Key Defra body ignored in Lord Stevens’ drugs raids investigation for Sheikh Mohammed

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

Veterinary Medicines Directorate was not asked to supply input for report and disputes claim that seized products were not intended for use in UK

By Pippa Cuckson
9:05PM GMT 05 Mar 2014

Defra’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate, the body that seized 124 unlicensed drugs from Sheikh Mohammed’s Newmarket stables in August, has revealed it had no input into Lord Stevens’s subsequent investigation for racing’s most powerful owner.

Further, the VMD disputes a claim recorded in the report that the seized drugs were not intended for use in the United Kingdom...

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/10679378/Key-Defra-body-ignored-in-Lord-Stevens-drugs-raids-investigation-for-Sheikh-Mohammed.html

UAE: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Horsesportinternational.com - Full Article

Karen Robinson
March 1 2014

"...even the most basic rules of horse welfare are so far from being enforced at middle eastern endurance races that they are a complete farce, an absolute joke, and an insult to the principles that supposedly govern the FEI."

Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain permission from the photographer to publish the photo that I wanted to share with you, so instead I will use the proverbial thousand of these one dimensional little things to describe it.

It was snapped during the recent President World Cup Endurance race in Abu Dhabi, and the person who sent it to me sent it with the subject line ‘spot the horse’. The photo could also have been titled ‘where’s Waldo’ – if Waldo were a horse.

See, the horses are not the most prominent feature in this shot of the endurance race. The cars are. Roughly 100 cars, pick-ups, SUVs and those silly little Japanoid van/pick-ups are crowded so thickly along the white racetrack fencing that keeps them off the track that you can barely see that there are actually horses in the frame. Also obscuring a clear view of the horses is a pink haze caused by a combination of churned up sand and exhaust from what are surely hundreds of vehicles – if we make the reasonable assumption that all the cars chasing the race did not miraculously squeeze into this one photo. If you didn’t notice the horses you would think it was a traffic jam in the desert...

Read more here:
http://www.horsesportinternational.com/2014/03/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words/

Oman: All-Women Endurance Horse Race on March 7

Muscatdaily.com - Full Article

Muscat Daily staff writer
March 05, 2014

An all-women endurance horse race will be organised in Barka on March 7, according to a press release from the Oman Equestrian Federation (OEF).

The race will witness a total of 44 riders compete over a distance of 80km and will be conducted according to the International Equestrian Federation's (FEI) rules and regulations. Some of the participating riders are from the neighbouring countries.

The veterinary examination of the horses will be held a day before the event. The race will kick off at 6.30am and will be held in three stages. The first stage will cover 40km, while the remaining 40km will be split into two legs of 20km each.

Spain's Jon Fernandez de Antona wins at Evora, Portugal

Ecuestreonline.com

Spain's Jon Fernandez de Antona riding Talita Kumi 50% won the CEI3* Evora ride in Portugal on March 1.

Cold, wet, muddy trails with constant ups and downs made for a challenging ride.

Alex Luque and Calandria PH won the CEI2*.

Cuckson lodges formal protest over endurance race in Bahrain

Horsetalk.c.nz - Full Article

By Horsetalk.co.nz on Mar 03, 2014 in News

British equestrian journalist Pippa Cuckson has been joined by the editor of Horse & Hound magazine in lodging a formal protest with the FEI over the treatment of the winning horse in the February 8 running of the King’s Cup 120km endurance race in Bahrain.

The letter, under the Horse & Hound letterhead, is co-signed by Cuckson, who is a freelance contributor to the magazine, and its editor, Lucy Higginson...

Read more here:
http://horsetalk.co.nz/2014/03/03/cuckson-formal-protest-endurance-race-bahrain/#ixzz2uun3GdZm

UAE: Glory for Spanish lady rider Laia Soria Pinol

Khaleejtimes.com - Full Article

Hisham Al Gizouli / 1 March 2014

Spaniard completes the 100-km ride in 3 hrs 23 minutes and 02 seconds at an average speed of 29.55 km/hour.

Top Spanish lady rider Laia Soria Pinol won the 100-km Shaikha Fatma bint Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Ladies Endurance Cup at the Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Wathba here on Friday. Laia Soria Pinol, riding her eight-year-old Magic Cross Bred mare Sembra Rails, completed the 100-km ride in 3 hrs 23 minutes and 02 seconds at an average speed of 29.55 km/hour...

Read more here:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/sport/inside_sport.asp?xfile=/data/horseracing/2014/March/horseracing_March1.xml§ion=horseracing

Great Britain: Young and determined Dace Sainsbury conquered the difficult UAE 160km desert course

Photo by Gilly Wheeler
Endurancegb.co.uk

21st February 2014

Young and determined Dace Sainsbury conquered the difficult 160km desert course in Abu Dhabi with great skill.

Riding her grey mare Ballota she maintained between 18/19kmph over each loop to finish in 8h 56m 05s.
The mare’s recovery times had been good throughout:t around 3 minutes. From the 128 starters just 47 finished (36.72%). The winner was the current JYR World Champion Khalifa Ali Khalfan Al Jahouri