different strengths.

"It's known throughout the UK and hopefully we will be back in 2008."

While The Gatcombe Horse Trials took place last weekend, Jill suspects that other horse shows will be cancelled in the coming weeks.

She said: "The movement of animals and trailers around the country introduces an element of risk that a lot of event stagers will want to avoid."

UAE team for European Open

Gulf News article
Staff Report
Published: August 05, 2007, 23:05

Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Sunday named the members of the UAE team who will take part in the European Open Endurance Championship.

UAE riders with outstanding international achievements were selected for the championship, to be held in Lisbon, Portugal early next month.

The team is headed by four of Shaikh Mohammad's sons - Shaikh Rashid, Shaikh Hamdan, Shaikh Ahmad and Shaikh Mayed.

It also includes Shaikh Abdullah Al Qasimi, Sultan Bin Sulayem, Mohammad Al Sabusi and Mubarak Bin Shafiah.

The event will see a strong participation by elite endurance riders from 40 countries including Qatar, Bahrain, France, Britain, Sweden and Norway.

UAE team

Shaikh Rashid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Shaikh Ahmad Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Shaikh Mayed Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Shaikh Abdullah Al Qasimi, Sultan Bin Sulayem, Mohammad Al Sabusi and Mubarak Bin Shafiah.