Abu Dhabi: Nouf Abdul Reda, astride 11-year-old Anglo Arabia gelding RR Erebus, landed the 100km HH Shaikha Fatma Bint Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Ladies Endurance Cup for Al Maghaweer Stables at the Emirates International Endurance Village in Al Wathba on Friday.
Shaikha Mahra Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum headed the 108 riders who started the race under favourable weather conditions at the beautiful venue, which was decked up with a lot of on-site activities at the ‘Arts Creative Land’ for young kids and especially girls.
The race was attended by Shaikha Fatma Bint Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, accompanied by her two brothers Shaikh Mohammad Bin Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. All three crowned the winners of the ride along with Adnan Sultan Al Nuaimi, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club and Lara Sawaya, Executive Director of HH Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival.
Nouf and RR Erebus covered the distance in three hours, 26 minutes and 34 seconds at an average speed of 29.04kmph. Polish rider Kamila Anita Karet was second on Thaalob and in third was Argentine Sabrina Mendiz on H C E Magfalcada Su.
The riders managed to take advantage of the relatively cool weather conditions early in the morning and put their horses into top gear to finish the first loop in 1:22:22 seconds at an average speed of 40km/ hour. Aisha Darweesh showed the way and close on her heels was Mira Jassem Al Ansari with Kart in third.
But the winner began to make steady progress until she hit the front in the concluding stage and from then never looked back again. Trainer Abdullah Mohammad Rashid Al Naqbi was delighted and said: “I would like to dedicate the victory to Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor and Deputy Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, the patron of the Al Maghaweer Stables.”
“RR Erebus is a good horse and easy to train. He has finished third in Al Dhafra Endurance Ride at the beginning of the season and hopefully he will continue to impress during the rest of the season,” he said.
Nouf commented: “I’m truly happy. The race was tough and the competition was too strong. The third loop was particularly very difficult.”
