Australia: Mudgee Endurance Ride celebrates 40th birthday

Mudgeeguardian.com.au - Full Article

April 29 2013

Mudgee Endurance Riders Club will dedicate its 40th anniversary ride on May 25 and 26 to its veterinarian of 36 years, the late Ray Gooley.

Planning is well underway for the 40th ride which will start from the Cooyal Progress Association Hall on Wollar Road.

The main event of 83 kilometres will head out at 6am on Sunday, May 26, and a 40-kilometre training ride will begin at 7am.

There will also be a 20-kilometre social ride on Saturday afternoon starting at 1pm. Vetting pre-ride takes place from 11am on Saturday.

Mudgee Endurance Riders Club member Pat Dickinson said the course is not difficult and travels along quiet lanes, private properties, fire trails and bush tracks...

Read more here:
http://www.mudgeeguardian.com.au/story/1463873/mudgee-endurance-ride-celebrates-40th-birthday/?cs=1233

Swiss Protest "Negative Evolution of the FEI discipline Endurance"

4/26/2013

In a March 26, 2013, letter from the Swiss Federation, sent to the FEI and distributed to the National Equestrian Federations and European Equestrian Federation, the "negative evolution of the FEI discipline Endurance in the last few years" and the well being of the equestrian sport of endurance and its horses has been addressed.

The letter was written "on behalf of many worried riders, trainers and officials, but also observers in the public, media and animal protection circles." The letter stated, the "actual situation of FEI Endurance is taking forms that the Swiss Equestrian Federation cannot accept any longer."

The letter addresses the "multitude of witnessed and documented cruelties to horses… tremendous fracture frequencies… dangerous treatment protocols… as well as cheating actions before and during the Endurance races… in parallel with the non-taking of responsibility and function of certain officials…"

A "dramatic incidence of positive medication and doping cases" has been observed, along with inequity in competition.

The Swiss have petitioned the FEI to take immediate and efficient measures against the doping of endurance horses and the documented non-equity of competition.

The Swiss letter precedes letters of concern from the French Equestrian Federation, and the Belgian Equestrian Federation to the FEI in October of 2012.

The Belgian letter dated October 2, 2012, addressed (google translate) "the number of dead from exhaustion or horses euthanized due to spontaneous fractures has reached unimaginable proportions…" and requests the FEI take the (google translate) "necessary measures to ensure that perpetrators are actually banned from equestrian sport and that such actions quit permanently."

The French letter, dated October 12, 2012, addressed "a welfare issue concerning endurance discipline," pointing to 3 horse deaths during international endurance competition: "Concerned Horses dead after having passed vet gate inspections either during the track either after the end of the track… These cases are preoccupant for all endurance stakeholders. Here is a risk to tarnish the public perception of endurance discipline…"

No public comment so far from the FEI.

The Federation letters can be seen here:

Belgian Federation letter to FEI

French Federation letter to FEI

Swiss Federation letter to FEI

Abu Dhabi: Al Harmoudi wins Night Endurance Ride

Gulfnews.com - Full Article

Khaled Abdullah Ahmad Al Harmoudi riding 12-year-old Ashraf Sparkling Polaris won the 120-km Al Wathba Night Ride

By M. Satya Narayan, Abu Dhabi Deputy Editor
Published: 09:16 April 27, 2013

Abu Dhabi: Khaled Abdullah Ahmad Al Harmoudi riding 12-year-old Ashraf Sparkling Polaris won the 120-km Al Wathba Night Ride at the Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi on Friday night.

Al Harmoudi was followed home by Dana Mohammad Sharif Al Mutawa on Syferpan Cosmo with Rashed Hamoud Humaid Al Junaibi on Sarah Jones Te finishing third.

The Night Ride began at 5.15 pm and winner crossed the finish line at midnight with a time of 4 hours 10 minutes and 37 seconds.

A total of 166 riders took part in the 120-km event that was run in four stages of 40km, 40km, 24km and 16kms.

The winner drove away a 4WD car for his effort while all those who completed the event shared a total prize fund of Dh 450,000.

UAE: Racing giant Sheik Mohammed is no stranger to doping controversies

Dailymail.co.uk - Full Article

By JONATHAN POWELL
PUBLISHED: 15:50 EST, 27 April 2013

Sheik Mohammed, founder of the shamed Godolphin operation, has been tainted previously by three equine doping infringements involving himself, his family and his horses.

Thoroughbred racing's biggest scandal continues to unfold following an eight-year ban for trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni after anabolic steroid stanozolol was found in some of Godolphin's horses.

But the Sheik has been in trouble with the same substance before. Both he and his son, Hamdan, the Crown Prince of Dubai, have been banned after traces were found in the horses they were riding.

And in a third case, a ban was handed out to a British rider using a horse borrowed from Sheik Mohammed that tested positive for another banned steroid.

The Sheik was suspended for six months in 2009 and fined £2,500 by the International Equestrian Federation after his mount Tahhan tested positive for banned substances, including stanozolol, in two competitions.

In addition, Tahhan's trainer, Abdullah bin Huzaim, was banned for 12 months.

In a statement at the time, the Sheik said he had a stake in 700 endurance horses but could not be expected to be aware of each one's medication protocol.

Yet only a month earlier, his wife, Princess Haya, the FEI president, had stressed that it was up to the rider to know how his horse was managed...

Read more here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/racing/article-2315865/Sheik-Mohammed-stranger-doping-controversies.html

Great Britain: The Godolphin scandal: a race for respectability

Telegraph.co.uk - Full Article

Newmarket is hoping confidence will return after the most serious crisis British racing has ever faced

By Cole Moreton9:00PM BST
27 Apr 2013

They step through the early morning drizzle with a catwalk grace. A dozen gorgeous horses in a line, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, if not more. The traffic stops at the sight of them, because Newmarket is a racing town that respects these dawn patrols.

As the thoroughbreds cross the road, their hooves clatter and their riders mutter gossip to each other in many different languages. There is a lot to talk about. Their sport is reeling this weekend from one of the greatest scandals it has ever known.

“It is shocking, a complete surprise,” says Tim Cox, a historian and trustee of the National Racing Museum. “The use of steroids in this way, and such a public exposure, is unique in the history of racing.”

The discovery of illegal performance-enhancing drugs in 11 horses at the Moulton Paddocks, which sits behind locked gates on a hill two miles out of Newmarket, was such a huge shock because of the man who owns it. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is one of the most influential figures in racing across the world, with a massive training operation called Godolphin that is based both in Dubai and in this Suffolk town.

He is also the ruler of Dubai, who has spent a large portion of his estimated £10 billion fortune using sport to promote his desert state as a centre of excellence, innovation and sportsmanship. The Sheikh has declared himself “appalled and angered” by the discovery and “locked down” the stables until they are proved to be clean, but what will this do to his reputation? This is not just a story about the secretive world of horse racing. It goes way beyond that, into the realms of international politics, power and pride...

Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/drugsinsport/10022365/The-Godolphin-scandal-a-race-for-respectability.html

Great Britain: Mahmood al-Zarooni's time with banned trainer raises questions

Guardian.co.uk - Full Article

Chris Cook
The Guardian, Thursday 25 April 2013

• Mubarak bin Shafya was suspended for steroids
• Godolphin play down significance of connection

As Simon Crisford, Godolphin's spokesman, fielded questions about Mahmood al-Zarooni on Thursday, he found himself answering queries about another trainer banned for the use of anabolic steroids with whom Zarooni had a strong association. Before being hired as Godolphin's second trainer in Newmarket, Zarooni served as assistant in Dubai to Mubarak bin Shafya, who was banned from the separate sport of endurance racing in 2011 over the use of stanozolol, one of the steroids that Zarooni has admitted using.

Crisford played down the significance of Shafya in Zarooni's racing education, saying that the latter had served 10 years under another trainer, Ali al-Raihe, compared with just one under Shafya. He pointed out that Shafya's case came after Zarooni had been hired, adding of Shafya: "He didn't get banned from thoroughbred racing. I wouldn't have been aware of that."

Pressed as to whether Shafya's case raised any concerns for Godolphin over Zarooni, Crisford said: "What are you trying to imply? We didn't take it into consideration."

Shafya was banned for two years by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), the governing body for Olympic equestrian events as well as endurance racing after Castlebar Kadeen, a horse he trained, tested positive for stanozolol at an event in Abu Dhabi in November 2010...

Read more here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/apr/25/mahmood-al-zarooni-trainer-questions

Australia: Kilkivan setting for ultimate test

Gympietimes.com.au - Full Article

26 April 2013

RIDERS, horses and strapping crews will travel from across Australia and overseas to compete in the Tom Quilty Cup in Kilkivan in June - the ultimate test of endurance where participants aim to complete a 160km course within 24 hours.

The first heavyweight or middleweight division competitor across the finish line wins the 2013 Tom Quilty Gold Cup award. The original perpetual cup is a permanent exhibit at the Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach, Queensland.

For most competitors, the overall aim is to complete the five-leg course and receive an esteemed Quilty Buckle Award. In the spirit of the ride's motto - To Complete is to Win - a specially crafted belt buckle goes to every successful competitor in recognition of the high standard of horsemanship required to complete the rigorous course. This means many long hours in the saddle and the careful tending of tiring horses.

At the end of the race, each mount is vetted and must be deemed in sound condition and fit to continue.

In 2013, the 48th Tom Quilty Cup is expected to attract a record number of rider/horse teams, Kilkivan Endurance Riders Club president Very Berry said...

Read more here:
http://www.gympietimes.com.au/news/kilkivan-setting-for-ultimate-test/1844102/