Al Junaibi excels in show jumping senior qualifier

Abu Dhabi: Ahmad Al Junaibi has won the International Senior Qualifier for the FEI World Cup Grand Prix on Picobello Wodiena and hopes to repeat the performance in the final round.

The riders will compete for a berth in FEI World Cup final this year in Las Vegas and the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky next year.

Riding the Shaikh Shakhboot Bin Nahyan Al Nahyan-owned Picobello Wodiena, Al Junaibi came up with a superb round of clearing the fences to finish with a timing of 67.86 seconds.

That was just enough to beat Khalid Bin Abdul Aziz Al Eid of Saudi Arabia, who took the second and third spots with Al Ryadh and Silvano respectively.

Shaikh Shakhboot Bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, Shaikha Latifa Al Maktoum and Shaikh Ali Abdullah Al Qasimi have also qualified for the second round.

Apart from earning a winner's purse of Dh16,250, Al Junaibi and seven other UAE riders made the cut for the Dh150,000 final.