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Yes the money from the Gulf countries seems to be propping up 
championship FEI endurance. Several years ago it was propping up Arabian 
flat track racing here but they seem to have scaled back somewhat and as 
a result flat track Arabian racing has contracted in the US. One of the 
best flat track Arabain trainers lives a few miles from me but she has 
to go to Delaware to race now since there is no more Arabian races at 
Tampa Bay Downs. The races were drawing only one or two horses so they 
were dropped. Some of her horses are owned by Gulf interest but not near 
what it used to be. In their hayday at Tampa Bay there were large cards 
of Arabs.

As the Gulf interest get more and more involved in TB racing - and if 
endurance doesn't make the Olympics I wonder how long they will be 
willing to underwrite it at the current level. The Persian Gulf Region 
is more politically unstable now than anytime in the resend past with a 
real potential of wide regional conflict. While the UAE is stable - 
there is instability in the region that could significantly impact it. 
If so - I suspect their playtime activities such as horse racing of any 
sort will take back seat.

So it could be interesting as we go forward.

I think US endurance is doing quite well if you mean the AERC brand of 
endurance. It doesn't require significant amounts of money and in many 
respects is the sport of the "commoner." The US ability to compete on 
the WEC level has not fared so well. However, that represents only a 
small minority of the AERC membership and is really on the periphery of 
the sport in the US - although that part and those people are probably 
what a majority of who Europeans know and see.

I expect as we say in the Southland at the WEC level the "US has a long 
row to hoe" and so will the rest of the world if the UAE underwriting 
dries up.

Truman

Leonard.Liesens@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Now I don't know for how long the system will keep up because it 
> requires to export horses to survive. Endurance doesn't generate money 
> like flat races or showjumping. The whole endurance system in France 
> survives thanks to the Gulf countries : selling of horses young or 
> proven ones, conditioning and campaigning in Europe.
>
> As far as US endurance, I wish you the best : equine material is there 
> even if I don't have the impression that real endurance bloodlines are 
> heavily developed, it looks more marginal.
>
> Leonard, Belgium


--

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how 
smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard 
Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics


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