DUBAI, 29 January 2005 — Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Hazza ibnSultan Al Nahayan on Thursday clinched a gold medal and the title of world champion at the biggest ever Endurance World Championship at Dubai Endurance City.
Riding the 10-year-old bay gelding Hachim and averaging 22.68kmh, Sheikh Hazza pulled back a deficit of one minute and 35 seconds to clinch the sixth and final stage and complete the 160km marathon in a ride time of 7 hours 03 minutes and 22 seconds. Taking the silver just 52 seconds adrift was French rider Barbara Lissarague on the crossbred grey mare Georgat (average speed 22.63kmh).
Coming home in third for the UAE was HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Minister of Defense and Crown Prince of Dubai, who took bronze with an average speed of 22.39kmh after a valiant effort on the eight year-old bay gelding Nashmi. It was a strong and measured performance by Sheikh Mohammed who had gone in to the final stage leading by three seconds from Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Mindari Aenzac.
But a thrilling final 19km loop saw a magnificent battle between the leaders before Sheikh Hazza bin Sultan broke away several kilometers from the finish to take the gold medal in a time that is unofficially a new world record for the sport set in an event that also saw a record entries of 175 horses from 41 nations.
In the team event, the UAE - led by Sheikh Mohammed with the solid backing of Sheikh Mansour ibn Zayed Al Nahayan and Sheikh Mohammed’s sons Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed and Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed — looked odds on for the team title until Sheikh Mansour’s Al Barak and Sheikh Hamdan’s Muneef both failed the vet check before the start of loop five.
With the UAE out of the medals the way was clear for the Italian team of Diana and Angela Origgi and Gianluca Lalisclia to take the title with a combined ride time of 25h:00m:39s to see off Australia (26h:59m:46s) into second.
Taking silver for the Australians were Peter Toft, Kristie McGaffin and Jennifer Gilbertson, while the bronze medal is Belgium-bound thanks to the combined efforts of Leonard Liesens and Karin and Jacques Boulanger (28h:31m:24s).
Ian Williams, head of Endurance for the Federation Equestre International, said of the recently constructed venue: “We’ve said how impressive this facility is... today they processed 167 horse and rider combinations in less than 30 minutes, which I find incredible,” he said.
“I have never seen anything like it in equestrian sport. The care and attention of the vets was also second to none. As this was a world championship, the vets were extremely strict and although many horses were kept back after some of the loops, this was due to small things such as cuts and scrapes.”
Sponsored by Omega, Nakheel, the National Bank of Dubai and Nissan, the FEI World Endurance Championship will culminate in a closing ceremony with an awards presentation today.
