Ali Al-Marri and Fernhill Friendly Touch at Hartpury International Horse Trials
The Asian Games, the largest sporting event in the world, will soon be held in Incheon, Korea. As one of the 40 sports of the Games, equestrian will feature in the programme having been introduced into the 9th Asian Games in 1982 and eventing, which takes place from September 23rd – 27this one of the disciplines to be hotly contested
As with the Olympic Games, athletes must be entered by their National Olympic Committee and have qualified at the appropriate level which, for some Asian eventing riders, is an achievement in itself. Many head to Europe to gain qualification and base themselves at the heart of the eventing world; Japanese rider and our own blogger Daiki Chujo was based with Dirk Schrade in Germany, Hong Kong’s Annie Ho (the Asian Games eventing winner in 2013) has been based in the UK for several years while Qatar has created a home base for their eventing team with the British eventing rider and coach Joss Gray
Qatar is now known as a force to be reckoned with in the show jumping field but it also has a good past record in eventing, having won team gold on their home soil in Doha in 2006. The eventers are now looking for not only a good performance in Incheon but hoping to build a strong team for Rio in 2016. In line with these goals, the Qatar Equestrian Federation appointed Joss following his success coaching the Indonesian Team at the South East Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur to a team bronze medal in 2001 and in Jakarta in 2011 where they gained team silver and individual bronze medals.
Since then Joss’ yard in Oxfordshire has been the hub for the Qatari riders with eleven horses based there since June 2012 while the Qatari delegation live in a ten bedroom house close by. Initially the horses were those that competed for Qatar at the last Asian Games in China in 2010 but this summer some new horses were also purchased in preparation for the Asian Games in Korea and the team nominated for Incheon are a mix of new and old horses.
The team heading to Korea are;
Hadi Al-Marri riding Navigater or Drum Mousse (one horse to act as reserve)
Ali Al-Marri riding Fernhill Friendly Touch
Manif Al-Naimi riding Graffiti De Lully
Hassan Al-Naimi riding Leslie Ann
Hassan Al-Naimi and Leslie Ann at Hartpury
Graffiti and Drum Mousse both competed at the last Asian Games while Fernhill Friendly Touch was bought in Italy and Navigater was bought in Germany from Kai Ruder. Hassan's horse, Leslie Ann, has the distinction of being the only horse in the world sired by William Fox-Pitt’s London 2012 Olympic mount, Lionheart.
Lionheart, who was sold to the USA’s Allison Springer following the 2012 Olympics and sadly died following colic complications, was gelded as a youngster in Germany. However young males can still sire offspring for a few weeks after gelding and during this time Lionheart showed his jumping potential and fertility by jumping into the next field and mating with a mare. Leslie Ann was the result and was ridden by Josephine Schnaufer until being purchased by the Qataris this year
The team leave for Korea on the 17th September, having worked hard in the lead up to this big event which they hope will in turn take them towards Rio in 2016. As a part of the final preparation renowned international trainer and coach of the hugely successful German eventing team, Chris Bartle has also been involved
“In March this year, Chris Bartle came on board as the consultant for the team, helping me enormously with all strategic planning for the Qatar eventing team” says Joss “In my capacity as chef d’équipe and trainer it is great to work with someone of Chris' vast experience while Sarah Ward has been their dressage trainer since the team have been with me and is also doing a great job”
“When we return from Korea, the Qatar Eventing mission is to compete at the Olympics. The Incheon 2014 Asian Games will be great a championship experience for them and will help build a team of Qatari eventing riders for the exciting years ahead”
