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[RC] Compiegne - Sponsors Cup - more - Steph Teeter


So today - the Sponsors Trophy. A CEI*** 160km ride, with a Team event
focus. Alice Proust invited me to come to Compiegne to cover their ride this
year, so soon after Aachen - it was feasible, so sure, why not. I met Alice
in Abu Dhabi last year at the Presidents Cup ride - she was there on her
own, feeling the pulse of endurance in UAE. Alice trained in UAE back in the
90's - one of the first women to work there, young and eager. She has some
great stories from those early days of the birth of the sport in UAE. She
seems to know everybody, and is great fun to be with. The OC is supplying
rooms for us (we - being the press/media - there are several of us here from
all over the world) - and meals, etc while at the venue.

Compiegne is doing a few 'firsts' here this month. This is the first FEI
'Young Horse' event - a CH-M-YHorses . It is technically a 2* event -119 km
(anything 120km or over is 3*). Last year Compiegne did a 'Mondial Young
Horses' - which was an organized event, run under FEI rules as a 2* (or 3*?
can't remember exactly) CEI ride - but the OC limited entries to horses ages
7 and 8 years. This year, it is a formal FEI event.

The other first, is the concept of a Team Ride. This is technically and open
CEI*** (160km) event, but the OC has added a Team event - the Sponsors
Trophy. Teams of 4 can enter, to compete for a purse of $EU 16,000. The
teams are Sponsored - a chance for promotion as well as competition. Alice
told me that this was a concept that Pierre Cazes came up with and pushed
forward. (Pierre was French Chef d'Equipe for several years, a very
important force in French endurance, and FEI endurance as well, killed in a
horse accident last year). This sport is searching for other venues, in
addition to the classic Championship rides (World, Continental, National) to
promote the sport, promote the industry, etc. and Pierre's idea seems to be
one which might take off. Currently FEI has no 'just teams' sport for
endurance (other than the team medals in championship events, which are
ancillary to the individual medals). The concept of team competition is
appealing, requiring different strategy, generally more restraint since
finishing team members is what it is all about. Not individual placement.

I've been here a few days, and have talked to several people who are
breeders, promoting breeding and sales, promoting excellence in breeding and
performance, etc etc etc. They take the young horse competitions very
seriously and have a stringent qualification system that the young horses
must progress through. They have to be at least 4 years. The first year they
must complete a 20km and a 40km event (with maximum speed - I think it's
about 10-12 km/hr). They must also meet metabolic/recovery standards. The
2nd year (5 yrs) they must finish 40km, and then 60km events - maximum
speeds (a little faster - 12-14km/hr), metabolic/recovery standards, etc.
Finally as 6 yr olds 60km events (max time) culminating in 90km event. I
might have the numbers wrong, but that's the general idea. Strict control
and comprehensive tests for the horses - before they can race.

France also has a very extensive database - years of collection of
performance results - for the horse, siblings, parents, offspring, etc - and
there is a ranking system - *'s for performance based upon all of the above.
plus BC awards, plus (minus) eliminations. It sounds very complicated, and
was derived from other livestock ranking systems. I'm sure I don't have all
the details right - but basically France is very very serious about their
horses and breeding and performance. (no surprise that they are dominating
the world scene).

----

more later - we're going out to follow the front runners, just leaving for
the final 'chasing' loop - 20km.

Steph




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