Sheikh Mohammed under further scrutiny as trainer banned for doping continues to work in his Dubai stables

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

Sheikh Mohammed has opened himself up to further embarrassment following news that a former trainer who was banned for doping continues to work at Dubai stables owned by the Godolphin boss.

By Telegraph Sport
5:30PM BST 01 Oct 2013

Mubarak bin-Shafya was banned from endurance racing for two years in 2011 after several of his horses tested positive for stanozolol.

However, that has not prevented him from training thoroughbreds from the Al Aasfa Stables, owned by the Sheikh, near Dubai City.

And while there is no suggestion Sheikh Mohammed is involved in wrongdoing, the ongoing link with Bin Shafya, who is also a former colleague of disgraced Godolphin trainer Mahmood al-Zarooni, will cast yet further suspicion on the endurance horse operation.

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 since 2005.

According to publicly available archives, 16 of the horses tested positive in competition to natural or manufactured steroids...

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/10346444/Sheikh-Mohammed-under-further-scrutiny-as-trainer-banned-for-doping-continues-to-work-in-his-Dubai-stables.html

Sheik Mohammed suffers more shame as Dubai drug scandal grows

Dailymail.co.uk - Full Article

By MARCUS TOWNEND
PUBLISHED: 16:48 EST, 1 October 2013

Further embarrassment has been heaped on Sheik Mohammed with confirmation that another horse trained at stables he owns has tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid.

The Federation for Equestrian Sport yesterday confirmed a hearing is pending after the discovery of 17-Hydroxyprogesterone Hexanoate — an anabolic steroid banned in male horses — in Orman De Cardonne.

The 11-year-old, ridden by Mohammed Ali Al Shafar and trained at Al Reef stables, tested positive after winning the President of the UAE Endurance Cup in Abu Dhabi on February 16. The case is yet to be submitted to tribunal.

Read more here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/racing/article-2440411/Sheik-Mohammed-suffers-shame-Dubai-drug-scandal-grows.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Italy: French riders steal the show

Khaleejtimes.com - Full Article

Hisham Al Gizouli / 30 September 2013

French riders scooped the gold and bronze medals of the FEI 120km World Championship for Young Horses, Garda Endurance Cup at the Garda Lake, Italy on Saturday.
Aurelien Rocchia, astride Secret De Mon Coeur crossed the finish line first, followed in by Yebra Al Timiras, representing Spain, aboard Espoir De Bozouls while Laurent Mosti, riding Doria De Jansavis claimed the bronze medal for the French contingent. Doria De Janasavis itself was also named the Best Condition Horse.

Rocchia held on very strongly when he was attacked on the line by the Spanish rider to cover the distance in 6 hours, 10 minutes and 37 seconds at an average speed of 19. 427km/hr.

The race was held under the directives of Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, as part of the Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival and has attracted 65 riders representing 12 countries from UAE, Italy, France, Spain, Slovakia, Portugal, Oman and elsewhere...

Read more here:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/sport/inside_sport.asp?xfile=/data/nationsports/2013/September/nationsports_September292.xml§ion=nationsports

Great Britain: BHA is too quick to insist drug seizures nothing to do with racing

Theguardian.com - Full Article

Greg Wood
The Guardian, Sunday 29 September 2013 17.24 EDT

Sheikh Mohammed's endurance horse operation comes under scrutiny after drugs seized from Dubai government jet

When it emerged earlier this month that 124 illegally imported veterinary products had been seized in a raid at a property in Newmarket owned by the world's most powerful racehorse owner, the British Horseracing Authority appeared adamant it had nothing to do with them.

"This is a matter for Defra [the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which conducted the raid]," a BHA spokesman said. "In the view of Defra, there is no link between the seizure and the racing industry and the products were not intended for use on thoroughbreds."

Even then, it seemed quite casual, not least in the context of the Godolphin doping scandal which broke in April.

The horses which were found to have been doped with anabolic steroids by Mahmood al-Zarooni, including Encke, a Classic winner, are still serving their six-month bans from the sport. The account given by the BHA, which ejected Zarooni from racing with what felt like extraordinary speed a few days after the first positive tests at his stable, offers a vague and scarcely credible account of how he could have acquired industrial quantities of banned steroids.

Nor has it produced a satisfactory explanation of how he then managed, with the help of three junior staff, to dope at least 22 of his horses, and probably more, on a near-daily basis without anyone else realising what was happening. Zarooni did all this, apparently, while also spending all but a few days of the winter in Dubai.

Now, as it becomes clear that the structures and accountability in Sheikh Mohammed's endurance horse operation leave a lot to be desired, the BHA's breezy dismissal of any possible link with the racing side of the Sheikh's equine interests appears unwise at best...

Read more here:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/sep/29/bha-sheikh-mohammed-drugs

Sheik Mohammed's reputation takes another almighty hit just months after Al Zarooni's eight-year ban

Dailymail.co.uk - Full Article

By MARCUS TOWNEND
PUBLISHED: 05:41 EST, 30 September 2013

For the reputation of Sheik Mohammed – indeed the whole of Dubai - on the international stage of equine sport, suddenly the words damage limitation are starting to seem inadequate.

The revelation that a consignment of unlicenced veterinary products was destroyed earlier this year after being seized on a Dubai government jet which had landed at Stansted airport thrusts the ruler of Dubai into an unwanted spotlight once again.

The seizure of products one veterinary expert has described as ‘potentially toxic and dangerous to horses’ is connected to another find which emerged earlier this month at a farm near Newmarket which was part of the Sheik’s estate.

It was being used for the training of Endurance Horses...

Read more here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/racing/article-2438614/Sheik-Mohammeds-reputation-takes-almighty-hit.html?ico=sport%5Eheadlines

2013 Pan American Championships

September 27 2013

Oriana Ricca of Uruguay won the 125-km 2013 Pan American Championships on September 26, 2013 at Trinidad, Uruguay, aboard Amrillo HLM. She finished 27 seconds ahead of Argentina's Gabriel Morgui and HLP Astica. Uruguay's Nicolas Rodriguez Villamil riding JQ Safi Zafra won the bronze medal. USA's Mae Chase-Dunn finished 12th aboard Chamalu. Uruguay won Team Gold, Brazil won Team Silver, and Chile took Team Bronze.

Maria Pereira of Uruguay won the 125-km FEI Young Rider Pan American Championship aboard SM Lady Adela, by 2 minutes over Uruguay's Frederik Maidana aboard JQ Zarial. Paula Llorens of Chile, riding Sandek, took the bronze medal. Two USA Young Riders participated in the race. McCamey Kimbler finished 13th aboard SB Nazeem, and while Mallory Capps crossed the finish line on Serena Hab, her horse did not pass the final vet inspection. 21 Young Riders started the ride and 13 finished. Uruguay won Team Gold, and Chile took Team Silver.

For more results see
http://race.sistracking.com.uy/index.php

US Riders Head to Pan American Endurance Championships

By Kathleen Landwehr

Lexington, KY - Three individuals will represent the U.S. at the Pan American Endurance Championship on September 26. McCamey Kimbler, Mallory Capps, and Mae Chase-Dunn have traveled to Trinidad, Uruguay with Chef d'Equipe Emmett Ross to contest the championship. The Pan American Endurance Championship has divisions for both Senior and Young Riders/Juniors, as the competitors travel 120km in an attempt to earn top honors. 

Seventeen-year-old Kimbler (Aberdeen, South Dakota) will compete in the Young Riders/Juniors division with SB Nazeem, an eight-year-old gelding owned by Haras Santa Barbara. Kimbler has had several top performances this year, beginning 2013 with a third-place finish in the CEIJY2* at the Indian Springs Endurance race. She followed this up by winning two 120km CEIYJ2* races over the weekend in early May at the Spruce Woods Provincial Park. In July, Kimbler finished fourth in the 120km race that was part of the Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North. With top placings under her belt this year, she hopes to have another top performance in Ururguay. 

​Capps, a 19-year-old resident of Cumming, Georgia, will also compete in the Young Riders/Juniors division. She will partner with Alex Robaina's 12-year-old mare Serena Hab. Capps began the 2013 season with a win at FITS in the 90km race, as well as an eight-place finish the following day in the 120km race. In May, she and Serena Hab finished ninth in the CEIJY2* Costa Azul, Canelones in Uruguay. The pair aims for a similar result at the Pan American Endurance Championship. 

​As the sole U.S. competitor in the Senior division, Chase-Dunn (Riverside, California) will ride Chamalu, a 12-year-old gelding owned by Gabriel Alvarez. She has accumulated three fourth-place finishes this year at the Shine and Shine Only, Biltmore Challenge, and Almanor Hustle races.