FEI: Princess vows to solve horse doping issues

GMAnews.tv
04/12/2009

VEVEY, Switzerland — When Princess Haya of Jordan took over as president of equestrian's world governing body, she was tasked with fighting the sport's increasingly public doping problems.

Now that her own husband is at the center of the most recent doping case, her task has become a lot more difficult.

The princess is finding herself under increased scrutiny after Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, announced this week that a horse he owns and rides twice failed doping tests after endurance races that were sanctioned by his wife's organization — the International Equestrian Federation.

Addressing the situation to The Associated Press, Princess Haya said she fears that a "few individuals" who oppose "the increase in democracy and the fight against corruption in the FEI" will use the doping revelation to undermine her position.

"I have no doubt ... that they will use this case in any way they can to injure and damage the reputations of myself and my family," the princess said in an e-mail reply to the AP.

She did not specify which individuals she was referring to, but said she hoped the disciplinary case pending against Sheik Mohammed may end up strengthening the FEI's drive toward drug-free competitions.

"(The FEI's) own image is only in jeopardy if it does not act in a clear, transparent and timely fashion," she said.

The princess will take no part in deciding her husband's penalty, with a senior colleague assuming her presidential powers when the case is considered. She also informed the ethics panel at the International Olympic Committee, having been an IOC member since 2007.

It is a bitter twist for the former show jumping Olympian who was picked, in large part, to combat doping.

At an election three years ago, most of the 134 national members felt it needed change after three gold medalists at the 2004 Athens Games were stripped of their titles in doping cases.

"They were very specific in saying they didn't want a princess, they wanted a working president," Princess Haya told the AP in a recent interview.

She said equestrian had become "mediocre" within the Olympic movement, where it made its debut in 1912.

"They hadn't reinvented themselves as other sports had," she said. "I understand what the IOC wants from us — content, transparency, good governance, a clear stand on doping."

The Beijing Games magnified the problems, despite exciting medal contests. The IOC criticized judging standards in dressage, and six horses failed drug tests, resulting in their riders being suspended. One case, involving Norway's bronze medal in team jumping, is under appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"That has left an enormously bad taste among the general public but it's certainly not reflective of our family," Princess Haya said. "We have paid a very, very high price for actually trying to do the right thing."

At the FEI's assembly in Buenos Aires last November, she invited all members to contribute to a review of medication use and doping standards led by Arne Ljungqvist, the chairman of the IOC's medical commission. The Swedish doping expert will publish his report in the summer.

She also persuaded the FEI's dressage committee to resign. She said her leadership became "much stronger and more forceful than I would have liked."

In the interview, she said her resolve can be traced to her father — the late King Hussein of Jordan — who struck a deal with her during her 17-year show jumping career.

"My father made me promise him that it (her jumping) would amount to something," she said. "He said 'You can't just drop all the obligations you have to the country and follow a dream.'"

Princess Haya said she studied how equestrian was organized, and remembered her father's teaching that even in sport, peace is first achieved by politics.

Like King Hussein, Sheik Mohammed has put sport at the heart of Dubai's business model.

The 59-year-old sheik rode his own horse, Tahhan, in 120-kilometer (74.5-mile) endurance races at Bahrain in January and Dubai in February when it failed doping tests performed by his own staff. Both times the hypertension drug guanabenz was present. After the Bahrain race, a metabolite of the anabolic steroid stanozolol was found.

In a statement issued on his behalf Monday, Sheik Mohammed — also one of the world's foremost breeders and owners of thoroughbred race horses — accepted that he was legally responsible for the doping. He ordered an investigation of his stables and the findings shared with the FEI.

Princess Haya acknowledged that endurance race doping is a problem in the Middle East.

"The FEI has been struggling to deal with the number of doping cases," she said in her e-mail, adding that her husband could help change attitudes. "The effect will be felt more surely and more quickly than the FEI has been able to achieve to date."

King Hussein died in 1999, just 18 months before his daughter rode for Jordan at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and carried the country's flag at the opening ceremony.

Princess Haya says she felt "robbed" of his wisdom, though still determined to "amount to something."

"I can keep a promise to the person who was my whole world," she said. "That is why I am so earnest about it. I so want to do a good job." -AP
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Bahrain: Crown Prince Endurance championship flagged off

Gulf Daily News
April 11, 2009


CROWN Prince and Supreme Council for Youth and Sports president Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa yesterday evening flagged off the second Crown Prince Endurance Horseride Championship. The event took place throughout the night at the Bahrain International Endurance Village in Sakhir, and will conclude early this morning.

More than 40 riders, headlined by Royal Endurance Team captain and Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (Breef) president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, began the endurance season's first night race, which has been sponsored by Durrat Al Bahrain.

Also among the participants are Breef first vice-president and Al Khaldiya Stable captain Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and top riders Layla Al Reda, Rachel Lula, Jaffer Mirza, Noor Alddin, Shereen Fayez, Nezar Hassan, Mohammed Al Thawadi, Raed Mahmood, Abdul Samad, Ahmed Al Qaud, Fahad Ismail and Mohammed Nasser.

Stages

The 120-km championship features races for senior and junior riders, held over five stages.

The first two stages are over 30km each, followed by 25km and 20km legs. The final stage will be over 15km.

Two qualifying races also took place yesterday prior to the main event start after the mandatory veterinary examinations took place conducted by Breef officials.

The warm-up events were over 85km and 60km, with the first featuring three stages of 30km, 30km, and 25km distances; and the second comprising two 30km legs.

Also prior to the race flagging off, Shaikh Nasser and the Crown Prince held brief discussions, during which the Breef chief thanked the Crown Prince for patronising the event and backing Bahraini riders in different competitions. The Breef chief also expressed appreciation to Durrat Al Bahrain for their generous support.


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Woman departs on four-year horse adventure

Horsetalk.co.nz
April 10

A British woman has set off on a four-year equestrian adventure retracing an ancient trading route.

London-born Becky Sampson, 25, is taking her 10-year-old piebald pony, Bertie, on a journey following the centuries-old Silk Road trading route, ending her journey in Japan.

The trip will span two continents, 15 countries and cover more than 15,000km. She set off from east London on April 1.

Her horseback ride will take in Western and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, China and Japan. Challenges ahead include the Tien Shan Mountains and the Taklamakan Desert (which translates as "he who goes in does not come out").

Temperature extremes will range as high as 50 degrees Celsisus to as low as -20.

Both Sampson and Bertie have been in training for the journey. Sampson has completed first aid and survival courses, as well as obtaining a teaching qualification that will enable her to earn money as a teacher while travelling.

Sampson says she has known from the age of 10 that she wanted to travel by horse.

"An article I read about a man who was halfway through a ride around the world further fuelled my dream, and I knew at that moment that that was what I wanted to do," she says.

Her first taste of adventure came when she was 17, after begging her father for years to allow her to travel.

"My persuasive powers paid off; I swapped school books for suncream and travelled solo throughout Europe."

On her return, she studied agriculture, which gave her the opportunity to own her first horse.

"Seastorm and I didn't bother with horse boxes. When it came to the holidays, we would ride home. The sense of freedom was exhilarating.

"It also served as an introduction to the problems faced by long riders - finding suitable places to ride; the wear on horse shoes; finding places to stay for the night. That was my first introduction to long-distance riding, and gave me a thorough grounding in travelling by horse."

A couple of years later, while riding on the border with China and Tibet, she met a girl who was on her way to Kashgar - a major trading port on the Silk Road.

"I'd never heard of it before, and as she described it to me, I began to imagine myself riding along the Silk Road, following the routes of traders that would have travelled to the markets of Kashgar centuries ago.

"It wasn't until I returned to England that my dreams started coming together. One of my ambitions had been to have a horse in London and ride from home to 'somewhere'."

During her research she dicovered that the most Eastern point of the Silk Road was actually at Nara, in Japan.

The trip was extended to join up two major cities, London in the West and Tokyo in the East.

Sampson says she has the "basics" in several languages which should help her on her travels.

"I still have the article of the man who rode round the world; in fact, I have since spoken to him for advice. I hope that by the end of this adventure, I can be an inspiration to others who want to journey by horse."

Sampson intends to cross Europe during the northern summer and spend winter working in Turkey as a teacher, before pressing on.

In 2010, she intends crossing into Iran and through the Central Asian states, wintering in Kyrgyzstan.

The following year she will enter China and head for Xian, then Shanghai. If everything goes to plan, she will journey by boat in 2012 to Osaka and then head on to Tokyo, then Nara.

She aims to raise £15,000 for a charity, SOS Children, during the ride.

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Malaysia: King to join in endurance ride

New Straits Times Online

2009/04/09

MALACCA: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin will join local and international horse riders in the Melaka Grand Invitational Endurance Ride starting tomorrow.

Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob had invited the king to officiate and participate in the inaugural event, which will end on Monday.

"Tuanku Mizan has confirmed his participation in the the race," Ali said.

To be held at the Hang Jebat Stadium and the tracks surrounding it in Krubong here, the event is expected to attract members of the Malaysian Equestrian Association as well as participants from Singapore, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea.

"More than 130 participants, including 10 foreign riders, will participate in the championship aimed at placing the World Heritage City on the world map for endurance horse-riding events," Ali said.
The event is divided into the 40km, 80km and 120km races with the king taking part in the 80km race with his steed, Magna Thor.

New Zealand: Champion seeking endurance hat-trick

Times-age.co.nz

09.04.2009
By Gary Caffell

Eketahuna horsewoman Jenny Champion is seeking a hat-trick of victories in the 160km ride at the national endurance riding championships at Whareama tomorrow.

Champion and her part-Arab mare Freckles tasted success at Hawarden in mid-Canterbury in 2006 and Kurow in North Otago last year and they will be amongst the more favoured combinations again.

Not a big horse, Freckles should be suited by the Whareama course which does contain

some hills but is mainly flat in nature.

However, if she is to chalk up win number three she will probably need to finish well inside last year's winning time of 10hrs 43mins 13secs.



"The course is fast and should suit us but when you have that many kilometres to cover you don't take anything for granted," Champion said.

"It's very much down to the day, you can never be too confident."

As it happens one of Champion's main rivals is likely to be her partner Shane Dougan, who is president of the host club, the Wairarapa Endurance and Competitive Trail Riding Club. He will be riding Taralea Sheer Illusion.

Look too for big efforts from last year's runner-up Mark Tylee on Class Act and Murray Smith on Glenmore Toyboy.

The three-star 160km ride actually gets under way at 1am tomorrow morning with the 30-plus participants being guided through the darkness by fluorescent markers and by the wearing of head lamps.

One-star and two-star championship events will be ridden over shorter distances on Saturday and Sunday.

New Zealand: 100 horses start Endurance Nationals

Dominion Post
April 8

Well over 100 horses and riders are entered to compete in the National Endurance Championships to be held in Wairarapa at Easter.

Wairarapa Endurance and CTR Club President Shane Dougan says the host club is delighted by the strong number of entries from all over New Zealand and was looking forward to a highly successful championships.

There are 32 horse and rider combinations entered in the longest-distance ride, the CEI three-star 160km event, which begins at 1am on Easter Friday.

Riders entered in the three-star ride include several past winners of island and national championship titles, including Murray Smith riding Glenmore Toyboy, Shane Dougan riding Taralea Sheer Illusion, Jenny Champion riding Freckles, and Mark Tylee riding Class Act, so competition should be intense.

Shane Dougan says the 160km ride will be held over six loops covering farmland around the ride base at Whareama Domain, east of Masterton. He says much of the course is flat, with some rolling hills and mostly good conditions underfoot, so it is likely to be a fast track and many competitors will not need to take anything like the maximum 16 hours allowed to complete the course.

"We wanted to set a course that is challenging for some of the best endurance riders in New Zealand, but we also wanted to make it a fair go, and give everyone a reasonable chance of completing the course successfully," he says. "I think the course we have at Whareama will achieve that."

Another 31 riders are entered in the 120km two-star event on Easter Sunday (including 11 riders in the junior 120km), 28 riders (including 9 juniors) in the one-star event on the Saturday, and 11 riders in the Competitive Trail Ride events on the Saturday. The club also expects significant numbers of entries in the 40km ride on the Sunday and 80km on the Saturday (entries are taken right up till the day of these non-championship rides).

Wairarapa Endurance and CTR Club is grateful for the support of the Whareama community, landowners and sponsors who have made the event possible. In particular significant sponsorship from Mitavite, Trust House and Tuff Rock has provided valuable support to the championships.

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UAE: Sheikh Mohammed 'bans himself' after his horses test positive

Horse and Hound
Abigail Butcher, H&H news editor
7 April, 2009

Two horses belonging to and ridden by Sheikh Mohammed have tested positive to banned substances during competition.

The horses were tested last week during routine post-competition checks by Sheikh Mohammed's personal staff in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Two banned substances — Guanabenz and 16b Hydroxy-Stanozol — were found by his team after an international and national endurance competitions in the UAE.


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