Shaikh Hassan ninth in King Abdullah showjumping GP

Bahrain’s leading show jumper, Sh Hassan bin Rashid Al-Khalifa placed 9th with an almost perfect final round in the ‘King Abdullah Show Jumping Festival’ GP. The Bahraini rider clocked a very fast ‘four fault’ round over the difficult 150m GP course that only four riders managed to clear.The event was won by rising Saudi star, Bader Mohammed Alfard, who was the only rider to finish the day with two clear rounds. Olympic Bronze medalist Abdulla Al Sharbatly was second, while HH Prince Faisal Al Shaalan filled up the third place.The three star event saw many leading GCC riders saddle up to try and win the cup of this inaugural event. SH Hassan came agonizingly close to making the jump off and having a chance to win the event. Riding his mare Uleika, he rode an almost flawless round but knocked fence number eleven in what would have been an otherwise perfect round. Nevertheless, Sh Hassan managed to beat out two Olympic bronze medalists, Khalid Al Eid and HRH Prince Abdullah bin Metab and finished in a respectable 9th place.Sh Hassan’s 9th place finish is the highest ever for a Bahraini rider in 3 star GP.‘I’d like to dedicate this good result to my longtime coach Joaquin Tinao for his hard work and belief in me throughout the years.’Sh Hassan and Tinao are now preparing for the 5 star event at the same show grounds on April 10-12.‘I had a difficult start to the event as my horses flew from Belgium where the temperature was zero degrees and they needed time to adjust. I’m also coming back from an injury and needed two competition days to fully get back into rhythm. I’m happy with the result of the event and hope to carry the momentum into the five star show’‘I’d like to congratulate the Bahrain show jumping team riders for placing fourth in the GCC cup. They all rode superbly around the difficult and technical course on Saturday. It’s a testament to their hard work and training with coach Benny Derix. I wish them all the best in the future and hope we will be able to compete together in international events around the globe.’‘I hope these good results will help us Bahraini riders get sponsors to buy new horses which will help us get even better results in the future. It’s very important to get this support as all other GCC countries have this support.’‘I would also like to congratulate the Bahrain delegation headed by BREEF show jumping committee head, Ghalib Al Alawi, for doing a great job of organizing and preparing the riders for this prestigious event.’‘I’d like to thank the Bahrain Olympic Committee and BREEF for their continued support of which myself and all the Bahraini riders’ deeply appreciate.’I’d also like to thank the large number of Bahraini supporters that drove all the way to Saudi to support us. source : BNA