Riders ready for Bahrain horse endurance race

The biggest endurance horse ride event of the season is all set for today when prominent riders from Bahrain and the UAE line up for the King's Cup Ride Championship in Sakhir. Competitors will vie for a glittering trophy in the main ride of the day, to be held at the Bahrain International Endurance Village. His majesty king hamad will patronize the race. Today's programme also includes an 80km junior ride as well as an FEI qualifier, and is over a similar distance of 80km. In the 120km feature race, Bahrain's Royal Team captain Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and UAE's Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum will lead their compatriots in today's much-awaiting event. This challenging ride is expected to be a high-paced event with speculations in the air for an exciting and nail-biting battle to take place during all the five stages. Today's ride is set to begin with 30km, to be followed by an identical stage of 30km. The second is over 20km, followed by 20km for the fourth and another 20km for the fifth and final phase. Riding Focus from Nad Al Sheba Stable, Shaikh Hamdan hopes to repeat his outstanding achievement in December last year when he clinched the First edition of the CISM World Military Championship organised in Bahrain. He will be racing along with several other senior riders from different stables across the UAE, namely Nad Al Sheba, Al Aasifa, Fazza, Emaar E.S. and Ajman Endurance Stable. As for hosts Bahrain, defending champion Yaqoub Al Hammadi is a strong contingent of riders who will be taking part in today's challenge. Other Bahraini contestants will come from Al Montasir Stable, Al Ajiyal Stable, Ahmed Al Fateh Stable, Awal Stable and Al Shawamek Stable, to name a few. The Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation, meanwhile, has completed all necessary procedures ahead of the race. Bahrain's International Endurance Village had a busy day yesterday, with all participants escorting their horses for the veterinary examination. Yesterday's two-hour examination was conducted by a team of experienced veterinary commission, headed by Yassine Motemri of Tunisia, as well as Foreign veterinary delegate is Mohammed Al Hammad of Saudi Arabia. Other veterinarians are Jean Marc of Belgium, Piotr Szpotanski and Wojciech Piekalkiewicz of Poland, Oman's Hadi Al Lawati and Khalid Al Ruziaiqi and India's C V Niranjan. Each rider competing in the senior event had a maximum allowed weight of 75kg, including the saddle. In the 80km junior and qualifying rides, participants should not exceed 70kg of weight with the saddle.