BRITISH ENDURANCE RIDING ASSOCIATION

NEWS
July 2000

Headlines

• International team lists updated
• Record International Entries for UK Endurance Event (Tattersalls Newmarket Ride)
• Horse & Hound Hundred to be British National Championship Ride
• Cornwall & Gloucestershire share top Honours: At The Hilton Herbs & Raddery Equine Festival of Endurance Riding, 24/25 June 2000
• Date clarification for the Stamin-A Ride at Goodwood

· SELECTORS ANNOUNCE BRITISH ENDURANCE RIDING TEAM CHANGES FOR 2000

The British Endurance Riding Association has announced the final list for the British intermediate team for this year and the shortlist of 14 combinations for the British Senior Team - from which a final selection will be made following the Tattersalls ride in Newmarket on 9 July 2000. The Young Riders List remains unchanged at the moment.

INTERMEDIATE TEAM – Final Selection:

BRITISH SENIOR TEAM SHORTLIST

· RECORD INTERNATIONAL ENTRIES FOR UK ENDURANCE EVENT

At The Tattersalls Newmarket Ride, Sunday 9 July

The Tattersalls Newmarket endurance ride has received a record number of entries from as many as five continents with overseas competitors expected from: America, Australia, Malayasia, The Middle East and other European countries including Turkey, Spain and France. Over 50 riders are expected to take part with leading contenders likely to come from the Middle East with both Sheikh Mohammed and his son, Rashid, holding entries. Competitors are scheduled to set out, from the Rowley Mile racecourse, across Newmarket Heath on the 140km (approx 90 miles) course at 6am on Sunday 9 July; with the Tattersalls Arab Horse Sale taking place the following day.

The cream of Britain’s endurance riders will be flying the home flag when there will be all to play for as 14 shortlisted combinations fight for a place on the British team to compete in the Emirates Airlines World Endurance Riding Championships in Compiegne, France on 26 August 2000. The shortlisted riders are under orders to ride as two squads to put their skills to the test under team conditions. They include two of the top placed British riders in this event last year - Jenny Jackson (10th in 1999) and Jayme Bone with Kruga (13th last year).

The 1999 Tattersalls Newmarket ride was won by Java ridden by Tarek Taher from Saudi Arabia; who returns to defend honours again this year.

This will be the third running of this event which is now one of the most prestigious and competitive in the British endurance riding calendar. Endurance riding is one of the world’s fastest growing equestrian sports with more countries competing in its international championships than any other. Endurance organisations worldwide are currently campaigning to make the sport an Olympic discipline. Further information on the sport can be found at www.british-endurance.org.uk or contact The British Endurance Riding Association on 024 76 698863.

· HORSE & HOUND HUNDRED TO BE BRITISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RIDE

Salisbury Racecourse, Sunday 3 September 2000

Horse & Hound magazine is to sponsor the hundred mile BERA National Championship race ride class at Three Rivers, Salisbury Racecourse on Sunday 3 September.

This long-established BERA ride was the venue for the National Championships over six consecutive years in the mid-1980s; after which the feature class reverted to the 80 mile distance of recent years. This year’s Salisbury event will see the return of the 100 mile event for the first time since then.

As usual, competitors will be able to enjoy the final 3 furlong gallop up the finishing straight of the racecourse, which follows a wide river crossing where the horses have time to refresh before that final stretch. The course winds through beautiful countryside which includes a fair bit of downland and minimal roadwork and benefits from two well co-ordinated designated crewing areas. The venue offers superb facilities for horses and riders, including on-site racecourse stabling. It also hosts a wide range of other classes from the 60 mile Smokey Challenge endurance ride through to a Bronze Buckle Qualifier.

The Horse & Hound Hundred will offer home-based, top horse & rider combinations a 100 mile target towards the end of the season when horses are at their peak fitness and will follow hot on the heels of the British team’s outing to the World Championships in France on 26 August 2000. The Horse & Hound prize package for the National Championship will include a crystal decanter and rug for the winner with flasks for the runners up.

Commented Horse & Hound Editor, Arnold Garvey: “Having just completed in my first 60 mile race ride; I can see how the 100 mile target is the ultimate goal of the endurance rider and can really appreciate how tough it is. We are delighted to be sponsoring our own Horse & Hound Hundred and my goal has always been to compete in the event myself.”

Last year’s National Championship, held at the Raddery Equine White Rose ride in Yorkshire, was Jayme Bone with Kruga, who is this year shortlisted for the British team.

CORNWALL & GLOUCESTERSHIRE SHARE TOP HONOURS

At The Hilton Herbs & Raddery Equine Festival of Endurance Riding, 24/25 June 2000

The Hilton Herbs & Raddery Equine Festival of Endurance Riding at Cirencester Park saw former international rider Jill Thomas take the FEI 100 mile race ride with her 8 year old, Tarafiya on the horse’s first attempt at this distance; whilst local 21 year old, Emma Froehlich from Calcot (Glos) finished way ahead of her nearest rivals on ‘home ground’ and on a horse she’d sat on only once before – to take the 60 mile Denbigh Slate race ride. The cream of Britain’s juniors were also in action on Sunday, with two 15 year old youngsters battling it out in a racing finish after 50 miles; Anna Williams (another Cornish victor) riding Jan Clark’s Khairho finally clinching it by a head over Vicky Brown of Churchdown (Glos) with Angus Macleod.

The riders reported the course as very testing with heavy hill work; slippery going and sticky, boggy patches in the woods which contributed to many lost shoes along the way. Only two riders (from 7 starters) finished in the hundred miler after sixteen hours in the saddle with Jill Thomas finishing on an average speed of 6.58mph and her only other rival, Gill Campbell and Barwani coming in someway behind to finish in second place, on an average speed of 6.32 mph.

Commented Jill Thomas: “I just went out to hack around and get the 100 mile FEI qualification under our belts; but I was really lucky in that the conditions ended up suiting this horse – it was a slow course; he likes the hill work and doesn’t care about mud. Had he been more experienced we could have gone a lot faster.”

Gill Campbell will have boosted her chances of British Senior Team selection with this performance particularly as Barwani also took the Best Condition award. Explained Gill: “She was brilliant, better than she’s ever been before. Her heart rate was good all the way round and she was ever so quick in the vet gates. The key to it all has come through equine nutritionists, Equizest, who helped us to identify that she needs a lot of extra salt and at Cirencester she was eating and drinking properly at the vet gates which she never really did before.”

Two other longlisted riders kept going for 93 miles until the final vet gate - Jo Trego and Olivers Taboo, now 15 years of age; and Paula Postelthwaite with Sovereign of Trewyn. Commented Jo Trego: “It was tough but then Cirencester always is but I am very encouraged, that coming back after his year off, Ollie seems to have settled down now after probably going too fast at The Cotswolds Ride and he really is as enthusiastic as ever. ”

The Best Condition Award in the Denbigh Slate was taken by the winning horse - Ann Newton’s eight year old novice Dahlih. Emma Froehlich commented afterwards: “He showed his green-ness mentally, not physically, by not wanting to be with other horses; so as he was joined by some coming into the penultimate vet gate after 50 miles, I had to hold him back and we lost a lot of time. But, although we came in 5th, we presented first and from then on in, he was going so well out in front and nothing could touch us for the last ten miles.”

Although not related to her best known horse, Dacoit, Ann explained: “Dahlih is brother to a very special horse I had, which has sadly now died. I bought him as a weanling, very much with endurance in mind. Because he’s big, he has taken quite a while to mature but this year it’s just all come together. If he comes out of this well, we might go to Shropshire Hills next.”

The 60 mile Gold Achievement endurance ride was won by Horse & Hound Editor, Arnie Garvey riding Catherine Drummond’s Tokar Ibn Teelah for the FT UK team (the promotional and leisurewear company, Forge Trading UK). The Hilton Herbs & Raddery Equine Team Challenge was won by the co-sponsors’ Hilton ‘Herbies’ team; with the Balanced Horse Feeds ‘Staminators’ team in second. A rematch is on the cards for the Stamin-A Goodwood ride on 8 October 2000.

Making a return to endurance competition at Cirencester – after severe injuries following a car accident earlier this year – was 16 year old Christopher Rose, who successfully completed the 20 mile Bronze Buckle Qualifier on Tamaryu on Saturday.

· The Stamin-A Goodwood Ride sponsored by Balanced Horse Feeds takes place on SUNDAY 8 October 2000 (and not the Saturday, as published in the BERA schedule).