By Duane Fonseca

Major competitions require mighty efforts with the pressure to win exceedingly immense. Some persist, some don’t. Some pass the test, others fail. Saif Ahmed Al Mazrouei’s valiant effort got him exactly what he wanted, the biggest of the prizes on offer at last week’s feature 160km HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Endurance Cup at Dubai International Endurance City in Seih Al Salam.

The five-loop ride brought the curtains down on the 16th edition of the HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Endurance Festival that celebrates the sporting passion and achievements of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Al Mazrouei and Magic Glenn Torque, an 11yo gelding trained by Bhanwar Singh for MRM Stables, had done their bit to give themselves the chance to (excuse the pun!) ride their luck, with little or no knowledge of whether or not their effort would yield desired fruit as he found himself way off the pace at 20th on the leaderboard with just 20km of the last loop to be contested.

In the end, his timing of six hours 19 minutes and 41 seconds (6:19:41) clocked after riding at an average pace of 25.28kph stood as the best time among the 62 rider/horse pairs that completed the ride from the 143 that competed in the main event. The ride was so keenly contested that the next nine pairs, rather the Top 10, finished within :42 of the time set by Al Mazrouei, who led an Emirati clean sweep of the podium.

Rashed Mohammed Al Mehairi on the F3 Stables-owned Imhan De Luriecq was second with a time of 6:19:43, while third place was secured by Ebrahim Essa Al Shamsi and Ainhoa Lejour, who represented M71- and were a further two seconds adrift with 6:19:45 on the clock. Al Mazrouei started the day in eighth place on a tightly packed leaderboard that would remain more or less highly strung throughout with Eulalia Gonzalez Guardia and Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri trading the lead twice with Al Shamsi taking over at the end of the penultimate fourth loop and holding a comfortable :44 lead going into the final phase over 20km.

Al Mazrouei’s time in the saddle was rife with inconsistency and he had dropped from eighth to 22nd over the second loop, climbed to 13th during the third and dropped again to 20th going into the final phase. He trailed by 1:05 with just 20km left to compete and with the support of a strong team he took his chances going full throttle and getting Magic Glenn Torque to produce some real torque, which helped them top the podium when it mattered.

On the festival’s undercard was the 119km Gamilati Endurance Cup for Mares which saw Syria’s Masa Adnan Tonbakji, winner of the 101km Ladies Ride the previous week, claim a second title for F3 Stables aboard RO Fantastica, the pair completing the four loop event in a time of 4:18:17 that was :13 quicker than second placed Zayed Mohammed Al Mehairi, who clocked 4:18:30 on Jumeirah Stables’ Belline.

Ahmad Saleh Al Shehhi on Al Bawadi Stables’ Dja De Beders was third with 4:18:45 on the clock. The fourth event on the festival’s schedule, the 101km Private Stables ride also held last week, was won by Musaab Mohammed Al Falasi and Senattore for TNT Private Stables.