Patagonia: Gaucho Derby Race Day 6

Photographer: Anya Campbell
TheAdventurists.com - Full Story

March 11 2020

After the extreme weather events of the last few days, racing got underway again today shortly after 9am as the riders, equipped with dry kit, packed up their woolies and mounted some fast horses for their trip between VS3 – VS5. This the first time since the beginning of the race that the riders have been without a packhorse, yet it was reminiscent of Day 1 when many riders set a blistering pace to VS1 (with a packhorse in tow, not an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination.)

CP and ZH led the pack and were minutes apart into VS4 having made the leg in approximately one hour flat. The vet check took a mere six minutes and four minutes respectively for these two, and as they did not have a change of horses, they were flying once again to VS5 with the rest of the pack on their tails. By the end of the day, most riders were into VS5 having made the day’s journey in well under five hours...

Read more here:
https://www.theadventurists.com/updates/gaucho-derby-race-day-6/

Horse racing trainers and veterinarians charged in international doping scandal

NBCNews.com - Full Article

Defendants allegedly tainted races in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky and the United Arab Emirates.

March 9 2020

By Tom Winter and David K. Li
More than two dozen trainers, veterinarians and others in horse racing were charged in a widespread doping scheme that "amounted to nothing less than abuse," federal officials and court papers revealed Monday.

The defendants ran horses at tracks in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky and the United Arab Emirates, federal prosecutors in New York City said.

"Over the course of the scheme, participants manufactured, purchased, sold, shipped, delivered, received and administered thousands of units" of performance-enhancing drugs, or PEDs, for use on racehorses, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman wrote in charging documents against 19 of 27 defendants.

The indicted included 11 trainers, seven veterinarians and nine drug suppliers and distributors, according to Berman.

"All involved in the cruel and systematic doping of racehorses across the United States and indeed around the world using misbranded, adulated and dangerous performance-enhancing drugs," Berman told reporters in New York...

Read more here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/horse-racing-trainers-veterinarians-charged-nationwide-doping-scandal-n1153126

South Africa: Middelburg endurance ride

Endurance-world.com - Full Article

9th March 2020
Race Report made with the assistance of Carmen Du Preez

Fairview Farm, Middelburg, Eastern-Cape, South Africa. Friday 22 and Saturday 23 February 2020.

The Middelburg (Lormar) FEI 3* ride was blessed with rain early in the week which had both a positive and negative effect on the course . With the Karoo area experiencing drought for so long the rain was welcomed. The track now being muddy in some sections did create new problems but was carefully approached by riders after receiving sound advice from the veterinary panel at briefing.

The entire ride had to be set-up quickly as the venue was used for a cycling event the weekend before. The course was muddy in strategic places and had to be re-thought and changed at the last minute to keep the horses and riders safe. It all turned out well with a high completion rate.

Riders, vets and officials came from all over the country to support and participate at the much loved Lormar ride. The ride was well supported with 83 horses in both FEI & ERASA ( Endurance Riding Association of South Africa ) categories.
New rule changes had many riders and junior riders queuing with heavy saddles at registration. After ride discussions weren’t positive about the dead weight on the horses and light and heavy weight riders being excluded from FEI weight classes...

Read more here:
https://endurance-world.com/middelburg-endurance-ride/

Great Britain: ‘She gave me reason to live’: rider with severe medical condition takes national title

Horseandhound.co.uk - Full Article

Eleanor Jones
7 March, 2020

A rider who has overcome the challenges posed by her severe medical condition to win a national title credits her horse for keeping her going – and saving her life.

Georgia Massey, riding her nine-year-old Irish draught mare Indigo Clementine, was named national senior pleasure rider champion, as well as champion of her age group, by Sport Endurance on 1 March. Clemmie was also named top pleasure mare.

Georgia told H&H she thought she would never ride again, when she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2017. She weighed six stone when she was admitted to hospital, and her organs were shutting down.

“The process of regaining my health was not linear and was the hardest battle I have ever had to face,” she said. “I was in and out of hospital constantly for months, but the thought of seeing my horse again gave me the strength to keep fighting...”

Read more here:
https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/she-gave-me-reason-to-live-rider-with-severe-medical-condition-takes-national-title-709256

Latest Issue of Arabian Horse Intl Endurance Available

March 8 2020

The latest issue of Arabian Horse Intl Endurance, published by Cidinha Franzão and Favio Lorenz, contains coverage of multiple endurance races in the UAE, and the North Island Championships in New Zealand.

See the issue here:
http://www.arabianhorseintl.net/

Patagonia: Gaucho Derby Race Day 2

Richard Dunwoody photo
TheAdventurists.com - Full Story

March 7 2020

Holy moly, what a day that was. Anyone watching the dots would have noticed that the tracking between VS1 & VS2 resembled some madman’s abstract Sharpie art project with riders’ tracks circling around mountains, reversing directions, and laying down tracks over and over and over again. Did we mention this race would be largely about navigation? It’s all fun and games until you are actually lost in the mountains. To be fair, the riders are traversing some pretty gnarly countryside, with trails through passes, river valleys, dense forests, and bogs – yes, bogs – while trying to chivvy along a reluctant packhorse and keep their own horse on an even keel. Not an easy task by any means and that hard and fast first leg may have given some the impression that this race would be easier than they thought. By mid-afternoon, riders were calling 1-800-HelpMeGaucho seeking assistance with reluctant horses and wayward packhorses, but even the gauchos weren’t immune to the seductive charms of the bogs with one gaucho taking an unscheduled bog-bath enroute to VS3. So in other words, Day 2 has been quite a bit slower. The weather has played its part, delivering on its reputation as a fickle beast, turning colder and wetter with possible snow in the higher elevations...

Read more and see photos here:
https://www.theadventurists.com/updates/gaucho-derby-race-day-2/

Queen ‘to distance herself from Dubai ruler’ after court rules he kidnapped daughters

Metro.co.uk - Full Article

Elisa Menendez
Saturday 7 Mar 2020

The Queen is reportedly set to shun the ruler of Dubai after a High Court ruling found he kidnapped his own daughters and detained them for almost two decades. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Queen Elizabeth have long shared a bond over their love of horse racing. The sheikh, who owns the elite London-based Godolphin Racing, has previously been described as a ‘friend’ of the Queen’s. They are said to have seen each other on a ‘fairly regular basis’ for the last two decades and the sheikh is believed to send the monarch annual gifts of horses. He has been pictured at Ascot with the Queen, where he was invited into the Royal Box. However, their friendship is set to become strained after Britain’s most senior judges found the 70-year-old ruler ‘ordered and orchestrated’ the abduction of his daughters, Sheikha Shamsa and Sheikha Latifa, and forced them to return to Dubai...

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/07/queen-distance-dubai-ruler-court-rules-kidnapped-daughters-12362686/?ito=cbshare