Anita Sande wins the Division 1 category and Sharjah riders continue their winning streak

Dubai, UAE, April 29, 2019:  The 2018/ 2019 Show Jumping season came to a successful end on Saturday evening with the finals being held across 10 classes over a span of three days. All competitions were held in the indoor sand arena of the Sharjah Equestrian & Racing Club (SERC) under the sponsorship of Longines - the Official Time Keeper and presenting partner of the Emirates Longines Show Jumping League competitions - and the supervision of the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation (UAEERF), in cooperation with SERC which hosted the tournament for the past three weeks.

Male and female riders from various equestrian clubs took part in the competitions which consisted of two classes for each category. Division 1’s Competition Over Two Rounds was won by Norwegian rider, Anita Annika Sande, from Elite Stables riding ‘For Cash 2’ while Emirati rider, Moh’d Yousuf Baker, from SERC, won Division 2’s Competition Over Two Rounds  with ‘Foss’. The winner of the Juniors’ category was Syria’s Mhd Osama Al Zabibi and ‘Toulana’, from Mandara Equestrian Club while SERC’s Kayla Hassan Daher, won the Novice Division competition atop ‘Pentagon’.  SERC also dominated in the Children’s Division when Layth Ghurayeb and ‘Quapitola Sr Z’ won the coveted first place. 

Sheikh Abdullah bin Majid Al Qassimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Equestrian and Racing Club, was also present at the event. Dr. Ghanem Al Hajri, Secretary General of the UAEERF; Sultan Al Yahyai, General Director of the Sharjah Equestrian & Racing Club; and Patrick Aoun, Regional Manager of Longines presented the prizes to the winners.

During the prize giving ceremony, Dr. Ghanem Al Hajri said: 'We are happy to conclude the eighth edition of the league and award the riders who persevered and were able to reach these advanced stages.” He continued, “We would like to thank our partners and sponsors who played a pivotal role in preparing the riders to reach this level thus achieving the best possible results. We wish success to our riders for the future tournaments.”

Sultan Al Yahyai said: 'The riders have had a very successful season in all competitions of the League as well as international competitions. This would not have been possible without the efforts of the clubs and sponsors who helped the riders in reaching the Longines Cup, Barcelona and other categories of international competitions.” He added, “Today, we're witnessing the end of the season, which could have continued throughout the year had there been more indoor fields, thus saving riders the difficulty of searching for summer participations in Europe.' Al Yahyai conveyed his thanks to His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, Supreme Council member and Ruler of Sharjah, for his support to the sport and its riders, and the indoor arena which witnessed the beginning and end of the season. Sultan Al Yahyai revealed that the Sharjah Equestrian & Racing Club will meet the requirements for hosting the 2022 Show Jumping World Cup.

Patrick Aoun expressed his delight at the conclusion of the eighth edition of the event and mentioned that there has been a great development in sport of show jumping as well as the riders during the course of the League - evidence to the success of sponsorship. He was optimistic that the efforts have yielded positive results, which will encourage further sponsorship. “We will certainly see more developments in the ninth edition of the League, and achieve more towards the development of the sport in UAE,” he concluded.

The first edition of the show jumping championship was launched in (2011/2012), and is still maintaining its uniqueness at the Arab and Middle Eastern levels, with the physical and technical gains for the riders and horses. This past edition took place over 17 weeks and began in the first week of October, concluding last weekend, with the competitions being held in the equestrian clubs of Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club. 

Event Highlights

Anita Annika Sande wins Division 1

Anita Sande won the Division 1 category competition during the Longines Final in the Competition Over Two Rounds class with jumps placed at 135 cm in the first round and at 140 cm in the second. Out of 23 male and female participants, Sande and her horse ‘For Cash 2’ from Elite Stables came in first with one fault for exceeding the time allowed in Round 1 and finishing Round 2 without any faults in (42.23) seconds. Sharjah Equestrian & Racing Club’s riders took placed second to fifth. Syria’s Chadi Gharib and his horse ‘Taiwan Du Landey’ came in second, after finishing the second round in a time of (42.02) seconds with four faults in the second round. The third prize went to the Saudi rider Abdullah Al Sharbatly and ‘Chap 47’, who took (42.12) seconds to finish Round 2 and committed four penalty points in Round 1.

Moh’d Yousuf Baker is the Division 2 Champion

The UAE’s Moh’d Yousuf Baker and his 9-year-old horse ‘Foss’ from the Sharjah Equestrian & Racing Club came in first in the Competition Over Two Rounds class which included two rounds with jumps placed at 120 cm in the first round and at 125 cm in the second. Baker finished both the rounds without any faults. 22 male and female riders participated in the competition, of which three succeeded in completing both rounds without any faults. Baker and ‘Foss’ achieved the best time in Round 2 by finishing it in (42.93) seconds. The second place was secured by British rider, Holly Ann Coward, and her horse ‘Connor McCloud’, from Al Ruwayyah Stable, who finished the second round in (43.35) seconds. Third place went to the Sharjah Equestrian and Racing Club’s Moh’d Ibrahim Al Nakhi and ‘Esteban C’, who finished the second round in (48.50) seconds. Youssef Sawas scored the highest points in Division 2 after finishing Round 2 in (38.11) seconds, and rider, Mohamed Hamad Ali Al Kirbi, scored the highest points in the Junior category.

Mhd Osama Al Zabibi is the victor in the Junior category

Syrian rider Osama Al Zabibi, from the Mandara Equestrian Club, riding ‘Toulana’, took the Juniors' title amongst the 15 riders who participated in the Competition Over Two Rounds class which included jumps placed at 125 cm in the first round and at 130 cm in the second. Three riders succeeded in completing both the rounds without any faults, and Al Zabibi had the highest league score for the Juniors' category after finishing Round 2 in (42.92) seconds. Sharjah Equestrian & Racing Club’s riders took hold of positions from second to sixth. The second place was taken by the Emirati rider, Mohammed Sultan Al Yahyaee, and his 11-year-old horse ‘Durein’, who finished the second round in (43.90) seconds. The third place went to Syrian rider Mhd Farook Omar AlHosari and ‘Viking Des Embruns’ who took (45.45) seconds to finish Round 2.

Kayla Hassan Daher wins the Novice category

Kayla Hassan Daher, from Sharjah Equestrian & Racing Club and ‘Pentagon’ came in first in the One Round with Jump Off class for Novices with jumps set at a height of 110 cm and 115 cm, respectively. 41 male and female riders participated, with Moh’d Anas Abu Kalam and his horse ‘Troy’, from the Sharjah Equestrian & Racing Club coming in second. The third place went to fellow club member, Natalie Christodoulou, and ‘Baloucci’.

Layth Ghurayeb takes the winning position in the Children’s category

The child riders from the Sharjah Equestrian and Racing Club won the titles in the One Round with Jump-Off competition with obstacles placed at a height of 105 cm and 110 cm. 14 riders participated, of which two riders succeeded in finishing the Jump-Off without any faults. Layth Ghurayeb and ‘Quapitola Sr Z’ came in first after successfully finishing the Jump-Off in (37.31) seconds with Saif Abdulla Mohd Al Shamsi and his horse ‘Dezapamillion Mas’ coming in second with (39.41). Eisa Omran Al Owais and ‘Avelon’, from Al Safinat Stables came in third after finishing the jump-off in (34.27) seconds with four faults.