by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 6, 2023
Bahrain has been stripped of the team world endurance championship, after a horse ridden by one member of the squad tested positive for a banned substance, stanozolol, 16-beta-hydroxystanozolol.
Hera Durances, ridden in the February race in the United Arab Emirates by Abdulrahman Mohammed Alzayed was eliminated and the rider has been fined and suspended for 18 months.
Team Bahrain’s results are void without the three required combination results to count for the ranking. That means second-place France gets the gold, third-place Portugal is silver and fourth-place Italy received bronze.
This places France as number one in the endurance record book for team titles, with five since the first championship in 1986, followed by UAE and Spain, each with three.
“While it is never optimal to have medals re-distributed following an event due to medication control and anti-doping related offenses, we view this as confirmation that the systems we have in place are thorough and effective,” said FEI Legal Director Mikael Rentsch.
“The FEI’s Clean Sport Program has extensive processes to ensure we not only educate the community, but also have the tools to follow up and uphold the rules at play in order to guarantee a level playing field, and safeguard the welfare of our human and equine athletes.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 5, 2023
A podium finish in Canada has enabled the U.S. to make the cut for the finals of the Nations Cup in Barcelona this fall, a key step in the plan to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The U.S. placed third of five countries in the Nations Cup of Canada in Langley, British Columbia. Ireland won and the home team placed second. The U.S. had two clean trips during the two rounds of the class, as Kent Farrington on Landon produced one in the first round and Karl Cook with Kalinka van ‘t Zorgvliet acheived the perfect score in the second.
“The mandatory all-out effort to get qualified for Barcelona was our goal from the first part of the year,” said U.S. Jumping Coach Robert Ridland.
“This was exactly what our plan was,” he added.
While of course he would have liked to win, “podium finishes are what we go for and we got it.”
The U.S. did not qualify for the finals last year. Show jumping is the only U.S. equestrian discipline not qualified for Paris.
There will be one slot for Paris available in Barcelona for countries that have not already qualified for the 2024 Games. If the U.S. does not qualify there, the last chance for the team is the Pan American Games in Chile a few weeks later.
The U.S. won the two previous North American Nations Cups in Mexico and California to top the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ 2023 North and Central America & Caribbean standings. Ireland is not a member of that league (because the country is not located in the Western Hemisphere), so it doesn’t figure in the overall standings.
The North and Central America & Caribbean League is going away in the 2024 season under a new format for Cup fixtures that will be qualifiers for the finals. That doesn’t include the prestigious Aachen Nations Cup, because it is sponsored by Rolex.
Click here for Nations Cup results.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 6, 2023
Millar Brooke Farm South has updated Jonathon Millar’s status as he continues recovering from a non-horse-related accident.
Last month, the son of Canadian show jumping chef d’equipe Ian Millar underwent a cranioplasty at St. Mary’s Hospital in Wet Palm Beach. Jonathon has since returned to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for out-patient therapy.
“Although this road will be a long one,” the Millar Brooke Farm South statement said, “we are so grateful for the glimmers of light that continue to shine before us. We recognize, acknowledge and honor our `village’ of love and support and know without all of you, none of this would be possible.”
To donate to the Jonathon Millar Recovery Fund, follow this
link
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 2, 2023
In the wake of 12 horse fatalities at Churchill Downs over five weeks, the meet that hosted the Kentucky Derby in Louisville is being moved to the Ellis Park track in Henderson, Ky., starting June 7.
No single factor has been isolated as a potential cause of the deaths, and there does not seem to be a pattern to them, despite investigations by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
Diagnostics testing of the racetrack surface has not raised concerns and the experts have concluded that the surface is consistent with prior measurements from Churchill Downs. Even so, in an abundance of caution, and in line with a HISA recommendation, Churchill Downs is relocating the meet in order to conduct a top-to-bottom review of all safety and surface protocols and integrity measures in collaboration and consultation with nationwide experts.
“The team at Churchill Downs takes great pride in our commitment to safety and strives to set the highest standard in racing, consistently going above and beyond the regulations and policies that are required,” said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs.
“What has happened at our track is deeply upsetting and absolutely unacceptable. Despite our best efforts to identify a cause for the recent horse injuries, and though no issues have been linked to our racing surfaces or environment at Churchill Downs, we need to take more time to conduct a top-to-bottom review of all of the details and circumstances so that we can further strengthen our surface, safety and integrity protocols.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 5, 2023
Rarely do I post a link on this website to an article that I didn’t write, but i was so impressed with this one from Horse Sport that I felt it should be passed along.
Lesley Grant Law (married to 2004 Olympic eventing gold medalist Leslie Law) expresses the concern we all should have about the trend for horse sports to be increasingly for the wealthy, leaving backyard equestrians in the dust–if they even stay in the game.
Those who have to train their own horses, rather than buying a ready-made animal for six figures or more, are the ones who become true horsemen and horsewomen. But where do they fit in as the sport gets increasingly expensive
Lesley’s husband, a native of Great Britain, is the U.S. Equestrian Federation eventing developing rider coach, so he and his wife are quite in tune with horse world trends. Here is the link to a very good read.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 2, 2023
Michael Barisone will stay at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, a judge ruled this week, until his future can be discussed again in November at another Krol hearing.
In New Jersey, Krol hearings are held periodically to judge the progress of a criminal defendant who has been confined to a psychiatric institution following a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Judge Stephen Taylor in Morristown, N.J., on May 26 listened to psychologists and a psychiatrist discuss where the dressage trainer should get treatment. Last year, Barisone was found not guilty by reason of insanity on a charge of second-degree attempted murder in connection with the shooting of a tenant on his Long Valley, N.J., farm.
The 2008 U.S. Olympic dressage team alternate was sent to the state’s Anne Klein Forensic Center before being transferred to Greystone in Parsippany last October. A psychologist presented by his lawyers maintained he can’t get the help he needs at Greystone, a state facility, and instead should be able to get daily treatment at a private facility on an outpatient basis.
A lawyer for the Morris County Prosecutor’s office suggested scheduling the next Krol hearing in six months, awaiting a Greystone recommendation on Barisone “that it would be appropriate for him to go out into the community safely.”
