Mansour Festival to stage two rides in France

Gulfnews.com

Compiegne, Tarbes venues for the events

Staff Report
Published: 17:45 May 13, 2013

Abu Dhabi: The Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival announced their association with international endurance rides here at a press conference on Monday.

Lara Sawaya, Director of the Festival and Head of International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR) Ladies Racing, said two rides will be held under the banner of the Festival starting with a 160-km ride later this month.
“We are proud to announce that the Festival will now be officially involved in two international endurance rides under the directives of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affair,” Sawaya said.
“The first ride is a CEI-O three-star Nation Cup ride which will be over a distance of 160km in Compiegne, France, and will be the last 160-km ride before the World Equestrian Games. There will be participants from all over the world, including from the UAE, and this race will take place on May 24 with pre-inspection on May 23,” she said.

Great Britain: Al Beloushi flies the flag for UAE with Royal victory

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

Emirati riders finish one-two in historic ride held at Windsor Great Park

By Leslie Wilson JrRacing & Special Features Writer
Published: 18:57 May 11, 2013

Dubai: Rashid Mohammad Ebrahim Al Beloushi did the UAE proud by winning the inaugural Royal Windsor Endurance CEI 2* ride held in association with and presented by the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

Riding the seven-year-old grey gelding Bucanero, Al Baloushi completed the challenging 120km course around the centuries-old Windsor Great Park in a time of 4 hours, 32 minutes and 34 seconds.

Saeed Ahmad Jaber Al Harbi made it a memorable day for the UAE when he finished in second place aboard the 16-year-old Australian mare Castlebar Kadeen. Al Habri timed 4:39:39 secs.

Dace Sainsbury, a 20-year-old top-placed British rider, was third with French Lieutenant (4:48:32)...

Read more here:
http://gulfnews.com/sport/horse-racing/al-beloushi-flies-the-flag-for-uae-with-royal-victory-1.1182107

Great Britain: Horseshoe Endurance Ride to host para class

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

By Horsetalk.co.nz on May 08, 2013 in Focus

Britain’s famous Golden Horseshoe Endurance Ride over Exmoor is including an invitation-only event for Para riders this year.

The ride, from May 12 to 14, has eight competitive classes and will this year host the 48th running of the famous Golden Horseshoe, which in its early days was 75 miles long but is now a daunting 100 miles...

Read more here:
http://horsetalk.co.nz/2013/05/08/golden-horseshoe-endurance-para-class/#axzz2Sqn5DHFR

Major blow for Endurance GB as Dubai Equestrian Club pulls plug on Euston Park sponsorship

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

Endurance riding in Great Britain has suffered a huge blow with the Dubai Equestrian Club pulling its blanket sponsorship of Euston Park, axing the Thetford venue’s entire 2013 calendar.

By Pippa Cuckson
10:00PM BST 09 May 2013

The loss of four major race rides — to endurance riding, the equivalent of horse racing losing both Newmarket and Ascot – was announced in a single sentence on Euston Park’s website, which effectively shut down on Wednesday. The national governing body, Endurance GB, has not been offered a reason.

The development follows a week of further publicity surrounding doping cases within Sheikh Mohammed’s wider equine interests including Telegraph Sport's disclosure on Wednesday that some 20 horses trained in stables owned by the Maktoum family in Dubai had been involved in FEI doping cases since 2005.

Telegraph Sport understands that prior to the revelations that led to Sheikh Mohammed’s racehorse trainer, Mahmood Al Zarooni, being banned for eight years, Endurance GB was already resisting proposals for another "private ride" not under the rules of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI).

A similar concept was staged at Euston in August 2009 which enabled Sheikh Mohammed and three other riders, all then serving FEI suspensions, to compete...

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/10047857/Major-blow-for-Endurance-GB-as-Dubai-Equestrian-Club-pulls-plug-on-Euston-Park-sponsorship.html

Australia: Countdown to Tom Quilty Gold Cup in Kilkivan

Horsezone.com.au - Full Article

COUNTDOWN TO TOM QUILTY GOLD CUP ENDURANCE RIDE - KILKIVAN 7-9 JUNE 2013
Published on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 in General

Sponsored by Events Queensland, it’s only four weeks until Australia’s world famous 160km endurance horse ride begins. The rural township of Kilkivan, located in south-east Queensland, will proudly host the 2013 Tom Quilty Gold Cup from June 7-9.

Current national champion, Brook Sample, 38, of Kenilworth, who already has six Quilty Cups to his name, plans to compete again this year and hopes to make 2013 his 7th victory.

Brook has competed regularly in this iconic endurance horse ride since reaching the qualifying age of 12. His first 160km ride was the Quilty in South Australia in 1986 when he placed first in the Junior Division.

He has ridden in the Quilty 12 times, each time finishing in the top 10 and winning first place in 1990, 1995, 2002, 2009, 2010 and 2012 – a record unmatched by any other Australian endurance rider.

“What drives me to keep going back to the Quilty is testing my horsemanship skills in the biggest ride in the country and against the best riders in the country,” explained Brook, as he prepared for this year’s challenge...

Read more here:
http://horsezone.com.au/news/countdown-to-tom-quilty-gold-cup-endurance-ride-kilkivan-7-9-june-2013-3776/

Great Britain: Euston Park FEI Rides 2013 Cancelled

Endurancegb.co.uk

08 May 2013

It is with regret that EnduranceGB have to inform you that the Dubai Equestrian Club have decided to withdraw their sponsorship from the FEI rides at Euston Park for 2013.

This will mean that the Euston Park series of FEI rides will not be available this summer. There are opportunities to compete in FEI rides at Bocconoc, Kings Forest, Seacliffe, Barbury Castle and the College ride in the UK.

If it is at all possible to secure one of the Euston Park dates to run an FEI ride elsewhere we will endeavour to seek out the opportunities. We have enjoyed the generosity of the DEC for several years and would hope that this will continue in the future. 



Karen Collier

Chairman of Endurance GB

Endurance horses trained at Sheikh Mohammed's Dubai stables involved in doping scandal

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

By Pippa Cuckson
11:59PM BST 07 May 2013

More than 20 endurance horses trained in Dubai at stables owned variously by Sheikh Mohammed and other senior members of the Maktoum family have been involved in doping cases before the International Equestrian Federation’s (FEI) disciplinary tribunal since 2005.

According to publicly available archives, 16 of the horses tested positive in competition to natural or manufactured steroids. Four since 2009 have involved stanozolol, the banned substance found in Sheikh Mohammed’s 11 Godolphin racehorses that led to trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni’s eight-year ban by the British Horseracing Authority.

Sheikh Mohammed refused to answer questions relating to doping from television presenter Clare Balding at Newmarket last Saturday, but he had previously pledged a root-and-branch investigation into stable practices at Godolphin’s Newmarket set-up. The FEI tribunal has pre­viously noted that he made a similar undertaking regarding his endurance operations in Dubai when he himself was suspended for six months in 2009, though any evidence of changes brought in as a result was not shown to them...

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/10042116/Endurance-horses-trained-at-Sheikh-Mohammeds-Dubai-stables-involved-in-doping-scandal.html