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Kanavy wins race in brilliant style
By M. Satyanarayan
Dubai - The World Endurance Championship title will remain with the Kanavy family. After reigning champion Danielle Kanavy pulled out in in first leg, her mother and 1994 champion Valerie, came up with a brilliant finish to beat Italy's Fausto Fiorucci in a close finish.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with the winner Valerie Kanavy and Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed after the World Endurance Ride. ©GN picture by Sevag Davidian.
Valerie, who was unsure of her horse High Winds Jedi's participation due to ill health, did well to stave off the strong UAE challenge to triumph in one of the biggest ever equestrian events in the world.
While Danielle's mishap turned out to be Valerie's rallying point, General Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Defence Minister, had to pull out when in third place in the third leg that affected the UAE team. At that stage, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid was leading with Sheikh Mohammed in third place and Hassan bin Ali and Mohammed Ali Al Shafar in the top ten.
"It was very unfortunate. I consider myself unlucky. I had a very good chance as I had won the same distance on Nelson I earlier, and with Danielle out of the race, I really had a good chance. But Nelson I suffered some problems and I could not force him to continue further. This affected the team morale," said Sheikh Mohammed.
Sheikh Hamdan and Al Shafar finished together. Sheikh Hamdan was provisionally placed fourth while Al Shafar was fifth though both registered the same times. Valerie's win was shouldered by two surprise finishes with the Italian Fiurucci and Japan's Daisuke Yasunaga turning out stunning displays in second and third place.
"This win is simply superb. I am more happy as Jedi has been trained by Danielle," said Kanavy. Jedi was 'tied up' a week ago and three days before the ride went lame. "But the team did a fantastic job," the American added. "This was the best championship I have ever attended and only the UAE could have possibly organised an equestrian event of this magnitude," she said.
The ride started early yesterday with 173 horses from 37 countries battling for honours in this bi-annual championship. The event was being held for the first time outside Europe or America.
Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler and Minister of Finance and Industry Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court and President of the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan were among those who attended the race.
 Valerie Kanavy crosses the finish line to win the World Endurance Ride. ©GN picture by Sevag Davidian. |
Fiurucci's achievement, one of the best by an Italian, was a personal success for the dentist who had himself bred and reared his horse Faris Jabar.
"My horse did not do well after arrival here the UAE. This was the reason I was not considered for the team event. But after the first 20 kilometres I found he was going well," said Fiorucci. "After Sheikh Mohammed had pulled out I was close behind Valerie. But she was too good though very little separated us. I could not have stopped her. Not by fair means," said the soft-spoken doctor who owns about 30 Pure-bred Arabian horses.
"Faris Jabar has two more brothers in the farm back home while his mother is in foal. He is a very good horse and I am pleased for him." Fiurucci said.
Fiurucci was very modest while revealing his tactics.
"I use simple logic when I am in big rides. I just allow my horse to do his best and try to ensure he is not under pressure," said the Italian who had won the national championship in 1997 on the same grey gelding. The winner Valerie Kanavy was also full of praise for the unknown Italian.
"He really rode a very good ride. But I never wanted to take any chances and made a strong finish," Kanavy said.
Earlier the ride was robbed of some of the favourites when first reigning champion Danielle Kanavy, then German star Alexander Stadler and finally Tarek Taher were out of the running. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defence, and Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed, the other main contenders pulled out in the crucial fourth leg.
Japan, who have only recently ventured into endurance racing and do not even organise 160-kilometre rides, claimed a very creditable third place finish by Daisuke Yasunaga, which was indeed a pleasing achievement. "We do not have rides of 160 kilometres so we have to qualify by participating in rides either in the U.S. or Australia," said Yasunaga who qualified from Australia.
"Full credit goes to my trainer Peter Toft of Australia," said Yasunaga, who was part of a young Japanese team here. He did very well to overtake Sheikh Hamdan in the fourth leg and then maintained his position to record a creditable finish. The UAE, who had a 12-member strong team in the fray had four of their riders in the top ten finishers according to provisional results provided.
While Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum and Mohammed Ali Al Shafar crossed the line together. But Sheikh Hamdan was placed fourth and Al Shafar fifth. The others who finished behind Al Shafar were Merete Andersen (Denmark), Gabriela Costa (Argentina), Wendy Meredini (US), Musallem Salem Al Amri (UAE) and Ali Mohammed Al Muhairi (UAE).
With the last rider expected to finish well past midnight the final results for both the individual as well as team events will be known today.
Reigning champion Danielle Kanavy, who had bought the grey gelding as a six-year-old for $500, had already decided before the ride to retire Pieraz after this ride. Both Danielle and Pieraz were eyeing a historic double while the 17-year-old grey was in line for a treble.
Pieraz was bidding to equal RO Grand Sultan's three-in-a-row win from 1988 to 1992 after winning in partnership with mother Valerie Kanavy and daughter Danielle. But Pieraz tripped about 3 kms before the end of the first 40-kilometre leg and incurred a spasm in his left leg. "I decided to retire rather than continue and risk injury to Cash," said a dejected Danielle at her crew stable.
Danielle in fact had, during practice here, expressed her desire to ride High Winds Jedi but her mother got to ride the younger horse, another grey gelding. However Danielle was happy that it was not a major injury as she never wanted to see the great Pieraz crippled. "This was the reason I wanted to retire him after this ride. I did not want him to get seriously injured. He should get over this injury soon. I will truly miss him," said Danielle.
RO Grand Sultan, another Arabian horse from the US had won the World Championship thrice in succession with American Becky Heart as rider. Commenting on the ride itself Danielle said: "The facilities here are truly world class. But the ride trail is pretty barren and monotonous. "You do feel a bit bored with the same scenery of sand, sand all around," Danielle said.
Luckily for the U.S. team, Danielle was not in the team list and her early exit did not matter to the strong U.S. team¹s medal hopes. The U.S. team management left out both Danielle and Valerie from their team lists.
Misfortune struck another favourite when a muscle problem to Brieema Warrior put the strong German contender out of the ride. Stadler was already hit by bad luck when his original entry Al Hajaa was withdrawn after a persistent cough. Stadler was also not in the German team list though the ace rider was in top form after having won a couple of rides in the ELDRIC circuit.
"The magnetic card was really giving us a problem. We were very upset and midway through the third leg decided to pull out. I do not see why the computerised card system should be used in a long-distance race like this. It does not matter if a few seconds are overlooked while manually entering the times like in the previous championship. I think this is not good for the sport," said tarek Taher who was among the favourites.
A vet at one of the gates echoed Taher's words. "The magnetic card can get corrupted due to sweat, sand or dirt. It is not possible for the riders to care for it when they are concentrating on the ride," he said. An official at the time gate said the problem was due to a temperory power failure during the early part of the ride.
Reportagens transcritas da edição web do jornal Gulf News de 11/12/98.
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