The starting line-up for the FEI World Endurance Championship will only be finalised late this evening after the 186 horses are taken through the pre-ride veterinary check.
The final horse-rider combination and the final four-member team will be finalised after that.
Following these formalities the stage will be all set for the second World Endurance Championship to be hosted by the UAE tomorrow.
There may be more than 180 riders and horses left in the fray and almost all of them, including the very experienced bunch of endurance experts here for the championship, have without any hesitation pointed to the hosts, the UAE, as the favourites.
One can't blame them, for the achievements of the UAE riders have been awesome and their records speak for themselves.
General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and UAE Defence Minister, is the reigning European Open Champion.
Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs, are natural horsemen with some fantastic wins under their belts.
The defending World Endurance Champion is Shaikh Ahmad Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum.
Shaikh Rashid Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum is the former European Open Champion and current gold medal winner of the European Open team championship.
Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum is a former World Junior Champion and current gold medal winner of the European Open team championship.
Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum, one of the younger riders in the team of 12, has won big rides at home and abroad.
Shaikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum, another young lad, won the Triple Crown in a tough three-round championship in UAE last year.
Shaikh Hazza Bin Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, another young rider in the team, already has four impressive international wins.
Shaikh Khalid Bin Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has won a silver team medal in the World Junior Championship.
Sultan Ahmad Sultan Bin Sulayem has 17 finishes in the top ten and is one of the more consistent riders in the country.
Ali Mohammad Al Muhairi, the bronze medallist in the European Open Championship in 2003 is currently second in the world rankings after his impressive display in 2004.
Most of the wins registered by the UAE riders have come outside the country and in wide and varied terrains. The riders are now set to mount a challenge on their home terrain.
However, endurance is a universal sport, which produces a range of champions - from schoolboys to grandmothers.
In the 1998 world championships held here Fausto Fiorucci, a dentist from Italy was involved in a thrilling tussle for supremacy with the favourite Valery Kanavy from the US who eventually won.
In third place was little known Japanese rider Daisuke Yasunaga.
More recently, in 2002, 16-year-old Shaikh Ahmad halted the winning trend of women riders in World Championships to become the first male to win a gold medal.
All it takes is one wrong step, or a small pebble, or stone to send even the best conditioned horses out of the reckoning. The UAE riders have been victims of this before.
Despite these variables, it will take a very good performance from a challenger to finish ahead of the local challenger.
The hosts are the favourites. The 170-odd riders from 41 countries will have to come out and beat them in their own backyard.
WEC FACTS
EventFEI World Endurance Championship, 2005
Distance
160 km
Stages
6 (32kms, 32kms, 29kms, 28kms, 20kms and 19kms)
Venue
Dubai International Endurance City, Seih Assalam, Dubai
Start time
6 am
Competition
Individual and Team event
Minimum ride weight
75 kg with equipment, excluding bridle
Minimum age of horse
7 years old and above
Heart rate
64 beats per minute (bpm) within 30 minutes
ROLL OF HONOUR 1986 Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy 1988 Front Royal, US 1990 Stockholm, Sweden 1992 Barcelona, Spain 1994 The Hague, The Netherlands 1996 Fort Riley, US 1998 Dubai/Abu Dhabi, UAE 2000 Compiegne, France 2002 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain Team Champions: 1986 Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy 1988 Front Royal, US 1990 Stockholm, Sweden 1992 Barcelona, Spain 1994 The Hague, The Netherlands 1998 Dubai/Abu Dhabi, UAE More From Sport |
