FEI World Endurance Championships for Young Horses 2015: UAE takes gold and Spain completes podium
29 September 2015, Verona, Italy ~ The 120km FEI World Endurance Championships for Young Horses 2015 on 26, 27 September, at Valeggio Sul Mincio (ITA) saw the UAE’s Saif Ahmed Al Mozroui take individual gold and Spain’s Alex Luque Moral and Jordi Pons Serra return home with individual silver and bronze respectively last weekend.
These Championships for seven-year old horses were first held during Valeggio Sul Mincio’s annual Italia Endurance Festival in 2013.
The Course
The four-loop course wound its way through the rolling countryside typical of the province of Verona onto the shores of Lake Garda and into the stunning public park Parco Giardino Sigurta.
The event attracted a field of 73 combinations from across Europe as well as the UAE, Turkey and Kuwait. The competitors left the venue at 7am on Saturday morning and tackled the first loop of 38km. Consistency and quick presentation times were to prove influential throughout the day and vet gate 1 was no exception. A small group had made headway in the first section, comprising mainly representatives from the UAE but including Annelie Erikssen (SWE) and Luque Moral. Presentation times of under two minutes allowed Al Mazroui, Saif Salem Al Farasi (UAE) and Erikssen to continue their lead on to loop 2.
The second loop was slightly shorter at 33km. While Erikssen’s Penelope del Ma was perfectly fit to continue to the next loop, they chose to retire due to the horse being sold. A slow presentation time from Al Farasi resulted in him slipping behind Luque Moral with his mare Surena MB, but only by eight seconds. Luque Mural, just back from winning team gold (on Calandria PH) and narrowly missing out on an individual medal at the FEI European Endurance Championships in Slovakia just two weeks ago, was out to better his fourth place and come home with individual honors this time.
Al Mazroui left on the third 26.5km loop with a 3.5 minute lead and put in the fastest loop of the day, extending his lead by another two minutes at the final vet gate.This last check before the final loop was a real game changer for so many, with no less than 16 combinations having their chances dashed and being judged not fit to continue at this tantalizingly close stage.
While it looked like it would be an exceedingly tight last loop between Al Farasi and Moral, as both left within 10 seconds of one another, Al Farasi cruised home over the final 22.5kph with the Portuguese-bred grey Arabian gelding Descarado.
Moral was nevertheless ecstatic to secure his second FEI Championship medal within two weeks. Ten minutes later, bronze was snapped up by compatriot Pons Serra and his grey mare Cata de Montfluq, after they had worked their way up the leaderboard from seventh at the first vet gate.
Facts & Figures
Tactical riding and good horse management was key on this technical course, which saw 40% of the athletes complete from nine nations including Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and the UAE.
The top ten horses were of all bred in Europe, with half of these bred in France.
Spain held its head high yet again at these Championships, taking home two of the three medals on offer, after securing team and individual gold at the FEI European Endurance Championships 2015 in Slovakia just two weeks ago.
All eyes are now on the upcoming FEI Endurance World Championships for Seniors in Ruse (BUL) on 2-4 October and the FEI Endurance World Championships for Juniors & Young Riders in Santo Domingo (CHI) on 23-24 October.
Results:
Gold Saif Ahmed Al Mozroui (UAE) with Descarado: 22.02kph/05:26:56
Silver Alex Luque Moral (ESP) with Surena MB: 21.34kph/05:37:21
Bronze Jordi Pons Serra (ESP) with Cata de Montfluq: 20.60kph/05:49:34
Photo caption: FEI World Endurance Championships for Young Horses 2015 at Valeggio Sul Mincio (ITA): gold medalist Saif Ahmed Al Mozroui (centre) was joined on the podium by Spain’s silver medalist Alex Luque Moral (left) and bronze medalist Jordi Pons Serra, with (front) Manuel Bandeira De Mello, FEI Director, Endurance. (Alessandra-Giorgio/FEI)
Report by Berry Pattison