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Now everybody is here. The hotels are full, cars and liason peope  
everywhere - do you need anything? Just call, just ask. All the cars  
have bright Sultans Cup stickers on them now, covering the entire  
side of the car. Driving through the city we get lots of stares!  
Great advertising.

We took a tour on Wednesday of the veterinary surgery which was built  
just for this event. It's located at the Terengganu Equestrian Center  
- polo fields, stables, restaurant, huge clubhouse building, hotel  
rooms. This is where the Sultan's horses are stabled (except now,  
since Terengganu's Sultan is now the king - and his stable has been  
moved to Kuala Lumpur). Dr. Bala (Dr Balakrishna Polanaidoo) has been  
the primary designer and driving force for completion of the surgery  
unit. It is very impressive, though as yet has not been used. There's  
an iron rail (I-beam) that runs along the ceiling from the entrance  
(where the horse would be taken off of the truck) to the surgery  
room. A sling and straps for the legs are suspended from the rail, to  
transport the anesthetized horse to the operating table - which is  
inflatable - to raise the horse to the proper level and angle. It is  
'top of the line' .  It is a 40 minute drive from the venue and in  
the case of emergency a horse would be transported with police  
escort . The venue is also highly equipped - blood and enzyme  
analyzers, ultra sound, x-ray, etc. There are portable emergency kits  
- for the vetgate, and for each of 2 emergency response teams.   
Everything and anything one could need. Dr. Martha Misheff (USA) and  
Dr. Kishor Baburao Mahind (India) are the designated treatment vets.  
Dr. Kishor has also been involved in the design and equipping of all  
of the venue's veterinary clinic, and of the surgery center.  I spoke  
briefly with Dr. Misheff this morning, she is very impressed with the  
facility and commented on the willingness and competence of the  
organizing committee.

Yesterday the rest of the press corp arrived - Cidinha Franzao  
(Brazil), Pamela Burton (USA), Uli Spilger (German, married to a  
Malaysian, living in Terengganu part time - her husband is working  
with the local - and famous- boat builder, building a wooden yacht),  
Alice Proust (France), Tawfiq Salehi (Bahrain), Beatrice Fletcher  
(French, living in KL), Frank Lother (Germany), a Japanese group  
fliming for Horse TV, and of course all the Malaysian press.

Tony Abi Aad and Charbel Akkari are here as the timing officials for  
the event.  The timing system was developed by Tony (main architect,  
living in Abu Dhabi) and Charbel  (system designer while at Abu Dhabi  
Equestrian club, currently living in Australia). Tony is part of a  
new company called Endurance International, based in Abu Dhabi. He is  
working with  with Ahmed al Hamadi and Mohamed Issa. Their goal is to  
be a 'travelling Organizing Committee" - providing OC overview,  
timing system, etc - all the essential elements of organizing an  
Endurance event. They are using the software and timing system  
developed in Abu Dhabi - the swipe card system.  They came in May for  
the YSDM Penn ride, tried the system here for the first time, and it  
was very successful - steady and accurate.

There is also is a group from KL - Integrated Electronic Systems -  
who is doing the GPS tracking system. They have had a short lead time  
to have this ready and working, so it's really on a 'test' basis for  
this event, with the final goal being the World Championship in 2008.  
Soo Chin Lam gave a description of the system, how to carry it, how  
to use it (automatic gps tracking updates every 20 seconds, an SOS  
button - in case of tigers!- a pouch to carry it in, )

The rider briefing was at 2pm. Very concise, well conducted. I spoke  
with Ian Williams for a bit while watching horses vet in - he  
basically agreed - everything was perfect, the OC couldn't have done  
a better job - now it's up to the riders. I think there were only two  
foreign horses that didn't start. Leonard's horse spiked a fever  
yesterday -  they didn't know what the problem was yet, blood tests  
didn't reveal anything, but it was treated at will not be allowed to  
start. One of the horses from Dubai had a lameness issue (I think  
shipping caused). The USA horses looked fantastic!   Inshallah!

So - we're headed to the opening ceremony tonight - will take more  
pictures. We're putting vetting photos up (as I type they are  
downloading) - they'll be up and linked within a few hours.

later-

Steph



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