Race Day in Egypt - part two

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

The front runners of the race were going out on their last loop when
Ghislaine started her third. By that time the later riders were so strung
out along the trail that people were essentially riding alone and when my
car died, I called some friends with my mobile to come out to carry her son
along to keep an eye on her. We never ride without mobiles. You never know
when something will happen out there and it's pretty isolated. As I waited
to have my car cool down, I watched the trucks come around to dismantle the
water check, which told me that the first riders had come in.

It was really interesting being a driver rather than a manager. Sharon's
comments on riding, footing and whatever on the first loop made it pretty
much a training run for me. For most of us, the drivers kept away from the
horses' track, if only because it is much easier to drive in deep sand if it
isn't all churned up. For me, desert driving is almost as much fun as
riding, but Sharon's comments that this kind of crewing could never work on
a ride in the US are very much to the point. Many local riders tried to stay
in pairs as the day went on, because miles of relatively flat desert can
really get to you after a while, and, frankly, by the third loop for the
slower riders, most of the FEI vets and stewards had left the area, so if
anything had happened to them, no one would have known.

I wasn't on hand for the end of the race, but the results of the event are
interesting. One Egyptian finished the race, and I believe he came in ninth.
According to Al Ahram, the newspaper that sponsored the event, "Ten thousand
spectators" were on hand to see H.E. Mohamed Maktoum win once
again.....unfortunately, there were maybe 300-400 there tops, and many of
them were the grooms. The English language daily was no more accurate in its
caption to the photo on the sports page which said that there were 200
horses in the race...I think about 75 is more accurate. In terms of making
up for bad feelings from last year, the event failed miserably. Maktoum did
not even greet the Federation president who had showed up for the race,
which didn't win him any brownie points from that quarter....but didn't
really suprise most of us who had seen how friendly he was with locals last
year. Many commented on the the rather unusual vetting, which seemed to some
non-Egyptian participants to be remarkably anti-Egyptian.....but the
unusualness couldn't be ascribed to sour grapes since some of the most
concerned about the vetting were people who were told that their horses were
fine and fit to go on, were even urged to continue, when they themselves
were sure that this was not the case. We have made a point of trying to use
vet checks to teach riders about the workings of their horses and I guess
it's beginning to pay off.  In the end, most of the more enthusiastic
riders, those who had taken time to work with their horses, had decided that
they would be happy to continue with local rides but they would give the FEI
rides a miss. The EEF president's feelings were quite a bit stronger and he
and the entire Egyptian contingent passed up on the awards ceremony.
Essentially, being local color for people who don't run an honest race that
they would win anyway doesn't really appeal. The reports that I collected
from very reliable sources included the same as last year: riders hopping
into 4x4's on the second loop where everyone was more strung out, while
someone else rode the horse; His Excellency starting a loop before another
rider whose horse had vetted before HE's...but this time we found out how he
does it. Having the local horses shoo-ed out of the vetting area when HE
wanted to vet his horse, having the ride dismantled before locals could
finish....yadda, yadda, yadda.  According to Abdel Fattah Ragab, who is the
EEF president, Dubai would not be invited to sponsor another ride here,
which is not such a great loss except to the Al Ahram newspaper and
magazine. We can get enough local sponsorship to be able to do a reasonable
ride and not have the hassle of waiting in line for an hour to weigh in only
to have the bodyguard of Maktoum's son push everyone aside so that the boy
can cut into the front of the line. Little things like that get on your
nerves after a while.

I know that this sounds a bit negative after the glowing reports of fun from
the "Most Preferred" ride, but a good host is not always a good guest. They
may be doing some interesting experiments on long distance racing in the
Gulf, but with all I've seen, I'd be just as happy if they never sponsor a
ride here again.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net
www.ratbusters.net