Sheikh Hamdan wins endurance gold at World Equestrian Games

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed on Yamamah in Normandy, western France. Ian Kangsdon / EPA
Thenational.ae - Full Article

Amith Passela
August 28, 2014

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed produced a riding masterclass on Yamamah to win the endurance gold medal at the Altech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy on Thursday.

The Dubai Crown Prince battled through rain and muddy conditions after his four teammates fell out of contention in one go at the end of the third loop, finishing first in a field of 173 riders from 47 nations.

Sheikh Hamdan completed the gruelling, 160-kilometre trip in 8 hours, 8 minutes and 28 seconds, then had to spend some anxious moments until the 15-year-old bay mare cleared the final veterinary test and the celebration began in the UAE camp. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who attended the race, was full of praise for his son.

“I used to give them [the UAE riders] instructions and advise during the races, but I have stopped that now, because they are now well-versed and very experienced riders and can read the situation of the race,” Sheikh Mohammed told TV cameras afterward.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/sport/horse-racing/sheikh-hamdan-wins-endurance-gold-at-world-equestrian-games#ixzz3Bn6d6LcS

Postcard: Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Endurance

Equisearch.com - Full Article

Time for a field trip from Caen to a beautiful and quaint section of France about 90 minutes away in Sartilly, where the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games endurance race was held.

By Nancy Jaffer | Aug 28, 2014

August 28, 2014 -- I didn't go to the WEG endurance championship for the competition; I went for the scenary. The drawing card was being able to photograph horses against the backdrop of Mont Saint-Michel, one of France's most famous landmarks. It's an eighth-century island fortress, a little more than a half-mile off the coast, topped by a monastery and an abbey. Below them are shops, restaurants and housing for the 44 residents.

Truth be told, the commercial area is basically a tourist trap, but the structure is so lovely that it is wonderful to look at, especially from a distance, where its statuesque beauty really can be appreciated.

Two loops of the endurance race were run on and near the beach, with Mont Saint-Michel as a backdrop. People turned out to see the horses canter across the sand, just a few feet from them. It was cool to look up on the dunes and see that someone brought several horses to watch.

The endurance mounts provided a contrast to the painstaking turnout of the dressage horses I've been writing about for the last three days. It ranges from scrappy to utilitarian, with tack to match. This is no pleasure ride; they're going 100 miles and doing it fast to get the medals. Unlike the dressage warmbloods, these horses are mostly Arabians or half-Arabs, without an extra ounce of fat on them. Some, frankly, look skinny.

- See more at: http://www.equisearch.com/article/postcard-endurance-25088#sthash.wytztor2.dpuf

WEG Endurance: A tough day at the office

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

By Neil Clarkson on Aug 29, 2014 in Featured, Focus, WEG 2014

The FEI has been singing the praises of its world championship endurance race in Normandy, but I’m yet to be convinced that everyone will see it that way.

No doubt the views of the competitors will emerge over the next few days, but certainly there are questions swirling around a race in which only 38 of 174 competitors finished.

That’s 174 of the world’s elite endurance horses and 174 of the finest riders, competing in a race in which only 22.4 percent of them finished...

Read more here:
http://horsetalk.co.nz/2014/08/29/weg-endurace-tough-day-office/#ixzz3Bn5SOX9D

UAE wins WEG endurance gold; 136 in field eliminated

By Horsetalk.co.nz on Aug 29, 2014

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum led all the way to win the 160km endurance contest at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in France, riding the Australian-bred mare Yamamah in a race where only 22% of starters completed the race.

Just 38 horses from the 174 starters finished. Only three countries had the minimum of three riders in contention by the end of the race.

Twenty horses failed to complete the first loop, which was marred by the death of Costa Rican horse Dorada, who hit a tree in an accident 13.6km into the first loop and about 400m from the first check point.

[Read More ...]

2014 WEG: Jeremy Olson and Wallace Hill Shade Lone USA Finishers

August 28 2014

In a WEG with difficult weather and footing, the USA was only able to finish one horse and rider in the Endurance Championship. Jeremy Olson and Wallace Hill Shade - the Team Alternate who was moved up to starting position the day before the race, due to Meg Sleeper's Syrocco Reveille being a little off during the trot out - finished 31st in 10:46:16.

US Equine Athletes Association released this statement: "Sadly we must report that the US Team was unable to deliver the performance it had worked so hard to achieve at the WEG 2014. Disappointment is an understatement. A full analysis will be forthcoming in a few days. In short the trail was slippery, challenging to say the least…

"Chances ridden by Heather Reynolds, Gold Dust Rising ridden by Jeremy Reynolds, and Hot Desert Knight ridden by Ellen Rapp Olson, were pulled for metabolic issues. All three are fine post ride, with no serious after effects. Kelsey Russell’s mount, My Wild Irish Gold was slightly off at the trot out after loop two and did not pass the vet gate. We thank our riders, horse owners, supporters and our Chef d’Quippe for their continued support and commitment to US Endurance."

2014 WEG: Dutch investment in Endurance pays off

Normandy2014.com



Thursday 28 August 2014 - 20h21

For the first time Dutch riders formed a team for Endurance at the Word Equestrian Games and the harvest looks promising in form of  the country’s first individual silver.

“Endurance is a very small discipline in Holland and we have spent a lot of time and investment on the sport”, said Theo Ploegmakers, president of the Royal Dutch Equestrian Federation when watching his riders briefly resting before going onto the final loop to complete the 160 kilometer ride.

Ploegmakers described the Dutch investment as “taking care of the right promotion for the sport to win over more young riders and making sure they find good trainers and good horses.”

At Sartilly Dutch Marijke Visser showed what happens when the classical way of riding meets Arab horses. Her grey mare Laiza de Jalima flew over Normandy soil like an eventing horse. The ten year old mare is owned by Dubai’s sheik Abdulla Bin Faisal Bin Saqr Al Qassimi and trained in Holland. Ploegmakers is pleased abut this Europe-meets-Arabia combination: “That is the future of the sport, having good riders looking for good horses.” Twenty-one year old Marijke Visser won a young riders’ endurance world championship 2013 and rides dressage. “That is why she is such a good role model for us”, Ploegmakers said. Visser is a student, but at the moment focussing on her riding. To get ready for the World Equestrian Games she and mare Laiza moved to the Belgian Ardennes to train with the Belgian chef of the Dutch Equipe, Emile Docquier. 

Endurance at WEG 2014 played right in Ploegmakers cards. He thinks the pictures transmitted via TV of endurance riders on the beach with Normandy’s icon of Mt St. Michel in the background were “exceptional promotion for the sport.”

2014 WEG: Endurance team gold for Spain

Normandy2014.com



Thursday 28 August 2014 - 22h05

The Endurance team decision at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2014 was a story of endurance, indeed. Over very heavy footing Spain won gold with three riders left in contention after a total riding time of 28:56:02. France rode to silver in 29:08:44. Three riders defended the medal from Lexington 2014, following 12:42 minutes behind Spain and overtaking Switzerland on 29:42.54.

Veteran Jaume Punti Dachs (45), endurance trainer for the Newmarket based stable of Sheik Mohammed’s Darley stud,  led the Spanish team riders Jordi Arboix Santacreu and Javier Cervera Sanchez-Arnedo. Punti Dachs’s wife Maria Alvarez Ponton could not defend her individual title from Lexington 2010. She retired on the course.

Experienced Jean-Philippe Frances, riding the youngest horse on the French team showed the way to Denis Le Guillou and Robin Cornely.  He rode the course in 8:12:37.  

The Swiss team’s bronze is the second team success after silver in Aachen 2006.  Claude Nordmann, Chef de Mission for the Swiss Team, gave all the credit to Barbara Lissarrague, finishing fourth individually. “She has done her utmost for the team. They all rode together after we had lost the first two riders of five rather early on the course.” Lissarrague led team mates Sonja Fritschi and Andrea Amacher towards the finish line in Sartilly.

Due to very difficult footing following heavy rains the attrition rate of the Normandy 2014 competition was high, leaving only three teams with three riders in contention.

The individual medals went to Sheik Hamdan bin Mohamed Al Maktoum, who rode his mare Yamamah over 160 kilometres in a total riding time of 8:08:28. He achieved an average speed of 19.678, way over the minimum average that had been lowered to 14 km/h. Twenty-one year old Marijke Visser and Laiza de Jalima fetched the first ever Dutch Endurance medal in a riding time of 19.258. Bronze went to Qatari Abdulrahman Saad A.S.Al Sulaiteen, riding Koheilan Kincso 37:16 minutes behind the winner.

If possible, an extra gold medal could have gone to the public, following the riders all the way along the 160 kilometres around the Bay of the Normanic icon Mont St.Michel. Many riders commented on the positive reactions and support they had received on their enduring test.