The chef d’equipes of the 11 nations competing in the President’s Cup CSIO***** in Abu Dhabi met this morning to make the draw for the running order of Friday’s team contest.
The most news worthy occurrence, however, was Irish team manager Robert Splaine’s announcement. He noted that his riders have decided any money they might win in Friday’s Nations Cup would be donated to the Haiti Earthquake appeal. “This is not to do with publicity, no-one wants to profit from others misfortune, but we hope that it will raise awareness and perhaps motivate other donations.”
The Irish team is a strong one and consists of former World Champion Dermott Lennon, Cian O’Connor recent winner of the Grand Prix at Olympia, Billy Twomey who won the Amsterdam GP and Cameron Hanley, 4th in the 2009 European Championships.
Cameron commented, “We were all talking last night about how lucky we are to have this lifestyle, even though it is work for us as professional riders, and how it would be great to help out some people who are not as fortunate. Of course, we have now put ourselves under a bit of pressure to do well but we are all experienced riders and there is always pressure at this level. That said, we are honoured to have been invited here, the UAE Federation have gone to a great deal of trouble to prepare this show.”
At this press conference, Capt John Roche, FEI Director of Jumping and is here as part of the Appeals committee, announced that this competition would definitely count towards the Promotional League points table and therefore qualifying for the 2011 Top League.
His Excellency Taleb Dhahar Al Muhairi, President of the UAE Showjumping Club, said that his country decided to organise this show since there was not a prestigious show for the sport in the country and, further, that such an event would raise the profile of sport among the Arab nations. “We have invested much in this show but so far we do not have the final cost, it has just been spend, spend, spend so far but I think to have riders such as these competing here has a bigger value than money, which we will see the rewards of in future.”
His Excellency also revealed that there would be opportunities everyday for the public to win a new car. He also commented that the prize fund was likely to increase in 2011 from the 500,000 Euro on offer this year. All the 5* classes will count towards the Rolex rankings and Saturday’s Grand Prix, one of the richest individual prizes on offer anywhere in the world. 57 riders from 16 nations are here to take their chance to win it. Details of the riders and the schedule for the show can now be found on the ENGARDE website www.engarde.de.
Nations Cup Team Order
1.Denmark
2. Germany
3.Ireland
4.Sweden
5.Egypt
6.Netherlands
7.Qatar
8.United Arab Emirates
9.Great Britain
10.Italy
11.Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Quotes:
Jos Lansink – “It is not so hard for the horses to acclimatise who have come from freezing Europe. I think, like us, they are happy to have some sunshine. We can just take a rug off them. Going back to the cold is the hard thing, for both of us.”
Clarissa Crotta – “Everything is absolutely unbelievable, it is a fantastic place. The ground and the stables are really top and I hope next year the Swiss will send a team. This year I will have to concentrate on the GP as I am the only Swiss rider.”
Capt John Roche – “The FEI are very happy that the UAE has taken this fantastic step which is very much in line with the FEI development policy and their efforts to promote CSIO’s in developing nations. This contest will count as a qualifying round for the Promtional League Final 2010. ~ by Lulu Kyriacou, Engarde Press Agent
More from Horse Sport:
