FEI Emirates Endurance World Cup

The UAE once again hosted the FEI Emirates Endurance World Cup on March 21st at the permanent Endurance Village at Seih Assalem in Dubai. The largest ever field of 108 riders from 32 countries took part over the 130km course in hot and windy conditions.

The ride was as usual held in conjunction with the Dubai World Cup racing and this ensured massive media coverage from among others “Sports Illustrated” magazine. The ride itself was tough with the high temperatures and high winds reducing the number of finishers, however all the horses finished in good condition and were fit to be flown home the next day.

The results showed a massive dominance by the home team with the first three home all owned by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Makthoum. The highest placed foreigner was the former World Champion Valerie Kanavey riding Bearcat O’Rielly who led for the early stages but who wisely saved her horse for later in the season and eventually finished 7th. The winner was Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed al Makthoum closely followed by his brother Sheik Ahmed and in third place Mohammed Ali al Shafar all three riders averaged 24 kms per hour a record for this distance. The top ten finishers were as follows:

1-Sh. Hamdan bin Mohd Al Maktoum (UAE) Muneef
2-Sh. Ahmed bin Mohd Al Maktoum (UAE) Southern Exposure
3-Mohd Ali al Shafar (UAE) ZT Kiavrelle
4-Ali Mohd al Muhairi (UAE) Zeyn Sha Zan
5-Shareef Mohd Abdulla Baja (UAE) Khataf
6-Ali Khalfan Al Jahouri (UAE) Giektor
7-Valerie Kanavy (USA) Bearcat O’Reilly
8-Humaid Khalfan Al Muhairbi (UAE) PR Hunvee
9-Mubarak Khalifa bin Shafya (UAE) Walstroom Hamman
10-Ahmed Saeed Al Kamda (UAE) Misty Reyn