Al Duhani leads Ted to victory
‘I kept my horse as fresh as possible because of the weather’
Ramzy Al Duhani of Saudi Arabia, riding Ted, produced a flawless round in the nine-fence jump-off to clinch The President of the UAE Cup at Al Forsan International Sports Resorts yesterday.
The team bronze medallist at the London Olympics in 2012 clocked 43.70 seconds to win from Norway’s Cecilie Hatteland, on Alex, and Swiss Edwin Smits, aboard Dandiego B Z.
“I’m so happy,” said a jubilant Al Duhani, who has represented Saudi Arabia in five Olympics. “I kept my horse as fresh as possible because of the weather. I wanted to save my horse. I saw a lot of horses after the first round that were tired.
“This is the biggest win in Abu Dhabi. I had this horse only for one year. He’s an up and coming horse and want to present at the FEI World Games [in September] and qualify him for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I have two horses. This one is for the World Games and the other [High Quality] for the Asian Games.”
Looking forward to the remaining competitions of the four-day event in Abu Dhabi, Al Duhani hoped Ted has enough energy left to compete at tomorrow’s Nations Cup.
Best performance
“Two of our experienced riders didn’t travel for this event, but we have some young riders to challenge for the prize,” revealed Al Duhani.
The FEI 5-star Grand Prix for prize fund of €165,000 drew 47 riders but the host were conspicuous in their absence, perhaps, safeguarding their horses for the Nations Cup tomorrow.
In all 12 made the cut and the fastest of the lot in the first round was the third-placed Smith on his 14-year-old bay gelding.
Second-placed Hatteland was pleased with the result and said it was the best effort from her horse.
“I’m happy with the result. He gave me two nice rides yesterday and the best performance for far today. I bought him when he was nine from Neil Jones from Belgium.
“He was doing only 1.30m and now I feel he’s where he has to be, and in the future we can going faster,” revealed Hatteland.
Italian Luca Maria Moneta, who won two events on the opening day of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup and The President of the UAE Showjumping Cup, could finish only eighth.
Moneta clearly had carried his form from day one as he was runner-up in the International jumping competition against the clock behind first-placed Italian Emanuele Gaudiano on Carlotta, who clocked 52.81s.