UAE: Al Baloushi brothers and fellow Emiratis take on the world in 160km President's Cup endurance race at Al Wathba

http://www.thenational.ae/featured-content/channel-page/sport/uae-sport/al-baloushi-brothers-and-fellow-emiratis-take-on-the-world-in-160km-presidents-cup-endurance-race-at-al-wathba
Amith Passela
Feb 12, 2011

photo:Maria Alvarez Ponton (1) leads Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (7) at the 2010 World Endurance Championship. John Sommers / Reuters

ABU DHABI
The reigning world champion Maria Alvarez Ponton of Spain and Valerie Kanavy, the two-time world champion from the United States, are among the top riders in today's President's Cup endurance race at the Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Wathba.

Ponton, who trains endurance horses in Dubai with her husband, Juma Punti Dachs, won the world title from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, in the US last September.

Today, Ponton will compete aboard Iska, a 15-year-old Anglo-Arab. When she rode at the world championship in Lexington, Kentucky last year, she was on Nobby, a purebred Arabian of the same age.

Kanavy, the winner of the world title in 1994 and 1998, is one of the five riders from the US who will compete in today's 160km race. She rides Spectacular Gold, a nine-year-old bay gelding.

She won on Gold Raven over the same distance at the Dupuis Equestrian Centre near Indiantow, Florida, at the first US endurance meeting of the season in January. The Al Reef Stables' al Baloushi brothers, Yousef Ahmed and Sultan Ahmed, have won the last two runnings of the race and they post the biggest challenge in a field that also include past winners Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, the Crown Prince of Dubai; Hassan bin Ali and Abdulla Khamis Ali Saeed.

"The President's Cup is the biggest endurance prize in Abu Dhabi and is the dream of every rider to win it," said Yousef Ahmed al Baloushi, who trained and rode the 2008 winner Charlendre El Sharif, who repeated that success under Sultan Ahmed, the younger brother, last year.

Yousef has been the most successful trainer/rider in the domestic season for the past five years and he is riding Elphyn Silverlight, a nine-year-old grey gelding.

He also trained OH-Jay, the winner of the Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed Cup, another 160km race in Dubai in January, ridden by his cousin Omair Hussain al Baloushi.

"We have had a lot of success because we have prepared the horses well, and we also are quite fortunate to have some good horses in training," he said. "A 160km race will test the best of the horses but we are hopeful."

It was announced yesterday the Netherlands will host the second World Arabian Horse Racing Conference from June 16-18 following the success of the inaugural conference in Abu Dhabi last September.

UAE: Presidents Cup

Pamela Burton reports on the 2011 UAE President's Cup

"I’m off to Abu Dhabi! When the winter chill hits the riding trails, we are all thinking of warm breezes, a perfect time to visit the Arabian Gulf ~ well, if it is Abu Dhabi. The winter weather in Abu Dhabi is like Palm Springs ~ lovely for all snowbirds to warm up, enjoy the turquoise sea near the water and inland, desert jeep safaris complete with camels to ride and a “almost” genuine Arabic feast ~ and don’t forget the dancing girls!

February is also the annual Abu Dhabi Endurance Invitational, the President of the UAE Cup, known as “The President’s Cup”. The 2011 ride has invited 20 horses and riders from Europe and North America. Valerie Kanavy, Deborah Reich and Ceci Butler-Stasiuk will be the US representatives. While Valerie has many times been to the UAE, it will be the first trip for Deborah and Ceci. Jason Stasiuk, Ceci’s husband, called yesterday and said Ceci was scheduled to leave that evening with all three horses from Miami. ”She is so excited she is about to burst,” he said.

The ride started in 2000 with about 14 National riders, but now is a popular ride to show off horses from the many stables in the Gulf States. The ride is high profile, with many of the world’s top ranked riders invited, but it is assuredly tipped in favor of the home teams. The horses that have been trained in the hot desert climate on the sandy terrain by professional trainers have the upper hand, as much as the Alaska bred Iditarod dogs have in that race over a one owner team of dogs bred and trained in Milwaukee. That said, the Invited Riders know to ride to their horses’ ability and not try to race to the lead.

In any case, it’s a great adventure. The Arabs (the people not the horses) are known for their hospitality to guests and will have some fun treats in store for the riders including tours of local horse farms. There is big prize money and a car goes to the winner…and in the past there was payout for every rider that completed the ride. I’ll have more details after the Friday, February 11th Press Conference.

More news as it comes. By the way, the temperature in Abu Dhabi at present is 70 degrees F (20 C) and it is night time. They are 12 hours ahead in time (GMT+4)."

Current: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday vet-in -
Read more at Pamela's blog

Abu Dhabi: Stage set for 90 riders to undergo gruelling 160km Endurance Cup

Sport360.com

Friday, 11 February 2011

Ninety riders from over 10 countries are set to lock horns in the His Highness The President of United Arab Emirates Endurance Cup on Saturday.

Fifteen riders from the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Slovakia will line up alongside their counterparts from the UAE and the GCC in the 160km endurance horse race at the Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Wathba, as they bid to become the first-ever non-Emirati winners of the event.

Starting at 6am and running until 10.30pm, the race is split into six phases of between 16km and 34km, with two recovery inspection periods after the fourth and fifth loop. Last year’s race was won by Sultan Ahmed Al Bloushi, on Charlandre El Sharif, in a time of 06:21:12.

And the rider has again been in good form this season, winning the National Day Cup in December.

The top-three riders will each get their hands on a set of keys for a shiny new car, as will the winners of the team event.

The race is run under the directives of His Highness The President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, under the supervision of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Presidential Affairs.

The event is also held in conjunction with the Al Wathba Stud Farm, Abu Dhabi Sports Council, Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage, Invest AD, Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition 2011, Areej Al Ameerat and HSBC Bank.

Declan Hegarty, HSBC’s Managing Director and Head of Business, Abu Dhabi said: “HSBC is proud to support Abu Dhabi and ADIHEX in celebrating Emirati culture and pastimes as the UAE continues to set the model of economic development for the Middle East.”

On a positive day for purebred Arabian horses, it was also announced by the Global Arabian Horse flat Racing Festival that the World Arabian Horse Racing Conference would be back for a second year, to be held in The Hague.

The conference will be held from June 16-18 and follows from the successful 2010 event that took place in Abu Dhabi.

By Martyn Thomas

Spain: 16th annual Cron Raid

February 7 2011

The 16th Raid Cron, a CEI*** 120 km test, will be held on 12 March 2011 near St Pere de Torello, outside of Vic, in Catalonia, Spain.

On 13 March, the 20 km, 40 km, and 60 km Cron Promotion ride will also be held at the same venue.

The route of the 120 km will be the same as last year's and can be found at http://raidcron.blogspot.com/ as well as additional information.

Australia's Top Ranked 2010 Riders

AERA.ans.au

Australia’s top rider Ceinwen Morgan, who placed 170 world-wide, rode a perfect season finishing 6 events entered on 6 different horses. All Ceinwen’s events in were off-continent in the United Arab Emirates and Great Britain. Mathew Sample, who represented Australia at the World Championship in Kentucky, was Australia’s second place rider in FEI standings with an overall placing of 215. Mr. Sample finished four rides out of four starts in Australia winning two events with Tarrangower Crecendo.

The Australian Meydan FEI Open Combination Horse and Rider team was Mathew Sample and his mount from the World Equestrian Championship, Tarrangower Crecendo. The pair finish 276 place overall in the FEI World Ranking. Crecendo and Matthew had the winning time at the Kalbar CEI3* 160 – 15.7 km per hour.

Top Young Rider Alexandra Toft Wins Dual Honors. Alexandra rode 5 competitions on 4 different horses to secure Australia’s top FEI Medyan Ranked rider. Alexandra placed 13th in the overall ranking winning the CEIYJ2* 120 Imbil QLD, riding Magum owned by Toft Endurance. It was the Alexandra and Magum team that also captured Australia’s top spot in the Young Riders Combination World Ranking. The pair were ranked 31st in the FEI World Wide Ranking.

Australasian Endurance Conference & Forum

NZEquestrian.org.nz

2/02/2011

Goal of the Conference:

The primary role of the conference is to achieve the aspirations of the FEI Code of Conduct as written below:

Code of Conduct FEI

The FEI urges all involved with the sport to attain the highest levels of education in their areas of expertise.

The secondary goals are:

* Discuss the implementation of the new rules and the implications of the new star rating for treatment veterinarians;

* Improve the understanding of the roles of officials in particular: Ground Jury, Technical Delegate, Foreign Veterinary Delegate and members of the Veterinary Commission;

* Discuss the changes to the Veterinary Regulations with regard to medication control;

* Discuss the examination of horses during competition especially metabolics and lameness;

* Discuss the issues relating to the treatment of horses at endurance rides;

* Forum on the future of international competition: Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Japan & Thailand;

* Discuss improved nutrition and training methods for endurance horses;

* Discuss issues related to rider safety.

Date: 8th, 9th & 10th of June 2011

Venue: Centr@l Bardon Conference Venue, 390 Simpsons Road, Bardon, Queensland, Australia.

Enquiries: Veterinary. Dr Brian Sheahan, email: Brian@samfordvets.com.au
Officials: Barbara Macdonald Timms email: barbt78@bigpond.com

For more information see:
http://www.nzequestrian.org.nz/Article.aspx?Mode=1&ID=727&ESID=4711

New Zealand: North Island Champs - Kurutau

North Island Champs - Kurutau - 22-23rd January 2011

It was a mother-daughter victory at Taupo’s IRT North Island Endurance Champs last month with Susan Reid on Makahiwi Achilles recording a back to back win in the IRT CEI 3* 160km ride (following up from last year’s win in the same class) and daughter Sian Reid, riding AA Oscar, taking out the IRT CEI 2* 120km ride the next day.

Taupo hosted the event at Kuratau in very wet conditions on January 22 and 23 with some describing the event as “aquatic endurance”, the rain was so persistent, especially on day two. However most rode well and completion rates were very high, proving that this track will be more than up to scratch for the Nationals being run here at Easter this year, under hopefully much better conditions.

For Susan Reid it was an emphatic win on the 15 year old “Chilli”, owned by Pip Mutch, the combinations’ third win from three starts within 12 months at 3* level, which must be something of an NZ record for sure.

The ever consistent Jenny Champion and Freckles finished second in the 3* 160km ride (and was later awarded Best Conditioned Horse), 40 odd minutes behind Reid and just ahead of third placed Mark Tylee and Jacob, and Michael Wakeling riding Iti, their first start at this level to finish a very credible fourth. Eight out of the 11 starters qualified in this top class, a great tribute to event organizers and track markers.

Sian Reid and AA Oscar won the 2* 120km class of 30 combinations by over 20 minutes and also claimed Best Conditioned, rounding out a great weekend for the Reid’s with their third horse, AA Sabatage, ridden by Rosemary Revell, placing third in the IRT CEI 1* 90km ride.

23 combinations excelled in the IRT 2* 120km with the top three finishing in under eight hours. Behind Sian Reid was Raewyn Carter and Maioro Fire, followed by Sean Trafford and Sayfwood Rolling Stone.

Five out of six Juniors/Young Riders completed their 2* 120km with Emma Armstrong and Craig Royston O’Ryan winning by over an hour from Georgia Smith (Glenmore Astroid), and sole CEN 120km Open competitor Natasha Guest on Cyden Manana completed their first ride at this level.

The IRT CEI 1* 90km ride also was big – 30 combinations again, and five in the Junior/Young Rider class. Riding at and winning his first 1* was Frank Aldridge riding Merimindi Finali, finishing in 5:49:04 and just over a minute ahead of second-placed Maxi Mueller on Mauku Mistique, who was followed closely by Revell. The Young Riders were only slightly slower, Amanda Walton and Lotus Blue Moon finishing strongly to take out the championship class at this level.

The 60km Championship classes were contested by 16 Opens and 3 Juniors with a total of 15 qualifiers.

Hopefully this event will be remembered for the champions that excelled, the OC, vets and officials who made it what it was and the tracks for what they were, despite the rain.