126 starters, 39 finishers
By M. Satya Narayan, Chief Sports Reporter
Published: 00:00 February 12, 2012
He started on a slow pace but steered the horse brilliantly to take the crown
Abu Dhabi: Shaikh Hazza Bin Sultan Al Nahyan revealed great horsemanship when he won the prestigious HH The President's Cup CEI Three-star 160-km endurance ride at the Emirates International Endurance Village here yesterday.
While winning the Dh1.5 million ride, Shaikh Hazza also denied Sultan Ahmad Al Beloushi his third consecutive success in the President's Cup.
Riding 12-year-old Glenmorgan, Shaikh Hazza started on a slow but steady pace and from being positioned 46 after the first stage out of the 126 riders who started, he went on to score a brilliant win against some of the UAE's top riders.
Shaikh Hazza and Glenmorgan completed the six-loop 160-km ride in six hours 21 minutes and 35 seconds finishing ahead of Al Beloushi on Cronus, the winning pair of last year's ride with National Day Cup winner Fatima Jasem Al Merri on Ohio in third place and recent winner of the His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup 160-km ride - Abdullah Ganem Al Merri in fourth place.
Shaikh Hazza, whose previous best in the President's Cup was a 9th place finish in 2002, moved from 46th position to 12 after the second stage of 31 kilometres and after the third set of 31 kilometres he got into the top ten...
Read more here:
http://gulfnews.com/sport/horse-racing/hazza-takes-president-s-cup-1.979231
Chris Martin's Monk, with rider Lindsay Graham, and Doug Swingley, owner and rider of National Security (Nash), are the two US riders who have been invited to participate in the 160-km President's Cup Endurance ride in Abu Dhabi on February 11. Monk has been preparing in California with Martin and Graham, and Nash has been training in Utah at the Global Endurance Training Center with Christoph Schork.
The horses will fly out of Los Angeles on February 6th.
January 31, 2012
By Pamela@horsereporter
Doug Swingley from Lincoln, Montana, started endurance riding competition after 50, but when he commits to a sport, he wants to be the best. Swingley, now 58, is one of two riders from the United States that have been invited to participate in the 160k HH President of the UAE Endurance Ride in Abu Dhabi.
With only three weeks advance notice to prepare for the February 11 race, Swingley says the plan is coming together. Once the invitation was received and forwarded by the United States Equestrian Federation, horse passports and flight arrangements for horses and people have been flying back and forth quickly across the internet.
Swingley is a man accustomed to planning a competitive campaign with animals, and hardship is part of the package. Riding on a horse in the sand for 10-15 hours must seem at the other end of the spectrum for a professional dog musher and sled dog driver. And Swingley is one of the best...
Read more here:
http://siteground303.com/~horserep/2012/01/31/doug-swingley-action-hero/
ANDY WILCOX | Posted: Saturday, February 4, 2012
Lindsay Graham is excited about her latest chance to team up with 10-year-old gelding Monk, the horse she rode for a North American-record time for 100 miles last summer.
The 2000 Vintage High graduate is one of only two Americans who have been invited to compete in the annual President of the UAE Endurance Ride in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Feb. 11. Despite her record last summer, and fourth-place finish in the North American Endurance Championships in Greenville, Calif. — just north of Truckee — in September, Graham isn’t planning to push Monk as hard as she can to claim a victory in the Middle East.
This is just the first race of a year she expects to be busy.
“What our goal is this year,” she said of herself and Monk’s owner, Chris Martin of Penn Valley, “is to make it to the World Endurance Championship in England in August, and we have trial for that, a tryout, at the end of March in Texas. So I have to be careful. If Monk has a problem over there he might be out for the tryout. So I’m going to use it as a really good conditioning ride and work on a good pace. He’s still going to be working, but we’re not going to be out there racing for the win. We’re going to go out there and do the best we can but also enjoy the experience...”
Read more here:
http://napavalleyregister.com/sports/vintage-grad-one-of-two-americans-chosen-to-compete-in/article_1e1fca6c-4fc2-11e1-85eb-001871e3ce6c.html
January 16, 2012
By Pamela@horsereporter
January 15, 2012, Napa Valley, USA~ Lindsay Graham from Napa Valley, California, is looking forward to her first visit to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. She is one of two invited riders from the US to compete at the annual CEI 3* HH President of the UAE Endurance Ride, this year slated for February 11. Her mount will be Christopher Martin’s 10 year old, Monk.
You might call Lindsay Graham, goal oriented. The 29 year old, from Napa Valley, California, has recently graduated from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine (2010) and jumped right into her full – time career as an Equine Veterinarian at Napa Valley Veterinary Hospital. “I like being a veterinarian,” said Graham. “I love being able to make horses feel better…and people to continue their partnership with their horse. As a rider, I can relate and understand.”
So far she is ticking the boxes of her life list. Get good grades in school – check. Compete on her hunter/jumper – check. Lindsay also rode hunter/jumpers on the UC Davis Equestrian Team. And yes, graduate from UC Davis – double check. These three goals the young Lindsay had written in a seventh grade project book...
Read more here:
http://siteground303.com/~horserep/2012/01/16/lindsay-graham-juggles-international-endurance-competition-and-career-as-veterinarian/