By Rizwan Rehmat
DOHA: Watched by doubles tennis queen Martina Hingis from the stands, Anyway II produced a neat routine as Qatar’s Sheikh Ali bin Khalid Al Thani yesterday won the feature event on day of the Emir’s Sword Meet.
Preparing for the Olympic Games show jumping event in Rio, Sheikh Khalid guided Anyway II to an impressive win against five riders in the jump-off of the 155cm class.
Turkish rider Omer Karaevli, astride Dadjak Ter Puttenen, finished in second spot while popular rider Edwina Tops-Alexander could only end in third place after her rider Clinton did not beat the top time of 46.14 seconds.
The star Qatari rider picked up the winner’s shield from Hingis who spent the evening watching the competitions. Sheikh Khalid, after winning the top prize of QR 76,800, said: “I am very happy. I had a great routine in the earlier rounds. This is all going smoothly as we prepare for the Rio Olympic Games.”
He added: “After this, I will be taking part in CHI Al Shaqab (March 2-5) and that is another key event before we head to Europe for further training and preparation. I think we are doing well these days.”
Blusbuster, ridden by Russia’s Vlaidimir Tuganov, finished fourth while Acovaro, who had Alex Opatrny in the saddle, completed the top five riders.
Karaevli picked up the second best prize of QR 61,400 while Tops-Alexander got richer by QR 46,080. Tuganov won QR30,720 while Optarny bagged QR 21,504.
Earlier in competition 5, experienced rider Abdelkebir Ouaddar picked up yet another fine win by guiding Cordano Sitte Z to an impressive victory. Ouaddar, who won the feature competition on Thursday, saw Cordano Sitte Z clock a time of 77.33 seconds in the 145cm class.
Ouaddar picked up QR 30,525 for his efforts.
Ibrahim Basharat of Jordan guided Brown Sugar to second spot in a time of 82.22 seconds. Basharat, a regular visitor to Qatar, won QR 24,420.
Veteran rider Luciania DIniz, astride Lady Lindenhof, finished third. Lady Lindenhof clocked 83.24 seconds as Diniz picked up QR 18,315.
Ouaddar was delighted with Codano’s Sitte Z’s run.
“My horse felt great and did great today. I am enjoying myself here,” the veteran Morocca rider said.
“I think we did fairly well yesterday. I hope we can turn in another fine run tomorrow also.
“I will be here for this week and the next as well. I am going to feature at the CHI Al Shaqab next week,” Ouaddar said.
“I am targetting an Olympic Games berth, so yes, all focus on that now,” he said.
Diniz said she too will be Doha.
“I am so happy with the routines of my horse. The routines are exceelent,” Diniz said yesterday.
“Yes, I am going to be here the next week also. I hope to have good results. The horses are feeling fine,” she said.
In competition 4, Saudi Arabia’s Khaled Almobty produced a neat routine with Zyphern 4 to bag the top prize in the 125cm. Zyphern 4 clocked a time of 49.46 seconds as Almobty picked up the top prize of QR 10,500.
Qatar’s Salman Al Emadi and Mohammed Al Ghazali completed the top three in completion 4.
Al Emadi, astride Lucky Lady, clocked a time of 49.59 seconds to grab the second spot worth QR 8,400.
Caresse M G, who had Al Ghazali in the saddle, finished in third place in a time of 50.36 seconds. Al Ghazali picked up QR 6,300.
Qatari riders Khalid Mohammed Al Emadi (Galiano ‘R’) and Saeed Nasser Al Qadi (Desperadito) completed the top five in competition 4.The Peninsula
