London: The HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival’s five-day extravaganza came to an end at the King’s Forest in Tetford, the UK with the UAE’S Abdul Ghanim Al Marri on Ro Al Lisain winning the 100-km HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Endurance Festival Cup here on Sunday.
While Al Marri topped the pack of riders competing in the Purebred Arabian endurance horses’ category, the Spanish duo of Alejandro Dachs Izquierdo and Nuria Serrabassa Fabre made it a 1-2 in the category for Purebred Arabian horses that have earlier in their careers races in flat races.
Alejandro on Zen Al Maury and Nuria on Tidjari, the two flat-race horses now in endurance, did well to win the 100-km One Star run in four stages of 32km, 32km, 20km and 16km.
“All three of us did an extra 12km as we got lost in the forest,” said the 26-year-old Alejandro. The winner of the 120-km Catalunya Championship in Barcelona last year, Alejandro is keen to fight and get a place in the strong Spanish national team.
For Al Marri, it was his second win in as many weeks after winning the 120km ride in Compiegne on May 25. “It was a tough ride, we lost our way and rode extra kilometres but it is good to win in the end,” said the 18-year-old star rider from the UAE.
Abdul Rahman Ghanim Al Mutaiwee, UAE Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Asim Mirza Al Rahma, the UAE Ambassador to the Republic of Poland, Shaikha Najla Al Qasimi, Saqr Nasser Ahmad Al Raisi, UAE’s Ambassador to Portugal, Abdul Aziz Nasser Al Shamsi, UAE Ambassador to Italy, Dr Hessa Abdullah Ahmad Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to Spain, Sulaiman Almazroui, Ambassador of the UAE to Belgium and Al Asri Saeed Al Dhaheri, Ambassador of the UAE to Morocco, Abdul Rahim Al Awadi from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Adnan Sultan Al Nuaimi, ADEC Director General, Abdul Mohsin Al Dossary, Vice President at the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare and Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of the HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival and Chairman of Ladies Racing at the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities (IFAHR) gave away the trophies to the two sets of winners.
“It has been a great end to one of the most important weeks in the calendar. While the three-day World Arabian Horse Racing Conference in London discussed some crucial issues related to Purebred Arabian horses, the two races at Newbury reflected the growth with more nations being represented. And today, this endurance ride open only to Purebred Arabian horses in King’s Forest was also a huge hit,” said Sawaya.
