Coronavirus continues to cause concern

This week, the Coronavirus has really come to the fore with shows, race meeting and all sport having to look very carefully as to how to continue as safely as possible with the continuing virus spreading like wide fire throughout the world. Racing in France and now the UAE is taking place behind closed doors and other events are being monitored carefully. Princess Haya was back in court in London again with further allegations against Sheikh Mohammed.

Racing and Coronavirus

The 3 star World Cup event in Warsaw has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus restrictions which have been enacted in Poland. It was due to run from the 12^th to the 15^th March.

In the UAE at the Meydan racing festival, ‘super Saturday’ was held behind closed doors. With a considerable  number of outbreaks and unknown number of deaths from the Coronavirus infections in the Middle East, decisions on the staging of the World Cup in later this month at the same venue are still being considered. The two Group 1 races were won by Charlie Appleby and Sin Bin Ghadayer respectively with Barney Roy and Matterhorn.

This week’s Cheltenham festival is to continue as normal with race goers being asked to stay away should they feel at all un-well. Generally sporting events throughout the world are all facing difficult decisions regarding the outbreak due to the big numbers at the iconic events expected, and this is not something that will be solved quickly!

In the High Court UK

Last summer, Princess Haya applied to the courts in the UK to make her two children ‘wards of the court’ following alleged wrong doings by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum  regarding his other children from previous marriages. Last week, The Ruler of Dubai and world wide racing owner was taken to the High Court in London in a further court case regarding the original allegations.   Princess Haya, now his former wife also alleged that she had been consistently intimidated in various ways by The Sheikh and those around him. The judgement found in her favour and agreed that the allegations made had substantial verification. The Princess remains in hiding in the UK, where she has been since last summer.

Dressage in Herning

The main dressage competition of the weekend was held in Herning in Denmark. The 5 star CDI was won by Cathrine Dufour riding Bohemian with a mark of just over 83% In second was fellow Dane Carina Cassoe Kruth. Lone Bang Larson won the Freestyle with a personal best score on his Danish Warmblood stallion Bakkeley’s Onandt.

Showjumping in UAE and USA

In Doha in The UAE, the first of the Longines Champion Tour events took place with a CSI 5 star. Thirty two started for the class and seven went through clear in the first round, therefore went for the jump off. Daniel Deusser of Germany won riding Killer Queen VDL in 42.54 seconds. In second was Nicola Philippaerts from Belgium riding Katanga v.h.Dingeshof and third was Jerome Guery, also from Belgium.

In the USA the second CSI 5 star class of the weekend took place as part of the Wellington winter festival in Florida, The Douglas Elliman Real Estate Grand Prix. Forty started and only four got clears to go through to the jump off. Of those four, three went clear for a second time with Ashlee Bond from Isreal going in the quickest time of 39.64 seconds riding Donatello 141. Standing second was Daniel Bluman from Columbia riding Ladriano Z and third was USA’s Lillie Keenan.

Sharing is caring!