#FursanCup2024

#FursanCup2024

In ALA the historic town that dates back to the 6th century and the UNESCO world heritage site and it is of course the home of the Arabian horse and hosting the 2026 FEI endurance World Championship the Arabian horse plays such a part here in ALA and it is the

Center of excellence and welcome to the alpha Sun cup here the CI three star 160 km ride here in ALA 2024 good morning everybody and welcome to Ala the center of the Arabian horse dating back every single horse traces its Heritage back to three Arabian stallions and they are represented here

Thousands of years of History here in ALA we celebrate the Arabian horse this morning at 5:30 the first Loop the yellow loop at 34.4 km started at 5:30 this morning lit by solar lights the course all the way this morning and they are out and away on the first of the

Kilometers of the 160 km Harry Ingram is alongside me Harry good morning and welcome good morning Nick very happy to be here as we uh ramp up things another two Loops today making 160 km as we work towards the World Endurance championships 2026 away they go away they go onto

Their first Loop the yellow Loop and Harry here’s the course so for the 160 km that’s six phases of competition each phase consists of the loop and the vet gate in order to successfully qualify for each phase of the competition horses and Riders must successfully navigate the course and

Pass the all important veteranary inspections at the Vgate and there is the vet gate Harry and we are waiting the arrival of the first Riders to come back from the first Loop and the vet gate they so important as we said uh five gates to go through today with six different Loops six different distances six different

Terrains and it is very much different tactics from yesterday where we had the 120 today they’ve stepped up a gear to 160 what’s the difference between the two it’s obviously it’s longer but it’s it’s a totally different approach As A Horse and Rider um going into a 160 you

Are at the absolute top of the Spore having qualified from from 100 km 120 you’ve got all your star ratings with the F you’re now doing the ultimate test of endurance at this point you know you’ve got a very long day ahead pacing yourself making sure you leave enough

For those last few Loops so it’s potentially a different type of horse a different training of a horse from the 120 tote to use uh horse racing pilot it’s either a mile or it’s a 3 Mile yeah and certain horses you you know you want those horses not necessarily those that

Are looking fresh you know and jumping around at the start sometimes it’s the horse that you know you might look past at the start but it’s the horse that’s on the last Loop that’s still looking strong that is the perfect 160 km horse so it is a huge effort to bring

This here here to alula and we’re going to find out now how is staged my name is Brian dun and I am the event director for the FEI it’s a ginormous event my day-to-day job here is just making sure that everything is ready on

Time I am Juka Alisha I am from Italy my position here is a general sport director of the Forsan cup 2024 they all have Maps they know on the map the color and the length of the loop when they start the mass start they’re on to the yellow

Loop this competition is unique it’s a competition against the terrain against the clock against your fellow Rider here in alula in this ride we have different type of terrain uh soft deep sand hard be careful because it’s very very very technical is for clever Rider this course cannot be replicated

Anywhere else in the world that’s how unique it is welfare of the horse is Paramount at all the time we have people out on the course monitoring the horse monitoring the Riders make sure they’re not dehydrated or becoming sore or lame after each Loop there are the vet

Gate the hor arrive refresh and send to the vet the vet check the Heth of the horse check the general metabolic condition if the horse is okay is can continue for the other loop if the or is not okay the horse is eliminated a successful horse rider is

Training with the horse have trust in the horse be loyal to the horse and it’s it’s a working adventure together it’s a tactical race I class this as T3 technical testing and tough endurance is different respect to all the other discipline endurance is advent okay to finish is to win this is

In your heart for me is a incredible to see a lot of Rider that have this opportunity to ride in alula because believe me is the new capital of endurance in the world Shan Luca lysia and Brian dun two of the greats of World Endurance bringing this sport here to Ala to the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and uh we’re expecting our Riders back in what uh 6 7 minutes off the first Loop 34.4 km and they will be going into their first vet gate yesterday we held the CI two star the 120 race the custodian of the two M

Endurance cup of 2024 and it was a breathtaking day it really was 189 went to the start line huge start four Loops completely different to today but yesterday the competition was outstanding the scenery breathtaking and Harry this gives us an early look doesn’t it there’s the uh

Crew point it gives us an early look at the conditions and the varying conditions that they’re going through today as well it’s a technical and challenging course out there and only those horses and Riders yesterday who picked their way and rode a intelligent race were those who came good towards

The end of the competition Riders were grouped together early on in the ride but that Qatari Rider we just saw there he was leading and riding very strong from very early on and it paid off it certainly did and the s Arabian were Saudi Arabians were second and the United Arab Emirates in

Third but it was a very very very good ride yesterday absolutely and it meant so much for the home nation here in alula to be on the podium at the end of the day it most certainly did and uh the horses and Riders were in perfect

Step all day long and so many different Riders from across the world we saw Europeans we saw United States of America World South America from easn uh central eastern Europe from everywhere it was International Bulgaria from Estonia from Poland from the Netherlands from Germany from Great Britain you name it they were

Here we had world champions We had European Champions we had multiple world champions on the course and it’s all about the clock and this the final Loop the Saudi ryer left in front Faris he led in front but he was just pipped at the last to come second he was just

Overtaken here just there just didn’t quite have enough running left in the tank the UAE horses over tuck and put in an incredibly fast final Loop but as we know with the sport of endurance it’s all about can you get your har down at the end and they

Couldn’t so first prize went to the Qatari Rider s Alami so we’re on live pictures now the first of those horses We Believe getting early pictures from the course remember they started in the dark but my word the organizing committee done an unbelievable job this is uh rad hamdan Al

Maril uh representing Jordan with a sza is the horse Jordan have sent a very very strong team here Jordan have sent 11 11 combinations to compete in the 160 so that is the second largest participating Nation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sending 17 Jordan 11

Bahrain 5 and the real favorites the uh dark horses that made the trip from South America the uruguayans have set forth so actually it is Uruguayan Riders but it’s a an United Arab team for Al a stables out of Abu Dhabi we have got riding the previous winners of the first

An but look har look in the distance the uh the pelaton if you may are tracking them nicely behind and they’re all going on a beautifully corrected counter so the Vets are going to be busy coming into the first of the vet Gates and I can immediately tell so on the far right

Of the shop there we have got the Uruguayan Rider I believe that the gray is labita labita won the uh test event for the world championships in buib um and on the left hand side of the shot 338 is Frederico uh Ferber and HC yaer they won here over 120 km in 2022 so up they come and they’re riding as a group not as a team but as a group and that’s uh very important some horses like to go out front some horses uh the Pace Setters if you may in in racing terms but then some horses being a herd animal

They like to ride as a group they do and and I think we can immediately see a small difference to the competition yesterday a slightly more relaxed Tempo coming into this me gate remember the r has started it was Pitch Black out there this morning and the sun has gently

Risen over the cliffs amongst the Wes in ALA an absolutely stunning setting for the sport so they’re approaching the first of the vet Gates now the uh vet gate is so important and remember endurance horses for those uh who are uninitiated they’ve had two vetting already they’re vetting upon arrival

They’re vetting before they were allowed to compete and that was carried out on Friday and now they come into the first of their five veter six veter examinations today so in we go the first of the horses that’s the leading horse 349 349 and then the second group are

Coming in so what happens now is the cruise the clock starts the clock is tick tick tick all the way through and they have 15 minutes to present once they’ve come into this vet gate they’ve got 15 minutes to present but they got to make sure that number one their heart

Rate is below 64 and number two that they’re happy with the H’s movements and number three that they’re happy with their metabolics that’s the gut sounds on the horse’s Health that’s absolutely right Nick and the leading combinations will be in in just a matter of minutes the horse uh their fit their recovery

Times are you know absolutely excellent and they can overtake combinations without any additional effort purely because their recovery speeds are quicker the uh second of the large groups coming back back up the hill we’ll get those numbers as they’re approaching in the middle there we saw m Alvarez ponton and the the Spanish

Contingents previous world and European champion and we’re seeing now and world number one yeah Uruguay and Bahrain horse on the right hand side now being cool but it is very cold out there this morning well everything is relative Harry it is cold yes but uh they’ve got

To get the horses heart rate they’ve got to make sure that they’re relaxed they are relaxed so the second of the groups just approaching now this is where the stewards that is yakim yakim is the chief steward here and it’s his job to make sure that uh everything in

That vet gate is run in accordance with the regulations now let’s have a look at how the vet gate Works Harry so horses and Riders will come off the track into the Vet games this is what it looks like like as they come off the track they do have 15 minutes to

Present but it’s as if the clock is still running on the course this is still their riding time so the longer they take the the longer they’ll be going back out on course the quicker they recover the quicker they can present to the vet when they present to

The vet the clock stops only on the basis that the heart rate is 64 beats per minute if it isn’t they have to go back into the cooling area so the veterinarian will examine the horse a full metabolic check and they’ll be checking the Gate of the horse to make

Sure they’re not there’s no soreness they’re totally sound so the horse will be asked to trot 40 m away and 40 m back they’re looking for a balanced and consistent gate it takes three veterinarians to remove a horse from the competition and if they pass the inspection they move to

The hold area this is where the horses take a break they take a food water rehydrate the rider gets a break and they get they prepare themselves for the next phase of the competition the next Loop they go out and they continue they have six phases of the

Competition yes and I think it’s worth saying Harry that this is a championship format looking forward to the 2026 World Championships the FI World Championships there’s some of the water going in the horses uh front legs um in my terms when we run uh three star rides

In the United Kingdom it is five Loops uh in Europe it’s five Loops normally in the in in the Middle East it would be five Loops but because this is a look forward to the 2026 World Championships uh this is now the six Loop format so it does extend the day

But it makes the distances shorter over each Loop yeah and you know as a rider I think I would tend to prefer the six Loop format but everyone’s got their own preference some people want to get the distance out of the way and spend less

Time you know not moving but it but it helps I think to break it into smaller more manageable chunks but it does obviously make the day longer so that’s 340 being uh examined for metabolics 340 is Andrea Rivero very very talented Rider very talented horse that of SM

Fabito so the second of the packs just joining us now led by Danielle thi for Italy riding TK tahir’s horse a local Saudi Arabian Rider and then just behind in the orange and blue bridles is a very strong leading contingent for spade and led there by 303 which is Omar Blanco

Rodrigo and JM sabrino they were third as a combination here in 2023 last year yes and uh in the pink uh constan lissia uh in a the trademark pink and uh for Italy fah deberas so that’s 317 the Spanish team have made it their profession to uh ride these 160 km and

Be the absolute ultimate athlet across that distance they have done so many 160s in their career beautiful setting there just as the sun is catching the great Wes in the background as our European contingent approaches the vet gate certainly very very different to yesterday Harry we’ll we’ll get the

Speeds up in a minute from this first Loop but a very different approach and you can all you can now feel it that yesterday was was the was the six six furong Sprint today is the distance that’s right it’s a very experienced field we’re preparing for a world

Championships and we’ve got a world championship worthy field here of uh very experienced Riders they will they know exactly what’s to come it won’t phase them that there’s a huge amount of distance that lies ahead 328 328 is the first look at Kat sad Muhammad Al dasari and bakara

Tarif the very first look here’s the vet just continuing with the metabolic checks checking the back with a muscle tone now just checking the capillary refill and uh jugular refill checking the mucous membranes those things you know they’re clinical checks but they’re looking for early dehydration markers and a very strict vetting here

Any issues and the horse will be removed from the competition they’ve just called for I think for a panel here so we’re going to get a a three card trig takes Three Vets to remove a horse from the competition they do that uh by voting without conferring and they slips are passed to

The ground jewry who will then deliver the message to the rider so a second trop for 328 we wait and see still plenty of pull there Harry yeah I couldn’t immediately see an issue but let’s see supposed to be on a loose rain bit

Hard in there so raring to go I think if you’re going to let that on a lose rain it’s gone I mean looks good to me oh it’s a bit tricky though because we’re looking from the side side on you need to be head on you need to be head on

Yeah but I would be surprised if that was removed at this point I think a smile there mhm we’re good to go I think he’s saying they’re nervous moments aren’t they what did they see they they see maybe it was a little stumble or something like that it could

Have been just a a tiny little stumble but youate it’s very very good that in endurance they have this constant betting constant welfare of the horse it really is so there’s Zuma Zuma puny Dax previous world champion and husband of Maria haras ponton it’s worth pointing

Out that Maria uh Omar and gilinger rode 120 km yesterday and now they start 160 km here I mean hats off to them what ultimate athletes provisional top three coming up that’s their uh time out it is Bahrain leading the way 317 the horse lalima Muhammad al-hashimi and the

Uruguay and you picked this right out at something ridiculous this morning Harry Uruguay in second so 319 just going down the Trot lanes and that is Monica PTO graciano and pra for Brazil vet just there listening to the gut sounds again it’s an early dehydration marker if the horse is getting

Dehydration dehydrated the the blood flow goes to the vital organs and the gut just isn’t gurgling as much so they’re listening for the for the gut to gurgle you know and these vets have have listened to so many horses they can

Score a a b or or a c and a see is a as a course of concern um and the Vets have also qual qualified through the star ranking of the fbii so these veterinarians incredibly experienced in the field of endurance and no other equestrian sport Nick

Really has this degree of of veteranary cover and support in order to preserve horse welfare yeah the the the the nearest equivalent would be venting where they do a a vet before they start and there are 15 20 events for the cross country phase uh for a fstar the

Equivalent of a three star endurance ride um and then they have a trot up before they go show jumping on the on the third and final day or the fourth and final day that’s the nearest today they’re going through five six veteranary checks today yeah they’ve been so they’ll they’ll do eight no

They’ll do nine minimum because they’ve also got to do a fit to travel tomorrow it’s it’s remarkable isn’t it they the scrutiny these horses are under from a veter perspective so another group coming in and they’re riding already you can see it Harry they’re riding totally different yep totally

Different this is about pacing yourself having a horse that is fit and strong and I’ll tell you there is nothing like the feeling of leaving on the last Loop of 160 km on a horse that is fit and fresh and raring to go but that takes skill to get to that

Point to conserve the energy for those latter phases of the competition takes huge skill and it takes years of practice and training absolutely Harry in your opinion is it 50/50 Horse and Rider or is it 60 horse 40 Rider well you’re the rider so you’re going to say it’s

9010 I think it’s it’s almost impossible to tell there will will be those horses that are the UL ulate professional and you can jump on board and off you go but the 160 km is a test of partnership it’s the ability for the Riders to be able to

Read the signals that their Mount is telling them and respond accordingly it’s also about the horse management that goes on before the race and the preparation so the trainer whoever is riding the horse in training the owner the way they look after the horse in in in terms of veteranary care and stable

Care there’s so many different factors um the way the horse is sha for example you know there are so many people who will have had a role to get the horse to this point um so you know so you’re dodging the question well I think you

I’d give everyone 1% 5% here you know I’d be we’d be here all day I would say in layman’s terms it’s 50/50 you know you’ve got to have the hseep you’ve got to have the jockey so it looks like 50/50 and uh here’s a group of four coming into the Vet gate they’re coming up the hill remember the first of the loops is are yellow Loop

They’ve 34 km 34.4 to make up the 160 km unbelievable shots from the that gate and this huge complex of endurance great plans ala with the equestrian Village I’m sure we’ll talk about that later on so our current leader 317 Muhammad Abdul Hamed Al hashimi is riding Lola deala who was the world

Endurance Champion for young horses with His Highness Shake NASA bin hammad Al Khalifa in 2022 that was in Vick and Spain so completely different terrain Harry there absolutely and the rider won here last year yep so they put the two together fantastic combination yeah so 336 six

There that is Oman Hisham alasi and Nova py 308 just into the Vets that’s the Mount of constanza Alisha I believe it is far dubas yesterday she was riding emirat de bartas so once they pass they go into a 40-minute hold period where the horse has to stay there eat drink move around

A little massage before heading then back out onto the next phase of the competition yeah it’s worth explaining in the hold area Harry isn’t it it’s worth explaining as the uh Team of Bahrain uh the Victorious team um it’s worth explaining when they go into the hold

It’s not just about giving the horse a rest so say they’ve been in the co cooling down area for 3 minutes then they’ve probably got 4 minutes of vetting so we’re now down to 33 minutes they then go into the there’s constanza’s horse uh they then go into

The into the rest area into the into the crewing area and they would probably get some molasses some energy food Etc Horse and Rider Mars Bars are plenty out there and and good food as well but then they’ll start to wake the up maybe 15 minutes before they due out and

Each of our once they’ve come in and done their vetting they’re given a departure time that’s right whenever I talk to human athlete about our sport they can’t believe that they’re running and then they’re stopping and then they’re going in and they’re stopping because you know that in itself can be

Quite challenging so uh it’s important that you keep those muscles warm during the whole period Mar team Juma Omar Rodrigo Spain Zuma’s El saino this is uh third place in last year’s 120 km competition rode a very intelligent race didn’t get carried away with the leaders

But kept kept back and the leaders by the end of the course have been removed from the competition and they crept up the rankings to claim a Podium place we’re seeing the horses now standing in ice water we’ve got front and back legs in ice water which is quite

Remarkable I mean these horses the practice and the hours that must go in to be getting them to do this and you know not panic and be totally calm and used to it is remarkable single Rider on their own remember 62 went through the start this morning it’s a very strong field isn’t

It for a one for 160 it is incredible uh strength in the field here and you know we’ve seen this R here this horse looks really really fresh and the rer having to take a bit of a pull because this Rider knows that he’s got to get the

Horse’s heart rate down if it’s too Fresh then uh you know the adrenaline is pumping in the horse you know it’s not tired but the heart rate will be sticking uh too high the adrenaline will be pumping so to give you some indication the Nations represented that

Are non Middle East Belgium uh with two Brazil Chile France Germany Great Britain uh Nikki Thor for Great Britain Iraq Italy two from Italy uh the Netherlands uh Pakistan but that will be on a middle eastern horse Portugal Slovakia the home of the world championships in

2017 uh South Africa Spain all jumas and the United States of America Uruguay that we’ve already discussed they’re riding uh Abu Dhabi horses up from the north of Abu Dhabi in Alain that’s correct and you know I think the Alain Stables have always done very well here

And I think that talks to the fact that you know their training area is as you said to the north of Abu Dhabi where there is a lot of deep sand so 355 is Abra do you want me to go for it Harry it’s Abra Al Abdul thank you

Nick and there is a huge amount of interest in riding here in alula and uh they’ve got this wonderful Academy and we now going to hear from uh this wonderful combin I cannot describe my feeling it’s it’s a very big uh uh event and uh being the

Only one uh Saudi female it’s it’s it’s a pressure actually but uh I will be I will be there and I will prove that uh everyone can do it uh especially the females in Saudi and out Saudi uh my name is AB uh Rider and trainer

Uh so I have been uh 5 years indurance uh Sports and I have done more than uh 20 uh races my last also race outside of Saudi Arabia was second place in Slovakia uh and many of them actually inside and outside s Arabia actually it’s not an easy one to

Be a female first it’s it’s a it’s a challenge you know you know um I know it’s it’s it’s all depend on the endurance and the ability of the person uh uh whatever if he uh if male or female but uh I I take it as a challenge

And uh I see it we can do it as as a female and in Saudi Arabia they are supporting 100% the Saudi female Riders um and we go for a very uh high levels uh because of this support generally in Saudi Arabia we have uh uh our culture they are uh between the

Camels and horses uh it’s very important to us to to to prove to the world that we are having this sport uh in the first place because of our culture uh then uh we we we want to spread this culture uh abroad of course well uh endurance riding is uh a

Trip of enjoy I know it’s a hard uh and it take a lot of effort uh physically and mentally but uh I see it um a trip of Joy once you are uh alone with your horse in the middle of the desert or in the middle of the forest uh challenging

The the weather the floor and all the condition uh to reach the end with a very healthy horse with the full fitness the only one advantage is uh the feeling you give for yourself uh you can see uh very strong men uh you’re competing with them but uh

For the the people here like a judge and doctors they they they make it equally if you are male or female it’s the same the rule is the same uh but it’s all about yourself when you feel that you can uh do it like a very strong man it’s

It’s a it’s a very yeah it’s a special Feeling well done indeed to ABRA Abdul and kerog Roo so there are the live pictures and we can tell you that the horses will be going out on Loop Number Two the white Loop 32.1 km the first out on that second loop as they’re coming back in they’ve still got 20 minutes to

Go uh going out and the bahrainis first and second but remember they’ve still got five Loops to go then Uruguay tucked in third byin in fourth Qatar in five and then the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and uh as we just heard from Abra Abra she is lying in sixth

With keran roko and their departure time 7 5815 what an achievement it is for the kingdom what an achievement it is for her so this still coming in into the Vet gate and the first one’s going out in around about 20 minutes time and then they go off onto their second of the

Loops the white Loop which was the second Loop yesterday and a lot of the riders came back saying how challenging it was but it was a at a different time of the day 364 there we see the rider leading the horse up for the Trot from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Isaki Al karashi and S SW so there is another of the 17 that Saudi Arabia have entered in the alphas Sun cup huge money and huge importance here in alula Harry Ingram is in the vet gate morning Abra we just heard your words to our crew earlier I’m delighted

To be catching up with you now in the competition how was the first loot for you uh well good morning uh thank you for having me in this interview actually the first Loop was um we start very early it was very dark actually uh uh the weather helped us the the floor also

Help us U but it’s it’s hard to see the the the the nature of the the the the floor but uh we did it like an average speed 19 uh we we reach with a good health of the horse yeah we did it great the the first Loop was very very nice

One yeah so you’re in sixth place now um and you know you’ve done plenty of races in your career tell us how 160 km is different to maybe 120 km 100 km what is a different tactic that you’ll deploy for this longer race yeah 160 is definitely different than uh any other

Races it’s it it depends on the the horse and the rider you need to keep your horse uh with the with his power Until the End U of course uh even even it’s harder with this uh kind of land in in it’s not not like any other place uh

So yeah you you have to keep your your your horse Until the End healthy and keep him awake as to finish okay and your ambition is it to come back here for the 2026 World Insurance championships is today perhaps an insight into that an opportunity to

Qualify Yes actually if I finish in sh this uh race uh I will be qualified to the World Championship it’s fantastic news and um what are your uh tactics now going forwards in terms of speed and everything else uh well no I think we will we will go we will lower the the

The speed now because it’s it’s going uh warm now and uh the second Lo is very hard one it’s deep sand and there is a lot of up and down so we need to slow down the speed so uh yeah I’m not going to compet I think maybe maybe but I for

Now I have to keep my horse healthy and I I need to uh stor his energy Abra thank you very much and good luck for the rest of the race thank you good luck indeed and Well Done Abra and you heard her say potentially changing the tactics for the white Loop

That the white Loop coming up is potentially one of the hardest loops out on course they’re all challenging in their own unique way there’s the countdown clock to off on to Loop Number Two with the leading Riders going out onto Loop two and that’ll be Muhammad al-hashimi and Lola talima they go out

First at 7:55 as we see 351 just coming back in 351 is side calun Muhammad Calin El SED and five minutes Jord just coming in and then 350 another of the jordanians remember they sent 11 353 another Jordanian so the jordanians sort of riding together as a team this very much individual but

They’re all helping each other at 11 from Jordan 353 just coming into shot there that is the ride of Ali Abu rabi and faka ala for Jordan so EXA the same principles apply they’re out into the Trot and then they’ll go into the hold and away they will go in to the second

Of the loops those horses that are walking they’ve completed their trots these horses that are trotting down the Lanes on the loose reain new fbii rules can’t be uh encouraged or held on to they are in the vetting and though we’ve heard about that from Harry before so that’s 326 the uh Dutch

Competitor of maressa from the Netherlands the one Challenge from the Netherlands Netherlands got a very good record in endurance hosting the European championships in Amo a couple of years ago at their base the equestrian base ino in the north of Holland now the United States the USA with cherl Van

Doyon two in the 120s and one in the 160s here today it’s always a busy first vet gate this and then the competition starts to unravel that horses Paces are different so they’re coming in at different times they’re going out at different times 10 minutes before they go out onto the

Second of the loops fabulous pictures riders coming up the hill and when they turn left-handed they know that the end of the first loop at the end of every Loop is in sight still got a bit of pull and that’s a good sign just settling the heart rate down lowering the adrenaline

Levels to get the heart rate down to get them through the first of the five vetting here this morning and today they’ll be riding for the uh riding time is 11 hours something uh the total time 354 they’ve completed the first of the loops Shakib alaban B Jordan another of

The jordanians remember they’ve sent 11 to the alpha Sun cup here in ALA I reckon that the overall average Loop speed on this the leading horse is going round about 19 totally different to yesterday is uh they reckon that the overall average Loop speed here today will be 13.2

13.3 and uh so that they could finish at half 10 this evening but the leading pack should be in at about 4:00 this afternoon also a leading trainer in the sport you had three horses running yesterday just give us a little bit of insight into what happened yesterday yesterday we

Came uh with the three new horses was not really new but uh for them to come here on the desert it was was a new on and uh the goal for us was uh finished with a very good taste for today then uh we went uh the horse that came from

Europe and we been really easy for them I will say I will not say slowly but uh in under their possibilities then uh it was easy for them we finish good and uh anyway the horses are very good this morning and that was the goal that to

Have a a good moral this morning for for all the group and it’s the same ride as today obviously different horses tell us a little bit you’ve ridden many 160s yourself what is the difference in doing 160 km to perhaps what you did yesterday 120 km or the shorter distances yeah one

Of the things that is important one is that already they have 5 kilo more that uh uh it is something that is slow down the speed of the horses that is good for the welfare of the horses but is H it means that you must get really well on

The tactic when you do a 120 and you do a mistakes sometimes it’s not uh changing many things but in 160 if you do a mistake you you used to pay it then uh today we are on the way to do it the good speed to learn a little bit more

From uh from the track and from the horses uh and from the way that we’ve been training the horses to come here it’s very interesting you say that 5 kg additional weight that the rider has to carry makes such a difference later in the competition in terms of where we are

Now very early days it’s still very cold but 34 km done how do you approach now the next Loops moving forwards the next one the most challenging I believe yeah the first Loop we had a little bit incident because it was some Cals that they broke the fence and they are mixed

With the horse and they exciting the horse then uh we supposed to do it the first Loop without the stress that it was the main thing for the first Loop and uh we’ve been stressing too much with the camels in the middle of the group and these things then uh now we

Are changing a little bit one of the horses get excited and was stressful here on the bed gate and we will go in the in the second Loop uh to reach the first goal on the morning to distress the horse and become uh relax horses

Again then uh this Loop we will go in the easier way that we thought yesterday to make it him them a little bit uh quiet that day was and uh and after we keep going but I used to say always the same now we are the 35 kilm then now

It’s only 125 to go then it’s not much it is good okay and last year you came with a game plan and you stuck to the game plan and uh Maria and Omar were on the podium is it a similar plan this year in terms of sticking to what your

Goal is and not letting it be distracted by what’s going on around you last year came with the horses from Middle East then uh one of the horses one of the ones from the last year and it was a easier way from us this time we came

From a uh training conditions with the minus five uh to to plus five then it was not the same thing but I think the horses can do good and 160 km uh if we manage well uh we’ll be we have we we have the hope to be there not

Very uh not so sure like the last year but uh I think we will be around in the top 10 I hope so well J the ultimate profession I’m sure your team will do very well inshah thank you very much for your time we look forward to speaking and catching up with you

Later in thanks very much to you and uh we hope also that we will do very well and we will not do too many mistakes thank you Jima well very good words indeed from jumer he is such an expert that man and he’s done it all and he’s seen it all

And he’s ridden them all and he knows it all and it was so interesting listening to jumer about the 75 and the 70 kilos and what that does and the six loops and the five Loops that man is a tactical magician when it comes to endurance riding so we’ll watch Maria with uh

There he is there is the magician he uh he knows so much about the sport and we were saying yesterday you talk about you talk about AP McCoy you talk about Mark Todd you talk about Marcus ening or you talk about ped fredericksen or you to talk about KL

Hester John Whitaker Nick Skelton Zuma is in exactly the same bracket he is a true Horseman across every single discipline so we’ll wait uh with baited breath and a little under what four minutes now before they go out onto the second of the loops the white Loop

So very shortly they’ll be going out on course reminders of the leading pack the leading group they are Bahrain Bahrain 1 2 and three at the moment 75531 75545 and 755 52 those are the three times that they’re going out you can see them up 234 the clocks are counting down on top

Left and then Uruguay sent four very strong Riders and the horses from Abu Dhabi that’s 351 351 is uh the Jordanian Rider remember they’ve sent 11 horses for this the alpha Sun cup here in ALA completed the vet check and now they go into 40 minutes rest and recuperation and

Recovery to get ready for another 32 km on the second Loop up we go now what are the tactics here we were talking that the estimated overall average speed is between all the completed ride is going to be about 13.2 we heard Abra talking dropping the speed on

The second Loop the white Loop it will ride differently to yesterday remember yesterday they started at 7:00 so the white Loop was ridden over between uh in an hour and a half’s time at 9:30 so the sand conditions will be different and there are less horses in that deep sand

Riding through that deep sand today so that’s another facet so it might be slightly easier or might be slightly harder we just don’t know so any minute now the countown clock begins and you can see on the left hand the Stop and the it’s counting all the way down these

Fabulous team from the uh timing team here the alasan cup so Muhammad Al hasimi hammed janari and then for Uruguay Frederico Farah that’s the one two three at the moment but a long way to go Harry welcome back jumer I love listening to that man speak you could

Listen to him for hours and hours and hours he is just the ultimate professional in endurance and he he knows this sport inside out yeah but he knows horses he does he’s the well the ultimate Horseman yeah as I’ve just said he he’s he’s up there with Skelton

Whitaker Hester Todd that lot and there’s Maria top top jockey as well I mean husband and husband and wife team bred so many good horses at their SP at their place just outside a Vic in in Northern Spain yeah wow uh I mean they have so many titles between them here we go

Harry and off we go so our our favorite almost leading on to the second Loop which is our more challenging Loop the white Loop 32 km we saw yesterday this is the slowest Loop because of the deep sand and the ascent and The Descent yeah but as I was just saying Harry

Um yesterday the White Loop was ridden over I think if memory servs around around about 9:40 they went off on onto the white yesterday so and the sun was up the sun is literally getting up today and so the conditions will be difficult less horses riding through the sand that

Makes a difference it’s like a lot of steeple Chasers riding through deep ground isn’t it uh so it’s less horses so so potentially the conditions could be different today I agree and I think the conditions for a 160 are actually much better today than they were yesterday we it’s much cooler out there

This morning with we’re expecting highs of of just 20° yesterday we were almost touching 30 so it’s a cooler day overall and you’re right they’re riding this more challenging glot much earlier in the day so the properties of the sound will be a lot Better so there there’s the white green blue red and pink and for those of you are watching in black and white yes as Whispering turo once said so um they are the flags so every Loop has a different color yellow white green blue red pink today so every Loop has a different

Color and there are flags every 50 m some even closer um and it’s brilliantly marked the course there are members of the Saudi Arabian police force out there at every single checkpoint I think there are 17 checkpoints today something like that and there are water points and

Crewing points today so nothing has been left to chance and a whole Fleet of Veterinary and and medical ambulances out on course as well absolutely and I think what’s so interesting is that they you’ve got such a lot of infrastructure around some quite natural tracks and in such a incredible stunning beautiful

Area so you are combining that stunning setting with natural tracks and the infrastructure to support a competition of this standard absolutely absolutely so here’s ABA Abra and we heard from her ear earlier the lady riding for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abra Abdul and kerang roko and

Off she goes and rode really well came in in sixth position out of 62 Harry and we wish her well and I think a tactic there is that you know it’s it’s been cooler in this part of the morning and as she said the speed’s going to

Slow down a bit but um you know one tactic is to is to let the horses run on it while it’s cool and then you know ease off while it’s hot other other horses and Riders perhaps those you know the more experienced Riders might you know just not let that bother them and

Let the the speed gradually increase we’ll wait and See but fantastic that she has come here um she’s leading the way for female endurance riders in Saudi Arabia and has her SES firmly set on the world Insurance championships 2026 she looks at the watch and off she goes on that distance of 32.1 the white Loop is

Away and they’re off on the white Loop the second of the six loops and Harry Ingram is going to give us a guide to the loops the white Loop 32 km and at least a third of that is ascending or descending quite substantial Hills this part of the

Course all on deep sand which is incredibly taxing all the top teams will have a plan for this section of the course whether to attack or conserve having ascended to the top of this Valley horses and Riders have then turned and had to go downhill on the

Deep sand this is one of the most taxing parts of the course and the most challenging an opportunity perhaps to take a lead if ridden a little bit quicker but a question will those horses and Riders still be there in the latter parts of the course or is playing safe a better Game great Guide to the loops and I’m sure we’ll see some closeups of the undulations and the different types of terrain as they go through the first of the villages uh and that’s what 2 and 1 half 3K from here Harry something like that yeah and very

Good going through there if anything a little bit hard the ground at this point um before they reach the the sof ground on this white Loop you know you come to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and you desert here you’ve got the incredible historic town of alula at the 6th

Century BC town and and it is breathtaking then you come to the endurance Village of alula with the huge plans for the arrestan centers but you look at the farming life here and we heard Juma talk all the camels have broken through the fence and you know

It’s it for somebody who’s never ridden here before Harry it must be incredible mustn’t it yeah I mean I mean I I was lucky enough to ride just the training track and that was enough to give me goosebumps um just to be in in this environment it’s you know when we see

Other desert rides around the world it’s a lot of consistent going it’s you could say it’s a little bit monotonous in places nothing could be further from the truth here in alula the variety it is changing all the time whether that’s the going the scenery uh everything really

Yes there’s sand Harry but this is the undulations of of suffk this is this is well well yeah some of the greatest rides in the world you know when we’re climbing mountains have similar undulation what’s different here is it’s a very gradual incline and a gradual decline but horses are climbing an

Enormous amount and unless you you know you’re stood here on the ground it’s very hard to get the perspective of of of just quite the height um of the some of these tracks yeah I mean the elevations of the white Loop go 1,000 m something like that so they’re starting

They’re climbing a minimum of 200 220 M and and this is one of the highest climbs and uh as another athlete in their horse go off we saw that combination come in they look really fresh going out and everything is looking fresh it’s it’s completely different to yesterday with a lot more horses

Yesterday 181 started yesterday 189 started yesterday and today 62 have started and it’s Al together a different feel this is all about controlling at a pace but a different pace you’re you’re quite right Nick and um it’s just um you know such a professional atmosphere you know I was

Just down the in the vet gate then these horses and Riders have qualified to get to this point and and we have so much experience amongst the field you know on the near ground there we have Danielle isi who was previous Italian uh National Champion uh he is an elite endurance

Rider uh which means he has done more than 10 160 km and that’s why he’s been invited here by tet to here to take his horse on because Elite status means you can you can move m a little bit more easily um so he’s riding t to’s uh horse

Um but he is a very incredibly experienced rider and a very elegant rider in the saddle so to to put it into golfing Palance these are the pros that made the cup yeah and they’re coming into the final day these are the best boys 100% y yeah

Y and and you know they will all know that in 160 km the leaderboard can flip absolutely flip by the end end of the competition we were discussing off air yesterday how disappointing it must be to have ridden what you feel is a fabulous

Ride uh and you get to the final vet at 8:30 9:00 at night it can be 10:00 at night under lights you’re tired your horse is tired and you don’t pass the vet it’s heartbreaking how’d you cope with that mentally I think the only way I can kind

Of turn this into a positive is that um you know those failures make the success all all the more worthwhile and you know they every endurance Rider will have had failure at some point and it is it is defining in our sport do you and and more and more athletes and rightly so

Are turning their attention to sports psychology do you believe in in that as an as an elite athlete 100% And you know especially so that they have such an a long distance ahead of them the way that they attack that and in their head how

They break that up I think the only way to do it really is to to be thinking about one loop at a time so you know you say right you say to yourself I’ve got 34 km that’s all I’ve got to do today 34 km

Then you do that then you say right now I’ve got 25 km and you work your way through it Loop by Loop because it is more manageable and you focus on each stage yeah constanza is just getting ready to go for Italy previous European champ European Champion absolutely

There’s humor in the background just chitchat away um it’s a bit like I suppose breaking a long journey down isn’t it yeah yeah but you know you’ve naturally got these phases of competition so you know if you think about you’ve got the loop and the vet

Gate if you can do the loop in the vet gate then you get a break enjoy the break as a rider you know and especially at this level and doing 160 km the rider needs to be able to step away let the crew do their job you need the right

People around you the people who are so experienced at looking after horses at this level of competition yeah you know I have seen good crew pick up horses who are tired who you know you might not think have another loop in them and they come out of that whole period looking

Fresh as a daisy yeah I mean it’s like the physio in rugby or or in football or anything they get in a half time they’re battered they’re bruised and then they come out and they can go another 45 or 40 minutes yeah and crewing is a is almost a science in

Itself the ability to look at a horse and say okay that horse needs some electrolytes that horse needs a drink that horse needs to warm up what that on the back of constanza’s Saddle there Harry so I believe the weight pads there uh yeah they’ve got the weight pads so

So 75 Kg is the weight that riders need to make for this 160 km which is as dumer said 5 kg more than the 120 km classification so was it four or five years ago there was a huge amount of antagonism towards a maximum a minimum weight of 75 kilos wasn’t it

That everybody saying oh people are getting smaller people at the athletes are Getting Thinner uh we don’t need it and it’s very interesting there hearing jumer who is one of the most respected Horsemen in the world saying it does do its job yeah and I mean it it slows

People down and you know that’s just 5 kg I think too many people take weight for granted that additional weight doesn’t have an impact on the horse but a after 160 km that additional 5 kg is bound to have an influence I mean come

On it’s like um why do they do it in racing why do they put weights on in racing for exactly that reason same principle yeah yeah yeah but you know it is a challenge you know duma’s wife Mar ponton is a you know small female Rider yeah

Um so they have to carry a lot of additional weight and and then you get into the whole argument where is the weight where do you put the where do you put the weight yeah a lot of riders now seen that uh are riding with um weights

On their legs really yeah i’ seen that in National hunt racing they’re starting it they’re just looking at ideas down the silks this you know there’s two schools of thought on this whether it’s better to put it on the saddle which is static but then uh but it’s It’s banging

On the back isn’t it yeah and they’re always the rid of the you know you’re positioning yourself you’re changing your central gravity but if you’re a good Rider you’re moving with the horse um so where is it best placed so far debart more for debate Harry absolutely one that will continue

For a good while I suspect so far debas she was riding Emir Deb bartas yesterday so um really uh good affiliation with the duat stud in the south of France in the mid Pyrenees region run by Christian cat and Sil Kat they have bred some real champions from that

Stables and this horse you know a real nice good sturdy frame and a long stride very similar to emmer dearta actually from yesterday I mean if you close your eyes you’d say that was exactly the same combination so this is the point now Riders have left the village the easy

Track is now behind them and they are now onto the white Loop only and it’s at this point where things get more challenging the white Loop follows much uh very similarly the course for the final Loop the pink Loop but then at this point where they turn off they have possibly maybe 15

Km uh where they just Ascend all the way to the top of this hill all on deep sand then they turn around they meet their crew at the top twice and then they come downhill downhill in the deep sand that is very very challenging for a rider to

Navigate because your horse is already putting a lot of weight through their front feet and as you’re going down hill you’ll know gravity is pushing more weight down the front feet so you are sinking even deeper into that sand and as a rider that’s really challenging so our leading group of riders

Here leading group of five representing Uruguay and Bahrain the uruguayans are on us a horses for all stables and we’ve got our previous winning rider for parar we’ve got our previous uh winning combination for Uruguay and second place as well there so a group of incredibly experienced horses and Riders but also

Experienced on this very uh same track so the r at the rear there HC EA very identifiable by the long white socks um the markings ridden by Fred Rico fura for Uruguay they won here as a combination they won the first and cup in 2022 and if you remember they crossed

The line hand inand with Andres Rivero and SM Fabricio who is also riding here and I believe possibly hard to tell but the gray potentially second in shot and they worked as a team all day in that competition and they LED from the front from the offset they really challenged

The competitors to go with them and they dragged people with them some couldn’t keep uh keep up others couldn’t stay the distance so our leading Riders the third gray is Our Winning Rider from last year for Bahrain number 317 Muhammad abdulhamid al-hashimi riding the world young horse Champion from 2022 Lola deala

Yeah so they’ve done uh 26k they’ve got 26k still to go out of the 32 so they’re they’re traveling well 6 km and their estimated arrival time with us is 9 3358 if they keep this pace up and they’re all on GPS trackers that’s worth noting so

Uh it’s like they’re wearing air tags basically isn’t it uh and we can see them all the way around the course and that’s really important and lots of water points around this course there are 20 water points out there on the on the course today 20 opportunities not on

Every Loop uh it is spread throughout the the distances and there are 12 crew points and on on the white Loop there are what three crew points aren’t there Harry three yes two crew points and uh two crew points and and then another one two three four water points yeah so and it

It’s interesting now that the crew points are five a minimum of 5 km a maximum 5 km away from each other and the water points there have to be one every 10 km so it spread evenly throughout the course let’s just have a little look at

The vet card then for uh our leading horse Lola deala um so uh they came into the first Loop and their speed at that point uh was 192 km an hour that’s quite a lot slower than we saw yesterday we were seeing 20 23 uh yesterday um the recovery time that’s

The time from the first gate to when they presented to the vet that was 1 minute 23 which is exceptional and the heart rate only 58 it has to be under 64 so I mean that is incredibly quick that’s tack off water water water in and

Straight A’s and ones for all of the metabolic criteria so a really strong vet card for the first phase of the competition for our leader Lola de jalima what about the uruan Harry that’s what I’d be interested in because so the ugu 1 minute 42 and

Presented with a heart rate of 56 just a little bit longer you 20 seconds longer current leader boards uh up there top five been riding 2 hours 46 that’s their riding time yes so Bahrain still leading katar now just pushed up into they’re just slowing down a bit here

Harry um katar pushed up into second Bahrain in the top three in the top five and then the uh Francisco fber for Uruguay just pushing down into fifth interesting that they’ve broken you see the way they’re holding the tle there I think what we we can’t quite see

It because we we’re looking from above that to me indicates they’re going downhill so they’re they’re trying to it’s a tactic you see a lot French Riders do it they hold the staddle saddle for stability and uh possibly now they’re going down and down with gradient um because are a lot of

Undulations on this course lot of undulations that’s very interesting so 315 are leading combination 328 the qataris they had a very good day at the office yesterday and uh Al hashimi for Bahrain in third but it’s an even pack it’s a very even pack and interestingly um I was always

Taught to sit a bit deep going downhill I was never taught to I was never ever taught to hold the back of the saddle I was always taught to sit deep but there’s your leading pack there’s the top five in this the alpha Sun cup they’re what 8 kilm in now yeah it’s

One so the highways of Saudi Arabia and they’ve got two Bridges underneath the highways to go under on this Loop Harry and we went out and looked at them on Friday with but yesterday they just rode them quite brilliantly didn’t they yeah they didn’t seem to struggle at all and

The organizers have dug you know dug them out a little bit but you know they are low and they are narrow and they do require a little bit of careful riding it’s you know it’s a hazard on the on the course and then you know there are always hazards on endurance courses

You’ve just got to tackle what lies ahead but isn’t that the trick of endurance riding it’s not just all about going bang bang bang bang bang it is about different elements different obstacles different things to uh educate and and to wake up the Horse and Rider

Yeah and it’s you know it’s why we we you know shy away from calling it a race because it is not a flat out first across the line win at all cost exactly it’s a long distance ride it’s a long distance ride look at those shots so we’re looking in the CI three

Star this the 160 the 160 and in 2026 alula will play host to the FEI World Endurance championships my name is Kami Martin I work as a director of the equestrian sector for the Royal Commission of alula we are very excited to host this new

Edition of the for and Cup this year is um new challenges and new heists let’s say with a a record number of country participating and for the first time two rides the two star ride which is the the regular foren cup 120 km and the three star Ride For the First Time 160

Km we’ve recently been awarded the hosting of the endurance World Championship in 2026 by the International Federation so it’s a it’s a big honor but it’s also a big challenge to be ready and to be uh to have all the technical requirements Set uh so this right on Sunday will be the

First test for us so the championship will happen in October 2026 which is from now bit more than 2 and a half years on Sunday is the first 160 kilm organizing here so the trucks we have for Sunday might not be the same next year might not be the same in 2026

Horses are part of the culture and the heritage of the region of the Kingdom uh if you walk in the the Wes you see carvings of horse riding uh so it’s really part of the DNA of the region this is a unique place and uh all

The feedback we had from people in the past year who came here to compete in 120 everybody said it was an exceptional place and they really enjoyed it not not only the the ride but also the place the endurance World Championship it’s an event that is happening only

Every two years the criteria are very very uh precise so it’s great um great honor but also great responsibility we want to to use this event in order to have endurance and the equestrian sector as a as a key pillar of of alula in the future 51 Nations competing here in ALA this weekend the world will come to alula in 2026 361 that we’re getting pictures of now they’re out on the white Loop and it is R MTI and B over JJ Ryan who had a very challenging day yesterday and

Our thoughts go to him and it is Rana mty and bonova JJ so they’re out on the white Loop and remember 62 started at 5:30 this morning um and they’re now out on the second Loop so they can ride a minimum Harry we we’ve talked about the weights we’ve talked about the distances

They can ride is it 12 km an hour 12 km an hour that’s right um that’s their minimum riding speed that’s the minimum yeah so that gives an end time of around about uh 10 10 1030 10:30 is when the Finish Line closes Finish Line closes but interestingly enough they’ll have

Tracked that back and and the vet gate will close on the Red Gate that’ll be the last of theed it’s actually going to start closing from the third loop from the oh they’re starting from the third Loop that’s really interesting so if you’re averaging under under 12 you’re

Out from the third Loop okay that’s uh that’s a very good facet because that means that they’re not really necessarily coping with the unique conditions of alula yeah and I think it’s also uh acknowledging that you know Horse and Rider if they are just scraping the minimum speed early in the

Competition are likely to to go slower in the very latter stages so if they inevitably close you know if you’re only doing 12 by the third Loop by the you’re going to be you’re going to be out of time anyway so yeah you are you know yeah and why why push your horse’s

Distance that much exactly yeah yeah but it’s worth noting even if they’ve closed the vet gate that horse that horse will still have to uh go through the Vets to to to finish the ride and then have a fit to travel so it’s not just no you’re out because you’ve ridden too slowly

You’ve got to finish the vets and it’s all still maintaining this facet of horse welfare which has to right and we not only have we got a team of panel vets here if they’ve got any concerns about the horses we have a whole team of treatment vets here and a clinic on site

So it’s it’s a little it’s a Stones throw away from the rest area it’s the treatment Clinic um where we have a team of leading veterinarians across the world ready to to step in if required and and they’re all that on course we should say yes they are we spoke to one

Of them this morning the great Tom eat Evans from New Market one of the foremost endurance and endurance horse special vets horse specialist vets I would say in the world he knows what to watch out for he’s you know been treatment vet at so many rides so you

Look at that they’re tracking neatly aren’t they they’re tracking uh stride for stride and and look at the Shadows great it’s brilliant isn’t it we talk so much about the similarities between this the uh the 160 and stages of the tour to France and because this is exactly what it is this

Is this is a breakaway group uh but they’re riding together yeah so horses are herd animals they want to be in company it makes it easier on the horse um to do this and and also these larger professional stapes this is how they train and we’ve said it before

We we’ve seen Nations at World Championships who work together as a team do better than those who attack it as a group of individual ual and there are nations out there that could learn a lot from looking at riding tactics like this three baranes in that mix one uruan and one

Qatari and they’re going to alternate who’s in the lead they’re going to um and we saw there that’s an interesting thing so we just saw the outside horse so when you’re cantering one leg is leading you always say so the front hor horse is leading with its left leg it

Means its left leg is going a little bit further than its right leg so after a couple of kilometers you want to change that so that it’s nice and balanced so you do a couple of kilometers leading with the left leg then you change caner lead to the right

Leg and these horses will be trained to you know come back to trot a little uh change of the direction of the head open the shoulder on the other side strike off lead with the other leg Yeah so it’s it’s not it’s not how shall I put it

Favoring one leg is it yeah because you know if you’re using one set of muscles too much for too long get going get sore so you want to make sure that you are 50/50 so very shortly Harry very shortly having completed what uh just under a

Third of this the white Loop uh they’ll go up into the mountains yeah and it’s you know we’ve been out there Nick it’s it’s not not easy it’s not easy uh it is deep yeah but we come back to it that this time yesterday it was an hour and a

Half later absolutely yeah and it’s cooler today y I mean you’re actually wearing a fleece and all sorts today there’s a lot to be said for starting early though you know I I think the the sense that they will after this Loop have done nearly 70 km like it as

An as an organizer I genuinely I like it I think I think your officials are fresher in the morning um I think your your in this case uh the Saudi Arabian police on the checkpoints they’re very much in tune when it becomes a really really long day and it’s cold and it’s

Dark at night that’s when the problems start to arrive I believe so I I don’t mind starting early in the morning you know at Windsor for example in early May will start at 6:00 in the morning and the sun will literally have just come up and we should say as well you know

Horses riding in the dark they you know they seem to cope incredibly well with it they I mean they have better Vision in the dark than we do horses can see in the dark it seems to work perfectly well and he’s always eily quiet isn’t it in

The start can sleep standing up it’s true though isn’t it it is and Nick as an organizer yourself you know you organized a championship rise I did um the European championships in 2019 biggest ride ever that was Harry we were discussing that this morning weren’t we 5 days of nightmare but what

Does it take to take a venue through from uh it’s almost I’m sorry how to interrupt you it’s Al almost as if the camels are riding across the desert you look at those those incredible Shadows it’s brilliant the sun is so low in the sky stunning the pictures that we’re getting

Here are they’re unparalleled um sorry Harry what does it take to get take a venue from you know being a successful International ride venue to being a championship worthy competition from being a championship from being an ordinary three star venue correct and there’s nothing ordinary about alula um

To turning it into a championship venue um when we were awarded the European championships we decided to be bold and we had a vision um and we adapted the venue at Houston Park um there’s no doubt about it the issues that that will arise and and I’m sure that they’ve already started

Thinking about it is it’s not just another level of complexity and organization from the international equestrian Federation because quite rightly it’s one of their World Championships um but it’s also the accommodation and the logistics piece the stuff that we’re not seeing here so the accommodation is is a

Monstrously big piece there’s no doubt about that the logistics of getting the horses to the Championships yes they’ve done brilliantly here flying the horses 240 horses here to Ala um but there is more than that because uh you’ve got so many more support team you’ve got so

Many more press media they will all be here um so and then the broadcast fabulous uh broadcast from um from the team here at Aurora but it’s linking it into uh the Ebu the European broadcasting Union and and and then sending the pictures to Uruguay and to Argentina and South America that that

Becomes more complex so there’s a there’s a whole level of logistical elements that you can’t Step Up A Notch yeah but then also you’ve then look at the venue and you say what can we do differently and how can we improve it and I believe you know we were talking

About it this morning we ran Thursday we run the Pony Club championships then on Friday we ran a one star of about 380 horses then on the Saturday we run a two star of two no on the Friday we run the European championships on the Saturday

We run the one star of 320 horses and then on the Sunday we run a Nations cup which which very few uh countries do uh apart from it a Championship uh and yeah it was and then on the Monday we had all our 40s and 80s

Our national Riders um so it was 5 days of very little sleep but five days of people enjoying their sport which is brilliant Yeah well I think if members and I’m sure that they will members of the grand jury will see that what they do have in their locker is the ability they will they will get the number they they have the ability that’s probably 250 50 m worth that they’ve taken the corner off they

Have the ability to say you will go back out and you will do that 250 M if it is a major infringement in other words they’ve gone straight across the corner from the pink to the white cutting out the whole Loop in the mountains that could be elimination or the grand jury

Could say you were go and do another 16 km it may be that this rider was following the flagst that the other have followed the track follow the better going exactly you never know you don’t know um so uh but there are ways and means and the GPS tracking does does

Allow that um but yes they’ve followed the flags but the others have taken the track so it’s entirely up to them you know there’s another example uh just taking the inside line it’s it’s up to the course designers it’s up to the Riders um so

Yeah you know I think a degree of making a decision about what what the better going is if you’re taking a wide route around a corner you’re adding distance on Purely to pick the best going then you know you’re doing a little bit more in terms of distance but actually you

Know perhaps less taxing Harry one question I’ve got to ask you um is the horse’s feet now we we haven’t really concentrated on the on the farer if I can say that uh of the hores feet there’s one of the tunnels coming up um do they change shoes during a race

During a ride they might do they might do um if the going is particularly abrasive uh we see rides in Europe where there you know there’s a lot of asphalts uh and you know they’re in aluminium shoes which wear quite quickly then you know the fario is a crucial part of the

Team we might see here that you know the tracks through the village are quite uh quite hard little bit Stony in places so we might see that um but I think farer and the sport of endurance are evolving together um and we are seeing different types of shoing tactics and methods come

Onto the fall like plastic shoes aluminium shoes paths gel so you can see the leading group the leading group of five they’re just going to turn and come under a tunnel here and then tracking neatly behind it is Abra ABD CER from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

She went off in Sixth and you had a really good chat with her this morning yeah it’s fantastic to see a leading uh Saudi female Rider um and great with such ambition to um to be driving forwards towards the Championships and actually Nick this is very interesting because this is the

Location that we went out to uh to do one of the course guides you know we parked on that road and we walked down that Loop over where you know there was a dried up River there and there there was a section here where where the leading Riders are now where

They are slowing up just between those rocks that was where we were St that is incredibly deep uh sand there and they are going uphill um I’m I’m surprised that vehicle on the near side is actually making it up there um we weren’t we weren’t brave enough some skill

Driving well skilled driving and see the horses just trotting now yeah really taking their time on this this is you know one of the most challenging parts of the course because they they are going uphill at such a gradient which is hard to hard for us to really visualize

But I can tell you having been there I mean I I was struggling to walk yeah and um it was it’s very deep but a what I was about to say was a lot of these Riders would have been out yesterday or they would have talked to them their

Colleagues and their fellow athletes and they’ll have said right this is this part just go gently I can’t believe the number of riders who are riding for the second day Harry I keep meaning to ask you when you’ve done a 160 on a Sunday how on Earth do you

Walk into the office on a Monday uh it’s a struggle I you know tend to approach stairs backwards at that point certainly I’m not thinking right I want to go and do another another ride back back down to the walk y yep and that’s really sensible riding it’s very sensible

Riding and it it’s showing recognition for the um for the for the gradient we’ve got Riders here you know really picking their way trying to find the best tracks between the flags and it’s steep it’s really steep at this point you know we didn’t see uh

The aerial shot of the of this Loop yesterday and today we’re seeing you know Riders really pick their way on this going and take their time up they come Harry as we just pan out here we’re getting the perspective of what is to come for the rers they are approaching

The top of part of the loop where it just Plateau slightly before then making The Descent back down again but it’s done its job hasn’t it this is what Brian said he said we’ve put the white Loop in it’s more challenging we put it in early in the competition to slow down

The horses and Riders to make it a more technical course technical testing those were his three T’s certainly is and I wonder if those uh White pickups are going to make it out there we are who’s likely in those pickups Nick we we we no I’ll tell you who they are

Uh it’s quite simple you’ve got Co Marshals as you and I know Harry I have a team of Co Marshals that will go out be with the leading group be with the followers be and and they are your eyes and ears so there’s nothing illegal

Going on there they are an OC’s eyes and ears to make sure I mean yes here unbelievable pictures from the helicopter uh throughout the whole ride but at rides such as the ones that we have at Windsor where airspace is bit more of a premium in the private grounds

Of his magesty um uh you can’t have that so you do need those and yes you got your checkpoint stewards uh which in this case are the are the police force but um you you absolutely any uh three star Championship or three star organizer has got to have eyes and ears

Out there on the ground and they’ve also I believe got roaming treatment vets I believe oh yeah they’ve got here we go here’s a crew point and this is interesting I think this might be this a point yeah so this is purely provided by the organizing committee and and this is

Interesting again that we’re seeing a different tactic here than we did yesterday yesterday would straight through one or two bottles and then carry it through but these Riders know it’s a long day it doesn’t matter if they lose a few seconds now but they need to look after their horse in order

To pass all the veteranary inspections that today will throw at them it makes it a longer day in many ways but it um is showing us the complete difference between a very fast ride yesterday and a slower more challenging more balanced ride today yeah and and these Riders

Will have been well most of them are riding but those that weren’t riding will have been stood on the sidelines here and they will have seen how many horses uh came into third place yesterday and didn’t pass the final so interesting there that the leading two

Have gone out early just to get get a perhaps a little bit of daylight the one that’s tracking backwards maybe they will try and push on a bit to get back into the group yeah we got I think we’ve got the two Baris and two uruguayans

This is this is almost uh like for like you can see they pushed on very similar to what happened in in 2022 where the ugu just teased the bines they would you know they chase on a littleit pull them back they they didn’t didn’t really want

To help them by riding in a line but they were just playing with the tactics a little bit it’s not very nice that’s interesting so that barini Ryder was in second we’ve seen the Uruguay Rider there I think just overtake to took in behind his teammate look at those

Shadows I mean it is Lawrence of Arabia esque isn’t it it is and you know when you’re in the canyons down there you can hear a pin drop it is deathly silent and they will just be hearing the hoof beats Landing uh on the sand we haven’t talked about the prize

Money yet 5 million Saudi Arabian reels here we go that now that’s okay I believe that’s okay yes so there’s tactics going on here it’s a okay that is that is a classic example of race riding okay uh that is uh take at ascat or at New Market where

You’ve got a big field 32 horses for the cambridg and one side will go grandstand side or at Goodwood one side will go um far side and that’s what they’re doing there but we can see there many tracks from yesterday yeah you know look at all the different tracks hoof prints where

Uh horses have taken different tracks up here yesterday so um there’ll be some that are more warn than others yeah these guys are riding it after yesterday’s 200 horses have been through here so you know the the the track may have become a little bit bit deeper in

Places because it’s it’s been it’s been used that’s one of the things that um I felt uh and we talk about running big rides and and these guys here in alula uh led by Anis Hassan and uh Brian and Jan LCA running big rides is a real challenge to maintain the the

Complexities particularly in a world heritage site such as uh alula uh to Main maintain the same conditions day on day on day and and I had teams out when we run our championships in 19 I have teams out sort of until 121 in the morning just checking the courses

Putting the graders in there putting the rollers in which of course they can’t really do here because it’s a world heritage site yeah but I think you know part of the challeng is adapting to whatever is in front of you and if if that’s if that’s a changing picture that’s that’s

Okay you know you ride it one day and then you ride it the next it’s totally different it’ be interesting to ask those Riders if they notice any different in the going having ridden it I’m day I’m sure you will there’s the question there’s the question so where’s

That one going Harry ah so one as far so I just wonder really interesting tactics here isn’t it well we talked about you know as a rider it’s it’s is your responsibility to pick the going and make sure you are you’re you’re are following the ca but getting the best

Ground for your horse because uh what they are doing is looking after their horses and it’s early in the competition there’s so many more Loops there’s so many more veter inspections um this is a taxing part of the cause if they pick the best going and conserve energy for

The latter Loop they are more likely to be in a better position where they can you know uh ease off a handbreak and let things go a little bit towards the end of the competition and you know compete for those top Podium positions what I’m enjoying is the totally different riding

Style that I’ve ever seen before in the in the Middle East you’re quite right yeah and you know I would I imagine there’s some dressar Riders who would be horrified um no no no I’m talking about preserving the horses so we think of B and the and the world championships in

Abu Dhabi in in in the UAE last year in Abu Dhabi that was a much faster call so they were going much much quicker weren’t they now these guys they’re up they’re using the brain so how far have they got so ah they’re halfway through pretty much halfway through they’ve done 34.4

They’re now on the white Loop you see the purple bar halfway through and then they’ll come into the Vet gate and they’re expected here at 9:33 there or thereabouts the leading group so there’s abar right um camera right screen right and you see uh you’ve got your leading group of five and then

You’ got ABA the uh Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the Saudi Arabian lady athlete uh ABA Abal and kowan roko in six so tracking nicely we heard from her earlier and she said she wasn’t going to push it yeah and you know I think that they’re taking it nice and nice and easy

On this loot to be honest um they they are just about to they’ve got one control point to go through police control point and then they turn for the downhill section equally challenging in this this in many ways that’s probably harder yep you know maybe you get a bit

Of momentum going town hill so perhaps less taxing on the cardiovascular system the horse you know they’re not panting because they’re they’re flowing downhill but as as as any you know human athlete knows running downhill it’s all about balance and trying to you know brace yourself back from uh and that is hard

Work especially when you’re having to you know suck your feet out of the deep sand so we expect this will be the slowest Loop uh of the day and in a way it’s nice to see that you know this is a true test of horsemanship and we say that and and I

Think this is a really good way of visualizing it is that your rock there Harriet no it’s not that’s not your rock is it no the one I stood on the one that he stood on so they found a bit of better going they’ve let themselves counter

On so I think we have HC yaer in the lead this far you hear far behind so I’m delighted to be joined in the commentary Booth by event director Mr Brian Dunn Brian how are we getting on out there Harry Hi how are you good morning we we’re doing good I mean we

Started in the dark and uh we got them through at 19.5 km/ hour which is quite good they all listened to the briefing the other day they’re on the white Loop the the Loop the technical testing tough Loop and uh they’re all going fairly well we’ve seen real uh great examples

Of horsemanship here you know they’re they are picking the going they’re taking their time they’re easing off the pace was that the plan for putting in this this difficult Loop you know yes it was we we wanted to have a fairly tough testing one where the Tactics come in

They have to think about it it’s a tactical race it is deep in parts it is CL slow long climb so if they take into consideration the tactics of what they want to do they’ll do fine and if you look the way they’re riding now on the screen they’re picking their spots some

Of them are sticking close to the flags some of them are going a little bit 10 15 M off and and as you know as a rider they’re picking the best spot and that was the whole aim of this Loop to make them think when to push when to hold and

As you as you know this is is the one that’s going to test you I mean the ultimate test 160 km and the first 160 km to be run from alula so these Riders you know they are in Uncharted Territory a little bit they’ve got to take their

Time because it’s not what we saw yesterday we saw 120 yesterday different competition absolutely right and as you say the two Loop now normally a three star would be five Loops we’ve decided to go for the full six Loops which to us is also a preest for the world

Championship so we’ve done the the six Loops it’s a chance for anyone in the world to come and look at it this year and next year and see how it goes we’ll learn they’ll learn absolutely we were having that discussion Nick and I just a second ago

Of you know what the preference is as a rer whether it’s five Loops or six for me I think six is a nice way to do it because you you know you can you break it into small more manageable chunks there I’m sure there are other Riders

Who want to you know just get the mileage done and have fewer breaks um but horses for course is no no for us it’s again horse W Paramount with the six Loops we’ve got an extra vet gate so it means the Vets can do the extra check

To make sure the horses are fit and safe to continue on so for me the six Loops yes it’s a practice for the Championships it’s also horse welfare in this part of the world where it is quite hot and it’s quite humid and it’s desert conditions and two additional checks in

The 160 so we saw a reinspection yesterday in the 120 which meant at the last vet gate horses and Riders had to pass the first F inspection but 15 minutes before they went back out in the course they had to pass another before that competitive last loot in though at

160 I believe you’ve got two we’ve got two yes so again the fourth and the fifth the Vets will do a check to make sure that the horses are fit to continue and then the next loop again hold a 50 minutes so that 15 minutes before

They’re due to go out we do them another check so again it’s horse welfare we’re looking after the horses and we’re helping the Riders I always find that that kind of reinspection is all very strict because they’re not just judging the horse that’s come off the loop they

Want to see an improvement from from where they are then uh you know their horse has been resting for a while so the metabolics and everything else should be improving it should be an improving picture uh and they you know are protecting those those Riders who are going to potentially push the speeds

For those you know last few Loops that’s that’s right the the aim of that is to see if the horse is fit to continue has he got enough left in the tank has he recovered from his 40 minutes his 50 minutes is he ready to go out again some

Of the horses as you know Harry during that 40 50 minute break they can go downhill and they don’t recover we want to see that the horse is recovering everything he’s been fed he’s been watered he’s been looked after whether they must the horse or do whatever it’s welfare it’s

Horse and Rider and Brian we’re talking to Nick earlier about you know his experiences at Houston Park but um it would be great to hear from you you know what it takes to have taken this venue from I’ve seen it evolve from the time that I’ve been here over the years but

You know you’ve taken it from something which which was quite small quite Niche to now the World Endurance championships in 2026 what is that like as a event director to to be on a pathway to World Championships it’s actually very satisfying and it’s great for us as a

Team so system eventy from Italy we’ve come here we’ve picked it up um we’ve evolved it we’ve improved it uh We’ve updated it and it’s become popular and as you see now there’s no cars on the trail so what we’re doing is we’re going back to the good oldfashioned endurance

Where it was Horse and Rider against the weather against the elements against the terrain and this is unique this course cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world what’s the next step so the the Riders will do 160 today will will you take feedback from from from

Everyone and then adapt or or is this just a you know you roll it out again in two years time no no we sit down we collect our thoughts we do our own report to the RCU and to the Saudi Federation we get feedback from them and where possible we’ll get feedback from

The invited Europeans and from the locals then we’ll sit down and say where do we go from here how do we improve how do we update how do we make it easier and more attractive the aim here is to make alula the endurance capital of the Middle

East well it’s um fantastic uh ambition and vision for alula and uh Brian dun event director thank you very much for joining us here in the commentary Booth Harry as ever thank you thank you Brian so top seven Riders then uh now out on course on the deepest

Loop and descending now this is a very challenging part of the course and our leaderboard there not necessarily quite in this order at the moment but that that’s our top seven Riders so we’ve got a mixture here of Bahrain of Jordan Qatar and Uruguay and interesting to see that Ryan

Alti has has come back into the leading group so he said earlier difficult day for him yesterday but Qatar leading very good day for them yesterday but bahra they’re three they are riding together as a team and the uruan is just tucked in in nicely and we’re not going to see

A break on this Loop no way no that break won’t come until I wouldn’t have thought the the the last the last Loop the pink Loop so where are we now we’re at uh the Water point at control Point 15 yeah so this is this is turning back towards

Vgate so this now leading group they you know rayan was trying to to catch them so he he now has got benefit of riding as a group it’s the the worst thing is to ride 160 km on your own uh it’s pretty Soul destroying uh so as a group

That is where they want to be and behind them I believe we’ve got a you know a a good contingent of um you got the two Brazilians tucked in there very experienced Riders yeah really good and then uh the French Camille Kul I need I’ll uh so they are a Maria

Alvarez ponton just doing what she did yesterday tucked in there very very neatly the Spanish the two Spanish uh Riders of uh Maria and Carrera going well and then Cecilia what happened Omar Blanco Rodriguez say oh so this is interesting so we jumo I could tell when I went over to

Him there was a stressed look on his face and said that um he’ had issues with the horses getting too excited in that first decade well om Blanco Rodrigo remember third place last year yeah had a penalty so he presented to the vet first of all with a

Har at 73 it took 9 minutes 36 for him to present with a heart rate below 64 bits per minute and I don’t think that’s anything to do with being tired the H was just wanting to go too wired too wired yeah yeah yeah but uh

There is an awfully long way to go 9 Minutes on a track of 160 is a very small margin yeah but I jumer is the type of guy who he has planned every detail of this competition and I remember the World Championships they lost a horse from the competition yes

They did um who was meant to be leading the trail of Spanish horses and it changed the T it was the paf finder yeah a pacemaker yeah and you know it it changes the dynamic so now there’s a pair of Spanish horses they have a question do they slow down to let the

Other one catch up does the other one have to now push on to catch up to it to tag on um it changes I think you know the horse uh that om’s riding JM El sabrino is is one of their best horses they will

Want that horse to be up there uh in the top 10 so Omar has his work cut out to uh to get back in the running so we’re looking now at 349 349 is uh the Jordanian R alah and Aya sereta so that’s the Jordanian at tracking 11 from Jordan 17 from Saudi

Arabia five from Bahrain uh Qatar with the three and Uruguay with the four and they’re all in the mix aren’t they they are and I think what’s interesting is the leading Riders are taking no notice of who’s coming up behind them they don’t care at this point in the

Competition it is about navigating the course safely and taking their time they don’t mind if other Riders join them you know come for the ride it’s fine yeah we’re all out there more than meria at this point absolutely because what have we done so far they’ve got

Another 12 km or so to go before they’re with us uh they’re expected with us in 32 minutes or so as just track track track tracked off actually uh 40 minutes now before they uh come in um so yeah they they’re they’re nearly home but off the second Loop off the white

Loop and we saw yesterday completely different riding tactics coming into this the white Loop and they are riding it at a much steadier pace uh and we’ll get the times they started they went out onto this the white Loop of 32.1 KM at 528 we’re now just after 9:00 local time

And they’re not back in until 9:33 so it is telling us that they’re 18 19 yeah 18 19 K now and you know that is J deposed against the 23 km an hour that we saw Riders Ride the White Loop yesterday I think they did a 24 K an hour 24.5k an

Hour first Loop 23k an hour white Loop so yesterday was pretty fast going and looking at the way these Riders are tackling this competition you know Brian Brian said when we interviewed him yesterday they’ve done the white Loop too fast these Riders haven’t they’ve done it exactly as Brian expected them

To do uh they’ve taken the time they’ve ridden it very carefully I have to say it is refreshing to see no cars at all out on the course isn’t it there’s one yeah I know but that is that is a control car that is a control car

Yeah yeah and you know I think it’s it’s important um that there there’s some supervision because as we found out there’s no phone signal in these Canyons no and why should there be you know there there is nothing around and it is these these this is a really natural

Track I wouldn’t want to be in there when the rains come down though Harry well we you can see where the water has flown uh through some of them well that’s what they are isn’t it this section now then they are going downhill so um did you get out there on

This bit Yeah and and it’s tough yeah we saw the uphill so I saw the gradient that they had to go up and I and I was stood at the base of this hill looking uh up it as and and and could see they the where they had to come down are they

Walking they are walking once at a a little extended Trot but that’s not really a trot is it it’s just jogging down just jog yeah and then they’ll pick up the pace a bit and down they go you cannot get over the difference between two days What A Difference A Day

Makes yeah they are just jogging downhill now in the Deep sound taking their time this is Uncharted Territory the first 160 km ride to be held here in alula so they haven’t got any stats to go on they can’t look back at what’s happened in previous years and say okay

This is the speed I need to ride it at they have to make it up as they go and navigate that course at a speed that they think is appropriate for 160 as opposed to 120 changes of pace they have to ease off Let It Go Again ease off let it go

Again it’s hard for them to get into a rhythm on this Loop so just under 10 km now left for these Riders on the white loop it’s a field of very experienced horses and Riders we’ve got last year’s winning Rider riding Lola DEA who is the world young horse Champion from 2022

With his high shik Nas mhammad alifa I mean you get an idea of the stunning landscape here what it is incredible very dramatic and as we’ve heard from others totally unique this the last bit of the canyon now then the going gets easier from that point onward well Everything’s Relative Harry

Yeah everything is relative uh the going does get easier yes uh 9 km still to go as they go come out of the canyon and they come back down the hill then they come into the villages past the farms and as soon as they’ve gone under

The road under the road then it’s you know they’re pretty home and dry at that point and they join the track which they will share with the pink green and and they have already done it this morning on the yellow Loop um and they will then

Flow in and then as it gets a little bit more built up that is the two-way section for every single Loop so they will do that every single time through the village to the vet gate look at the pace it’s a it’s a walk uphill wow it I know that top athletes take

Venues for granted uh playing St Andrews or Wimbledon or driveling in cilon or riding in the Pyrenees or or or something but this must be for so many yes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabian riders with their 17 that that they have this morning they will have ridden a lot of them will have

Ridden this terrain and through here before but for many of them they must be their their eyes must be out yeah and incredibly hard to prepare for we heard jumer say you know they were training in Spain it was minus 5 and they’ve had to bring the horses over here for the um

For a desert competition with deep sand so it is hard to to get your head around just quite how different it is for some horses and Riders having said that you know our leading group Bahrain Saudi Jordan uh the uruguayans on horses that are training the United Arab Emirates

You know they are they do have an advantage because they have been able to train to competions not dissimilar to this do you do you manage as a rider Harry to look at the surroundings that you’re riding through do you actually appreciate it or are you more

Concentrated on the ground I think you know you get that first Loop out of the way and and I I can you know think of moments where I’ve said to myself you know you’ve got your shoulders a little bit hunched up you’re a bit tense and

I’ve said to myself right take a deep breath and just relax your shoulders and just enjoy it because you know it’s a long day and youve just got to get the rid of that tension in your body and just take you know appreciate what’s around you what’s the most beautiful

Ride you’ve ever ridden in probably I mean I’m trying to think now probably there’s a great one in the in in the north north of the UK in hexam yeah on the malls there up on the malls there yeah very beautiful almost touching hen’s wall but

It’s you know the the the lavender when that’s out the views from there or in the actually there was there’s one ride in in uh a national park in the UK uh which doesn’t run anymore sadly but it was ‘s water ride and you would go up to

3,000 M and look over the Lake District it was was RA what about coming down from the copper horse onto the long walk with that via Windsor Castle that’s pretty special yeah not that you’re biased or anything on that one every ride is different isn’t it I was just thinking about um whether

You got the ability to appreciate your surroundings because we are seeing beautiful surroundings and I just it’s totally different when you’re 3 m up in the air so you see the shade now the sun is still relatively low in the sky casting the shadow across the track here we’re

Just going to the r is just going to enter that bit of shade now as a r that’s quite challenging as well you know your eyes need to adapt they in bright Sunshine going now into the shade they need to be reading the ground ahead

Of them six in that group in the leading group no they just pick up the pace you can see that the’re they’re back on the flat terrain has come they’ve ridden that really sensibly they’ve gone through it the walk and now they’re in the shadows of the mountain speed do you

Think this Loop’s been ridden out 14 or 15 would be my estimation yeah maybe got a little bit high tops see the outline there of the jagged rocks just gives you some sense of scale and the enormity of the of the surroundings that we’re in and I hope that they’re not taking it

For granted I hope so how far away are they now Harry just wait for the data to refresh give you an up GPS might be a bit of a struggle in that in the C GPS is a bit of a struggle but um the team can base it roughly off you know

What their running speed is at the last point so uh 7 km left to run um and we expect them in just under 20 minutes just push back that seventh horse in the group I wonder why that was got six in the leading pack and then there’s maybe

A 150 M they just dropped off a bit just to steady them down have they just dropped off a bit tactically or have they just dropped off a bit because they’re feeling a bit tired coming through the canyon and now give them a bit of a rest and we can go again very

Possibly that was the was that the leading R into the first vet gate yes yeah I sense that the the other group is perhaps more experienced out they come so picking up the pace now we’re seeing a little bit of a break an emerging middle group three Riders at

The front taking the lead here on this section this is just about and I can know exactly where they are this is a deep section but they cross this bit of road and it gets better from here on in but the section that they’re currently on is deep so the three Riders there

Just respecting the ground a little bit more than the leading three um when here we approach another water point so a lot of water been put on by the organizing committee um ice as well fully staffed and Ice Y and it’s worth let’s have a look let’s have a look yeah

They’re stopping again and that’s very very sensible it’s a refueling station it is but you know we don’t often see horses stop on the second Loop um because psych psychologically the horses are full of running they they’re just not going to drink at that point but these horses are

Stopping and drinking perhaps in recognition the challenge that they’ve just uh they’ve just done that bit of a tricky course now let’s keep an eye on this horse that came in last you can see left hand side of your picture at the final of those uh water tubs that we can

See there’s the uh provisional leader board Bakin still with three Al alashi Bahrain and then the qataris Rano MTI and Jordanian and the uruan fredero Ferber so and that horse that came in last has gone out again so that’s who knows the problem when you come into a water Point like that is

That horses will drink when the other horses are still stood there as soon as one horse goes the horse is going to stop drinking and want to follow it so you you know you want to come in in that group first to enable to you give your horse enough fluid take on board

Um and you see how you know just stopping like that just spreads the spreads the Riders out again they’ve got to reestablish that um kind of point of equilibrium where they’re working together and in a group so just to put this into perspective they’ve been riding they’ve been out

For 3 hours 44 minutes 45 minutes uh they’re coming up to 4 hours and their total time they’re r time the leading will be what 10 and 1 half hours something like that very possibly yeah y it’s a long maybe a little bit quicker than that yeah we probably looking more

Cuz that would be around 16 K hour we’re probably looking more around 18 19 possibly the leading Riders the the way to tackle this is to leave enough fuel in the tank and and get incrementally quicker as the day goes on so that those last few Loops are the fastest

That is des sign of a you know a rider who’s ridden a good race and knows uh knows how much they’ve left in the tle it’s like an athlete isn’t it running a a a 10K and sprinting down the finals final stretch they call it NE negative split

So you know you’re incrementally getting quicker um and we’ve said it before we’ll say again endurance rides are often one or lost on that first Loop Riders who play it safe on that first Loop but don’t take them out the take themselves out of the competition I.E they don’t go too

Slowly that they’re miles off but they ride a clever first Loop the first Loop being the longest they stand a very good chance of being there at the end of the competition so 62 Riders went up think we ought to concentrate Harry if we lost any on

The on the first vate on the first vet gate 50 and the eliminations we lost 14 we lost 12 this morning so Iraq one of the ugu went yeah that’s very interesting so three from Jordan Andres Rivero and SM Fabricio uh were one of the favorites for Uruguay having uh come second here

Last year so that is a big blow to the all Stables um and means freder Rico feru and HD gazer are out there on their own for Alan Stables um representing Uruguay it very interesting so five also from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remember there were 17 there’s the purple line the magical

Purple line and they are starting to come back 6 km left and when we get to the Farms they’ll know won’t they they’ll start to know that they are virtually on the final stretch so uh they’ve got after this the white Loop they’ll have ridden for 30 5.5 km when

They’ve completed the the white Loop uh they’ve done the yellow and the white that makes a total of uh 65 km that’s what I was trying to say 65.5 km then they go into the green Loop that’s 28 km and then the distances drops into

The blue loop um of 20 km then the red Loop which they rode yesterday some of these rode yesterday that’s 25.5 and then they go to the pink Loop which nobody has ridden on uh and that is at 20 km so after this after this the white

Loop they go into the Vet gate and into the hold of 40 minutes then they go out for another 28 km onto the green Loop and another hold for 40 minutes then the blue loop a compulsory hold and that’s an additional 10 minutes Arc between the

Blue and the red loop I hope you’re following me so far and then between the red and the pink Loop there’s another compulsory hold an extra 10 minutes on the normal 40 so it’s 50 minutes so there’s an additional 20 minutes that’s typically championship format for the compulsory holds

So so after the green loop 28 km things get easier and as a rider at that point you breathe a sigh of relief this is the slowest it’s the long one of the longest Loops second long Loop but what the toughest we’ve heard a lot about the

White Loop um here on in it’s going to be an interesting competition and after the green Loop it becomes more manageable psychologically you can get your head around a 20 20 km blue loop is going to be well you’re over halfway aren’t breath of fresh air after these

Long challenging Loops but the red Loop we got some feedback yesterday it was interesting the red Loop was the final Loop yesterday and some of the Riders we spoke to told us that the red Loop they thought that that was going to be you know traditionally the L Loop is is one

Of the easiest thought it was going to be hardest didn’t they yeah they they actually found it harder than hard than the white Loop yeah and that might be because the horse had done more miles at that point but there was was more deep s on that red

Loop than they had anticipated and one thing we noticed when we were out there it was that the red Loop changes a lot so it’s it goes from sof to hard to sof to hard little bit of a breakway there little bit of a break way there uh and

Interestingly Harry we saw yesterday that uh some of the UAE Riders went really really quickly on that final Loop yeah they did yeah and Faris was leading Y and then about four 4 km out just the horse started to to Tire a little um had gone well all

The way through the ride tired he OB obviously rode very sensibly put a bit of the brakes on they came home I think they crossed the line in fifth and because some of the other horses had gone so fast their adrenaline they couldn’t get the heart rate down to the

Magical 64 so they were out and farz came second yeah and it was a you know a very emotional day for the S this is really interesting uh into the crew point they go this is the final crew point on the loop and this is where

Their Crews have gone to this is where they can give them water get it down the flanks and that’s uh interesting tactics as well you don’t often see that them slowing down at the final crew point they get the water down the flanks there are the crews the stewards will be out

There as well and then they go under the highway tunnel they’ll duck down and down they go big Lori going over and through the tunnel that’s the end of the crew point there you see all the crew cars top right and out they come on the other side and now they’re very much

Heading towards home so off they go that’s our leading Rider the others are now in the crew point now they they finish the crew Point finishes where the bridge starts and out they come there crewing is a you know an art in itself as we’ve said and at this

Point they’ll be trying to get as many bottles of water as they can on the horse and there’s a skill to that as well as a rider you know some of these Riders will be taking two bottles in either hand and holding on to the range

At the same time so there is the vet gate that’s what the Riders are aiming to get to after the second Loop the white Loop the crews now starting to get ready the water butts are full the ice is there and the crews are all ready and

Waiting it’s very very shortly and here is Sharon Dei and an explanation of how the vet gate Works my name is Sharon dupy I am from Botswana in Africa I’m the appointed technical delegate from the FBI At This Magnificent event in ALA the technical delegate has all authority we check the track we check the venue we familiarize oursel with all information that’s been given out to the r

And we are also the link between the organizing committee and the FEI we have all these vet inspections in a 120 endurance those will pass 7 to eight v checks and for a 160 more than 10 and all the V checks will happen in exactly the same

Protocol so the Riders will come from the loops and cross there will be a line here so they will cross and the time is being taken here the rider will be weighed and he at all times must be above the minimum weight uh at this 2024

Rules now allow a rider to lose up to 1kg uh if if he’s being weigh for the first time the horses past the arrival line now and they go into the cooling down area in this area they will try and cool down the horse as quickly as possible to

Present to the vet in where the time will stop so this is kind of part of your riding time next the horses will move into the Vet Lane and this is the line where the time will stop so the horse crosses this line and then has to move forward to the vet

Lane I’m nicoa pilati and Italian vet I’m here as the Veterinary service manager and resident of the treatment vets the first thing that the line vet will do is to check the heart rate it has to be under 64 bits per minutes after that it will do a throt around 50

M back and forth we are looking for any irregular gate that can concern us that the horse cannot keep you know going on the track when he comes back the line vet will check all other parameters that will give to the lime vet picture of the metabolic condition of the horse if the

Line vet is happy they also pass the examination we now are at the vet out this is where horses depart to the holding area um after passing or failing to qualify in the vetting area when a horse fails to qualify the rider cannot appeal against a veteran

Decision all the Riders want to leave the vetting area as quickly as possible so that they can have enough enough time to look after their horses in the holding area the fbii rules and regulations are written to protect our horses great explanation from Sharon now 349 is approaching the second of the vet

Gates of the white Loop it is jordanians Rod Al Mel for Jordan with similar story to the first Loop here and he’s broken away to come into the Vet gate he’s taking a bit longer to recover so he’s you know he’s he’s getting a bit of distance on the others but he takes

Longer to recover so they end up going back out on the loop at the same time long way to go Harry that’s what we keep saying you know and it is tactical there’s no doubt about that it’s not just uh getting the Red Mist and riding

Fast it is very tactical this the one 60 is completely different but let me put it into perspective so this rider in the first vet gate took 7 Minutes 56 to present if we compare that to last year’s winning Rider with Lola Jala 1 minute 23 okay so that’s 6 minutes

That’s 6 minutes he has had to make up six minutes in order to be back with this group at the same place and he’s now ahead of them as well so that horse is having to run faster and harder because it is recovering more slowly um that is the difference between the you

Know top athletes of this Sport and you know those who are aspiring to be there but perhaps not quite getting meeting the bar well 328 there that is sad dasari from Qatar just asking the horse to push on a little bit and and interestingly enough they’re coming up to this water

Point see the ice in the in the far far end bucket this the final water point now and then it’s through into the village so there just a0 10 there as they go towards the vet gate maybe 2 kilom left Nick and and this is really good tactics

I would believe Harry in the fact that normally you wouldn’t see this 2K from home you you genuinely wouldn’t and there are minimum distances from home and all that sort of stuff and the we’ve heard from Sharon that she’s the technical delegate so she has said yes

You must put a water Point here you can put a water Point here but normally that close to home you wouldn’t see a water point and if you don’t see a watero that close to home doesn’t give them the uh ability to to stop we’ve just seen five

Horses and Riders stop 2K from home gather on a little bit of fluid they’re thinking ahead they’re thinking ahead to the next V gate they’re thinking ahead to the recovery time they’re thinking they’re thinking further ahead it’s like moves on a chest board you’re quite right and and and that pause as well

It’s just a moment for any you know lactic acid that’s built up in the muscles just to uh ease way for the horses just to catch their breath take on a little bit of fluid you know we’re now just going to cancer on some nice flat easy ground towards the vet gate

But hopefully that presentation to the vet the recovery time will be quicker because they’ve just had a break here so it’s you know you you you pause here but you get a bit quicker there you know it’s all it’s all game play they’ seen these Farms on every

Single Loop so they know how far they’ got yep they know yep going here is is very firm so they’ll be picking out the softer Bits good to firm in places yeah there’s our leading rider for Jordan then just taking his time Al so interestingly this will be this Rider’s first 160 km

Competition and you know I suspected that it he may not be as experienced as the other Riders on the field just simply because the way he is you know taking longer to recover then pushing to catch up and then not staying with the group and leaving them again um whereas

The more experienced Riders riding together and not getting carried away at this point in the competition they are only on Loop two they have six Loops in total but at the moment he’s winning the alpha s cup you know and if he lets himself think towards the end of this

Competition and sees himself on the podium well you know that’s when he’s going to get a bit carried away and that probably won’t pay off but famous last words we wait and see very interesting to see what speed this Loop’s been ridden at Brian D

Always said he thought it was a 17 km hour loop I think we were probably not far off there um and that is a you know a nice conservative pace for a challenging Loop one which leaves plenty of fuel in the tank interesting Harry I literally just

Popped outside just to see what the atmosphere was like and it’s a lot calmer than yesterday isn’t it it’s totally different totally different absolutely we’re not Karma uh I would say steadier yeah more it’s slightly less High Tempo but I my feeling is it’s very professional out

There today yes totally you know that people know what they’re doing and they aren’t getting all to they’re not getting all excited at this point see you wait there are the crews waiting for their combinations to come forward this is where the stewards stand up and this is where they ensure that

The correct crews are crewing the correct horses yeah so it’s four people who can crew the horse and the rider can as well so only five people can be around that horse at any one point and they’re using the bibs to help with that well they got to have the right bibs on

Yeah but that’s difficult though for some team you know like juma’s team for example where you’ve got three horses running so you’ve got your crew but they’re all you you you’re all on the same team same like same with the bones for example but you know if if

So it’s kind of like you know you’ve got your four for that particular horse but they can’t help their teammates they can put on another bib yeah they can they’re allowed and sometimes we see that with the trainers you know with multiple horses spp swapping swapping and changing

Yeah there we have the stewards yeah and it’s their job to uh oversee the complexities and there they are complex the rules of endurance yeah like in any sport and and this V the vet Gates happen quickly this bit you know we’re doing 1 minute 26 and

It’s a bit frantic for that time so you know they they have to step in intervene they have to make sure things aren’t you know that there’s not too many people around a horse and their views not obscured etc etc and we can hear just the Bull of the

Helicopter our overhead and here they come through the village still that Jordanian horse is but they are catching and we were just saying ni it’s actually that jordanians ride a first ever one 160 km competition and perhaps it shows in his approach to this competition compared to the other

Riders just went into a little bit of a trot there the others on that lovely hand counter yep what we mean by hand counter is it’s an even pace and they’re on the run so it’s the rider controlling the pace of the horse so I think we have the with the

Red helmets on the far side with the two Banes and the I think the the last horse in that group is the oh no not apologies the first horse leading the bay is hcer with Frederico Ferber the ugu are leading that well nobody’s leading at the moment it’s it’s all to play for

Isn’t it and then what somewhere in there is our katari Rider and there’s actually three barings in there so yeah so that’s a better view so we can see Jordanian Rider First freder Rico Ferber and hcer are uruan rer for Al a stables I think then we’ve got our

Qatari so we got the two horses with the white socks the second one is the qari rider and then in the middle there we’ve got Ray and arobi for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia I think on either side he’s got uh bakini Riders and on the the near

Side with the gray horse and the red helmet that is last year’s winning Rider muhamed abdulhamid al-hashimi with Lola de jalima he’s the one to watch this is the Final Approach now they are just moments away from the second Veterinary inspection into that 40 minute hold there you are

There you go there it is this is where you start to think as a rider has the loop gone to plan is my horse feeling good have there been any trips or stumbles that might come back to bite me and as they turn that corner then they’ll start unbuckling with attack so

Even while they’re on the horse they’ll be undoing bits and pieces so you look here you’ve got one Rider with a lead you got one crew with a lead reain then you’ve got the buckets you must think of this in terms of Formula 1 because they’ve all got their the professional

Teams the top teams have all got their Crews with different specific jobs you’ve got a bucket passer I know it doesn’t sound very glamorous but you’ve got a bucket passer to get the water on as quickly as you can you’ve got the one on the lead rope then you’ve got the

Trainer or the vet with the uh with the heart rate monitor uh the handheld heart rate monitor and obviously the vet will be there with the Ste scope to make sure the metabolics are fine so they’ve all got their specific jobs the worst thing you

Can do is come into a vate and then all be shouting at each other saying get the boots get the boots do the Gir get the Buckle under it just does not work you need to have a system a roll and people need to know what they’re doing you

Shouldn’t need to talk to each other it should be a well oiled rehearsed machine and you should just be able to do it with your eyes closed um we we’ll get a shot from the uh vgate camera as they come up and we’ll see how many of them have unbuckled their marting girl

Because that’s another second y two four five seconds and it’s very hard for the crew to reach up to do that Mart if they can just grab the marting Gale Pull It Forward and whip the bridal off nice and easy a lot of these bridles are are two

Parts so they have the head collar already built into the bridal so they just clip on and they take the bit as a separate piece undone do the rider undo undo it and then the crews just whip it off here they come this is our leading group of very experienced horses and

Riders lovely Pace coming in Harry very nice Pace yeah this is a 160 Pace it’s a pace that is sustainable all day and is that the Jordanian Riders now slowed down having gone quite fast be interesting to see what their recovery time is Yeah are any crws ready and waiting and in the middle R arm up 361 and 33 9 with the blue helmet hcaa and freder Rico furber and are two barini rers in red representing the Victorious Staples and the red of the Bahrain flag they’ve been very dominant here in previous years and

Yesterday okay in they come here we go Martin Gs are undone y so the electric chip that they’re all wearing is now reading as they go through those Gates now the uh the riding time is still running but they now have 15 minutes to present to

Vet this is what we call the recovery time how long it takes them to get from that set of gates to the next and you notice there Riders taking the Saddles off so that’s their job done they’ve ridden now for 32.1 km that’s 328 the Qatari Rider

Sari Qatari is on fire at the moment winning yesterday here yesterday and won well nice dring for the horse R arm mty another different tactic there yesterday the horses didn’t have a lot to drink when they came into into the crewing area today they’re being given the opportunity generally more conservative

In their approach out there and these Riders will just have one eye on what’s happening around them whoever makes the first move into vetting which is going to be I think Lola deala you know our favorite here uh with last year’s winning Rider who this horse has an

Incred incredible hard it was it was in last time in just over a minute it’s hard rate was 58 I think they’re going in Harry they’re going in straight away absolute confidence and that these horses are such a a uh Delight to have where you just have absolute confidence

You don’t even need to put the heart mon because you just know that that horse is going to have a low heart rate that’s where the genetics all play into it the breeding the preparation in they go nice Smiles everyone’s nice and relaxed confident and theala stud has produced many a

Champion laser Jala was a winner at the world Equestrian Games with Mar vissa for the Netherlands very relaxed happy looking horse in the vet game look at that sweet eyes very sweet horse so it won the young horse championships in 2022 with his Harish NASA bin hammed

Al Khalifa so that he would have been she would have been eight years old yeah then yeah so a 10-year-old may still early in her career here we go heart rate fine now we trot 59 incredible just wondering Harry and and I am just wondering whether they might

Ask that horse to trot again because the new rules say it needs to be on a very long lead on the left hand side on the left hand side y I think I I think he’s probably okay just guiding guiding the horse cuz there’s no you know sometimes

You see um more more solid s and there’s only lines here which do you prefer I think lines are helpful cuz they help guide the horse um sometimes they might spook the old flower pod or whatever down there which is a bit uh can can draw the eye to

Certain things or or throw the vet’s eye so now full metabolic check for L to jalima this he just checking some dehydration markers making sure everything’s okay good heart rates already there Harry 59 8 6260 uh very good presentation time very good heart rates yeah and and you know as as

Expected the leading Riders have come in and overtaking that Jordanian Rider who we know takes longer to present here here we are here is the Jordanian Rider 349 so Bahrain 23 they’re in the metabolic stages of the vetting now then Uruguay fredero fber uh the qari yet to

Present be interesting to see where Maria ararez ponton and that chasing group is going to be out on course and whether they are they are they’re close they very close they’re one km away one km away so they’re coming through the Farms okay no that’s nothing is it

No they’re not even halfway through yet so 349 heart rate still being taken they’re taking the time it’s an inexperienced Horse and Rider combination so that 315 that’s the Bahraini horse yeah he’s happy he’s off to his whole area now leri and leri stood very famous as well

Um breeder of the the world champion V Shake NASA that is a lovely picture isn’t it healthy happy horse very happy no I don’t want I’ve had I just had some water 2 kilm away that’s right I don’t want anymore I tell you the Grooms as well almost paranoid about the temperature of

The water it’s a it’s a something which creates great debate amongst the uh the Grooms of the Arab Stables I know I um kept on on about the cube Dice and the crush dice genuinely uh as an OC you will always on a very hot day go for Crush ties cuz it melts

Quicker and you get the temperature but they don’t like them to drink I water too cold too warm yeah so this Rider 328 also taking a good amount of time and this is our Qatari Rider uh sad Muhammad sad Al dasari with Barack Raa tarf so they’ve had a penalty they went

In too soon and the heart rate was too high so they’ve been sent back out and the trainer says it’s fine come on let’s go so now they’re going back in now this is their last attempt if they don’t get the Heart below 64 here then they’re

Out so a tense moment for 328 in the Qatari who will have paid a small price here for Miss judging when to go in for the veter inspection and the two Brazilians and the Jordanian and the the next group they are due in very very soon I mean probably a minute away so

Then we go there they are here we go that’s the Brazilian colors on the left hand side I think that’s hes use his Trio and Salvador ronato or ronato Salvador right yeah they’re always in reverse order confusing and uh Monica Grano so where’s the heart rate on it goes

Harry you know we’re looking at this as if what the leading horses just did was normal but it isn’t normal you know they are exceptional it is absolutely exceptional to be able to present to vet in 1 minute 20 and have a 50 something pul these Riders you know this is

Perhaps normal this is what we see the vast majority of riders doing is taking a few minutes and he’s perhaps trying to keep up with the world class field and just mistiming it so 349 only now going in we lost all this time our Jordanian Rider these horses with their incredible able heart

Rate recoveries do they naturally have a low resting heart rate whether it’s naturally low I don’t know but they are definitely have a genetic quality which predisposes them to a quick recovery yes 100% And you know that is why we see a lot of these top horses with French pedigrees because

The French have uh refined their breeding to to pick out these qualities and there are certain blood lines which produce very good heart rat they are proven okay the Spanish rers just turning the core on it there it be interesting to see let’s keep an eye to

See if Omar blano Rodrigo caught up his teammates and I believe he has in the background there there’s Abra the Saudi Arabian joining us 355 we heard from her earlier on with kerong roko 355 in the background you’ve got danielis salii for Italy constanza’s in the back there isn’t she yeah and and

Omar has caught up his teammates so he’s made up for the for the penalty on the first load so we’ll have to watch that one when we get to the heart rate Harry won’t we yeah but you know we know that horse can do well because it came third

Here last year so I would put that down to just being too exciting the first Loop 328 in the Vets our katari and what are we doing 52 okay so now we chop see the rider there the athlete sari just cleaning out the yeah I wonder if this is their second drot

Maybe we we missed the first Trot maybe just a little bit off on that far front foot we let’s see to be fair we’re not seeing a head on Harry so the reason that the uh International Federation have asked a long line for those that have never seen endurance

Before is because if a horse has got a sore hoof or a sore uh leg it will nod towards that the head will nod towards that and that’s probably what they want to see isn’t it yeah because you can you know you can if a clever and I’m not

Sort calling them anything illegal but a clever Handler can make a horse look infinitely better yeah you know as they get a bit tired and they Trot flat then uh it’s a bit of a you know they it’s all showing you don’t get away with anything it is those horses that float

Down the trup lane and have a bit of a spring in the foot um they can you know even if there’s a small tweak or something they can kind of get away with it I don’t think that’s gone well for 328 but let’s see we’re waiting for confirmation

The body signs don’t look great so we’ve got uh oh I would say we’ll try and get an update in a minute 14 or so into the hold here’s 349 shoting I don’t think so I I just yeah I mean to the uneducated eye that doesn’t feel quite

Right okay crew working hard here to cool horses down they certainly are that is and the ground jwelry delivering the news here I think of a three card trick to ride a 349 ah I think he’s being told he shouldn’t be pulling the horse in front

I did say that didn’t I look it’s being physically demonstrated now look I genuinely said that yeah you need to have a loose rain long rain y okay right Harry um the rules have literally just came in they came into the fbii on the first of

January uh we’re now at the beginning of February this is the first major International competition with those new rules and I think the grand jury I think that grand jury member there has done a very good job explaining yeah where it should be there is a whole piece of work

That’s been done explaining these new rules to the Riders and to the and to the teams but it doesn’t discount what they’ve been doing for the last 10 years does it no and I have great admiration for the officials who use education rather than kind of penalize the Riders

At this point and you know show them and demonstrate and that is I think a great attribute to the officials on the line there it’s very important because without education you can’t encourage you can’t entertain and you’re absolutely right uh as an OC I struggle with officials who become

Officious should we put it like that but you’re also interpreting words into practice into practice and that you know it takes time get to get that into into into the rad of things where people understand it and and can put it into practice some horses will have run like

That for a long time and they were used to used to be le LED like that and these rules are they were implemented at the at the general assembly of the FEI in November it’s 6 weeks between November and the 1st of January it’s taken a long

Time for the you know you’re absolutely right that horse may not have been used to trotting like that y so now there’s a whole education piece and that’s vital so we’re seeing abra’s horse one of our leading female Saudi athletes still with their head torch on

The on the helmet after the 5:30 start this morning Brazilians just in the four picture there two Brazilians here we go here comes the summary and uh we’re looking so the Brazilians have their horses in Europe um and you know they did incredibly well back in Pisa a few years

Ago they have the ability therefore to if they base horses in Europe to to access a whole region of very rich competition outside of their home nation okay 355 ready to trot and you see like this horse it’s it doesn’t want to drop fast and there’s

Nothing wrong with that but you you are now limited to the standard it shoulder so it’s it’s hard to try and get a bit of momentum um if the horse is inclined to trot like that there no as I say there is nothing wrong with that and it

Looks totally sound to me but you’re just seeing the way different horses tro so I’d like to see when we get 301 Juma bringing in Maria’s horse because Juma is possibly the best at it he matches there’s constanza’s horse and he’s a very very good Handler of the horse as

Well um I’d like to see that uh I’d like to see Juma on 301 and that will show you how to present a horse so interesting here so constanza is gone over we talked about the Italian endurance Academy yeah they’ve set something up over here the alula endurance Academy where they are trying

To upskill Riders and this is one of our local alula Riders um 305 who is Omar Al balawi um and zagaria daia is an Italian horse a base with constanza uh which Omar has been competing on in Italy and is now doing the 160 here so has Maria passed we

Uh we didn’t see that in the Trot but you see even walking at the vetting horses nose to tail yeah you know they are what are these stickers what are these stickers that’s their time in time out AR they so you know we we are in a privileged position because we have the

Stats in front of us it’s the Riders sometimes it’s hard to to you know the vet may have just mumbled some to the vet writer they wanted that information you know if they got a bee of gut sounds they to know about it yeah so that tells

Them the time that they came in they it tells them importantly the time they need to go out by they need to get ready by and also the scores that they got in the vetting in they come there’s Nico in the for ground there the crew for

305 Jean Luca who’s helped oversee the development of the alula endurance Academy there we go and we said it yesterday Nick you know I don’t think it’ll be too long before we see Saudi Riders on the podium at major championships the the growth here has been exponential in the skill of the riders

In you know in the standard of competition the ability to qualify and we saw yesterday what it meant for farz to come second we saw that yesterday it really was unbelievable I I have never witnessed a reaction like that look at ni so so look at that stride for stride isn’t it yep

Dr very well very nice don’t know if it’s this horse but Nico did tell me about a horse um in Italy that a fox had got the got the tail yeah and it had to be uh ambut I think it is this horse might be that horse yeah obviously doesn’t you know doesn’t

Impact it at all on it’s day today there’s Maria’s horse CTIC and there’s araa 355 Smiles all around very happy let’s we got the time for the speed for that Loop which would be interesting to see so 17.9 they weren’t quicker than we thought a little bit Yeah so the average

Speed now is fall to 18.7 and the organizers believe that the total average speed across all of our Riders throughout today will be about 13.2 so they’re 4 km in front so there it is there’s the countdown before we guard onto the green Loop uh remember they’re in a 40-minute hold they’ve had

Half that time so in round about 10 minutes time the leaders of the group and they are Bahrain 1 two and three they are um Muhammad al-hashimi and hammed Al Jan and otan alawadi they are the ones in about 10 minutes time the horses will start to get their brains

Engaged and start to switch on and say come on we’re going again we’ve got the green Loop we’ve got another 28 minutes so they got 20 minutes in the hold but in 10 minutes time they’ll start to start to wake them up right and so at

That average speed of 18.7 if they carry that on for the rest of the day we’ be looking at a riding time of 8 hours and 33 minutes plus plus the the hold so we have 40 40 40 That’s 120 so that’s 2 hours and another 110 so uh with with

The 250s so that is uh 3 hours 50 minutes hold okay I’ll just I’ll just write that down Harry and make sure that I’ve got it right but I think I am right 120 and 110 and so it’s 330 minutes which gives you a total time of 3 hours 30 there you

Go so it’s 12 hours then in total so if you start at 5:30 we expect them to be finishing at 5:30 but of course they might get faster quarter to five okay be my estimation okay my what we with them getting a bit quicker yeah yeah maybe maybe 5:00 okay

Yeah still a long way to play 321 just coming in that’s uh the French Camille Kulum so great shots of the Arabian horse here in alula and there are huge plans here in the to develop the El madil Equestrian Center so the almot delquan village will be the center for for major competition here in the region the idea is not only to have facilities or

Infrastructure standing and not being used it serves the purpose of positioning alula as a global hub for competition endurance is one the key Milestone of the world championship in 2026 will be the first stage but we have also many different disciplines that will be represented uh we are very uh

Strong on polo as well but also we will have a outdoor stadium that will allow dressage jumping we will have a Heritage competition so tent pegging forse back archery so the sequan village will really Encompass all the dimension of of equestrian and we promote thanks to these major

Events then we have the the Riders we want to have aula Riders represented and we are investing right now very heavily in in Riders development program in order to have alula Community represented at the best level and this world championship will allow to accelerate these developments

The ambition is to position alula as a global equestrian destination exciting plans here in alula and now let’s look at some great action from earlier on today He They’re a third of the way through they’ve done the yellow Loop they’ve done the white Loop and they’re a third of the way through this the alpha Sun cup here in ALA the breeze is up it’s different riding conditions to yesterday it was a lot warmer yesterday there’s

Zumer in the background one of his horses there 321 that’s the French Camille colum French horse the gray Zuma in the background with the chestnut horse the brown horse and uh the bahrainis early leaders and they will be going out 1022 20 1023 and that’s 1 23

For the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Victorious endurance team but there is a huge amount of distance to travel and a long long way to go in this the alpha Sun cup so Bahrain 1 two and three Uruguay in four and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in five so that is the early

Classifications as we said they’re in the hold the second of the holds and they’ve got four more Loops to go the next Loop is another big loop it’s 28 kilm this is interesting Nick we’re seeing here jumis remember they came in as a three we’ve seen two leave the vet

Gate this one now left on his own he doesn’t look happy I think this horse is a little bit stressed because his friends have left the vet gate the heart rate is taking a bit longer when the horse gets like this it’s likely the heart rate is going to go up that could

Cause jumer a bit of a headache with the rider y banga 321 just being led up there and that’s the French horse s SW flinker of Camille kulong So down in the vet gate uh we’ve got some great pictures coming down in the vet gate and Ibrahim is down in the vet

Gate okay welcome danar thank you very much for joining us today it was uh 160 kilm race it’s a Challenger race you were with us yesterday as well you participated in 120 you completed it today unfortunately you got eliminated can you tell us what was the difference

Between yesterday and today and why was it today more challenging for you hello so yesterday race was very good um the horse was in very good condition from the start to the finish line and today it just I was eliminated for lameness is is just part of the play I think uh uh

There are not big difference between yesterday and today just it will be harder in the last 40 km the and the fifth Lo I think it will be very very hard for everybody uh but the lameness is part of the play so it can happen exactly it’s always part of the race you

Have to have a plan B plan a it happens sometimes can you tell us something from your perspective uh what do you think was the most challenging part about about race to okay so alhamdulillah uh first thing I’m very proud of of Danielle for doing what he

Did yesterday position 11 we are very happy very very happy with our horse sagur and uh and Danielle for for today uh the first four Loops are the same four Loops as yesterday as you know uh the difference is we started earlier this morning at uh

5:30 and um at that moment in time in the darkness there was a group of camels that crossed uh the horses spook the horses and uh changed our strategy and I think at that moment in time that’s when uh when the fetlock was injured in the morning would this be correct we can

Only speculate and say this is what happened and then we realized actually at that moment Danielle was telling me you know we have a little bit lameness so so we were we didn’t realiz in the first continue yes what happed the first Loop the horse was not perfect he was

Fit to continue he was a in the in the wet gate but he was not perfect so of course something happened in the first during the first Loop and in the continue 30 km it became worse EXC excellent so uh Danielle and could you tell us a little bit about what’s your

Plan next where are you going uh we will see uh uh actually we we were just here to make this race this this good race and then we will talk about the future I think uh I think we we will we are able to make something uh

Good and Danielle we wish you the best of luck thank you very much for joining us yeah bad luck there Danielle and TK a great supporter of endurance Tark tah and Danielle a brilliant Rider but it just wasn’t their day six have been eliminated already in vet gate 2 for

Lameness and that’s the Vets there the president of the veteranary commission Antonio farim from Portugal in the center with the sunglasses in the baseball capup he’s the one that is overseeing his huge team of vets here and they really are world class and I think interesting there how perceptive

The rider is you know he’s an experienced rider danieli and he said to TK on the first Loop something not quite right with this horse the camels the camels the camels are getting the blame but there’s something wrong there was something that daneli picked up on and

You know it’s come uh to bear in this vet Gade yes it has so there’s the Polish team they Rod very well yesterday very pleased to be here in ALA and from Shireen endurance actually there’s a story there they an absolute shocker at the world young horse championships last

Year um Dominica who rode yesterday won the world young horse championships and led all day uh with her horse Malta um fabulous Rider fabulous the scenes um from Estonia um where the world young horse championships were and you know another nation which is leaping forward onto the world scene and the podium with

Uh 4 minutes uh 4 hours 43 and the countdown begins because the first riders in are going out at 1022 7 minutes time and it is the bahrainis that are taking the early stage in the lead of Bahrain yes there it is 8:47 there’s the down clock so 317

Is leading and they have been they have a very very good record in this venue in this competition it is Muhammad al-hashimi and Lola deala that’s leading way then 315 from the Victorious team of hammad Al janahi and the horse of diid laari and then it is 313 Earthman alawadi and sroa D

Then we go to the uruan riding for the Alain team the UR uruan of federo Federico feber with the uruan the alen horse and then Rian Al mopti the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and then the two Brazilians and the Spaniards are tucked in neatly of Omar and Maria they really

Are tucked in neatly and then the Saudi Arabian of uh Abba in uh 10th position so look at that three from Bahrain they’ll be riding as a team then the uan very good record in this the alpha San cup two from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Two from Brazil and two from Spain it’s starting to play out I feel Harry this is where it’s uh this is where it’s going to take place in the third Loop the green Loop of 28 km now remember they rode that Loop yesterday but they

Rode it an hour and a half to an hour and 3/4 later yesterday more Riders now coming off the course but also interesting we saw in the vet gate juma’s third horse ridden by Gil bang carera and uh that horse was out for metabolics um which means the

Heart rate was too high as we suspected we could kind of visualize that um so the first AR was 69 the second one was 80 I don’t think we were too partic concerned about the horse but it was just absolutely wired and one to put down to experience maybe the horse

Slightly inexperienced needs to do a few more of these big competitions to be able to be calm in such an environment and as you as jumer and you said uh when you spoke to him uh they were training in Spain and they were riding in minus5

And now they’re in 20° in in in the in the Glorious Sun Sunshine so here comes the group it’s 367 that is uh Abdul Majid Al Tam from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 336 as we keep saying Saudi Arabia really are progressing in the world of endurance then you’ve got uh

Hisham alfasi for Oman and Nova pasi three the 333 all the threes of fisel AK karashi the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Golda LLC and then 366 that is another of the Saudi Arabian writers ibraim aagaya and waser panir so three from the kingdom and one from Jordan here we go they’re

Coming up 367 is just putting his Vape back in his pocket no seriously are they allowed to out there yeah I’m not sure it’s great race TR but um oh dear dear me I’ve um you seen something new every single oh dear Deary me right so up they

Come at the moment the current classification six have been uh uh eliminated and they’re all for what’s classified as irregular gate they’re classified as lame but just interesting on that point you know in the old back in the day you’d say lame and you’d be pressing the Vets to say

Which leg it is it lameness is such a complex matter you know it can work diagonally it can be high limb lameness that shows up in front you know they are looking for an irregularity that presents for consistently for the 40 m away and 40 m back and lameness can take on many

Things can’t it they could do a tendon that could be a year out yeah it could be serious it could be very serious um they could do they could sprain that could be three months or it could just be a stone in the hoof and that could be

Sound tomorrow yep or they could bang themselves you know that’s why they’re wearing front boots uh they could bang themselves and and and hit their ankles basically and sometimes as a rider you want something that you can yeah say this is the cause and this is the effect

Even if I need to rest the horse afterwards that’s fine but the most frustrating thing as a rider is a mild lameness that keeps coming back and you can’t you don’t know where it is you don’t know what it’s causing it and and it just keeps coming back that is so

Frustrating and that might come through from the shoulder or the neck or the back and that’s where the phos come in they they could be able to spot a little mild minor Lamers um but also the confirmation of the horse like if the horse has got you

Know the horse has got his toe out or toe in and it’s putting too much pressure down its legs in in slightly odd angles it might not be uh particularly well suited to the sport of endurance so now you see the first of the bar rainy horses coming out of the

Barn coming out getting themselves psyched up they’ve got two and half minutes ready to go out on the green Loop they go off at 10 2245 so the Barra horses are out there is Lola diala that was your favorite it’s it still is my favorite beautiful looking horse long legs

Elegant I’ve got to ask you Harry those Saddles that they’re designed they’re like jockey plates they’re designed for for being lightweight yeah are they comfortable they they are surprisingly comfortable are they they don’t look it um I would say very well suited to a course which has a lot of caner where

You can ride long and sit deep um if you are riding a really hilly mountainous ride you might just want a little bit more support on your legs a bit more a bit more around than the the the knee rolls Etc you’d see in a more traditional subtle but this is what

These guys riding day in they out um just over 2 minutes before they’re off and you see those are the three bahini horses the red saddle the red Martin girls head colars always noting denoting the Victorious team of uh Shay NASA Lola rearing to go and these now uh the horses of jum’s

Team they go out Maria and Omar go out 1035 so they’ve got a little bit longer to wait they got 12 minutes to wait yep there we go she is ready go what sort of pace what do you think the tactics are here same green Loop so they will have ridden most of the green Loop apart from the

First few kilometers and then it’s a almost duplication of the last part of the yellow Loop and I think uh an opportunity now to just let the speed out the bines might if there’s three of them they might just want to create a little bit of space but I would suspect

That they’re going to take freder Rico fura with them if they do uh try and push on no will do because there’s only a 4C Gap and then there’s a minute gap between feder Rico and and Ryan here we go then you’re nervous at this time Harry I not at this point now I think you’re nervous when you’re going into that vet gate and you’re under that canopy and anything can happen you suddenly nervous in you’re in Danielle’s shoes and you’ve got a niggling doubt in

The back of your mind when you’re coming off the loop um but I don’t think you’re nervous now you’ve got you’ve got a job to do you’re out on course again you know they’ll be starting that GPS on there at watch ready for the next

Loop and off we go off we go and wait for their teammates any minute now last year’s winning Rider Muhammad Abdul Hamid Al hasimi with Lola deala that horse just loves its Job interesting message we’ve just received Harry and it is an interesting message from one of we would very much feel is the founders of the sport of endurance and and still one of the greatest minds and and greatest brains of endurance John Robertson and um we were talking about the resting heart

Rate and whether it’s genetics or anything and and Jr has just messaged us and has said that the horses would naturally low heart rates tend to have larger Hearts as FS uh and Jr was involved with Shadwell another fabulous stud up in uh just outside New Market and New Market

Equin Hospital in in measuring the hearts I mean so you do learn something new every day yeah and you know makes sense it makes perfect sense doesn’t it though more more oxygen y lower heart rate y you know if the if the heart can pump more volume around the body then it

Needs less beats in order to do it and it’s fulfilling the job it’s there to do which is to to circulate oxygen to to bring back carbon dioxide from the muscles thank you Dr Ingram you’re welcome PhD pending out they go green Loop awaits 28 km fairly flat but some twists and some

Turns as we saw on Friday didn’t we Harry um certainly saw that out they go and they’re all Riding So the field is quite spread out now as they leave in the order that they vetted in IE when they went to the vet uh panel when they were confident the horse’s heart rate was 64 beats or under so they leave in the order that they presented

On the the 40 minutes hold starts at that point so Lola deala was the first horse to present to V therefore is the first horse back out on course and we’ll see now the field come back together again as the Riders behind catch up the first horse in order to

Ride as a group and ease uh the the pressure psychologically on the horse but those horses behind having to do work that a little bit harder in order to catch back up with first place Just a little bit harder though Harry because still 28 km to to go and gaps are already closing Harry yeah so that that gap of a minute is absolutely infantile right what are they doing here Harry so the role of the farer absolutely important and and look at the

Plates so they’ve got uh aluminium shoes on and we’ve got the far here just scraping out trying to clean the foot which is hard because the foot’s wet and Sandy and they’re going to put some equip packing which is uh packing they use which is a bit like a gel material

It sets to kind of a consistency of rubber and it helps for two reasons one helps for shock absorbing properties and two it helps prevent Stones getting in the foot so here we go we’re going to see that the gel now be poured into the

Foot and it’s going to mix got a bit of copper sulfate in there which is the blue color this is totally legal oh absolutely fine yeah yeah yeah yeah I mean it’s an interesting way of doing it with the hoof pick but you know improvising and everything on on the hoof

That’s the way you tell them yeah so that is stopping the stones getting in the toenails basically isn’t it it’s stopping the stones and it’s also um it’s like trainers you know it’s giving a little bit of cushioning to the horse’s foot um you know somea Jord make

A fortune out of that some horses have thinner Souls they might benefit from that better packing every horse is shot that little bit differently and uniquely to them but these guys know what works for them um normally that would be done on a very

Dry foot in a in on a hard ground and you know quite how long does it take to dry seconds really it’ll be drying now yeah getting thicker thicker he’s try to F it bit of plastic is it or something you know I’ve never ever seen that well that is fascinating Harry I’ve

Never seen that right now they’re back together they’re all reunited and off they go yeah they’re all there we got two baranes I think in the or as that that the three baronies we just got one without the red hat one without the red hat yeah just to keep us on our

Toes as we’re seeing today for the alpha Sun cup here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia All Eyes around the world are on ala the world heritage site that gives us the world 26 endurance venue and they’re on the loops and we have got some amazing pictures coming from

Above and we’ll find all all about the loop from Harry the Green Loop another long loop at this point horses and Riders will have covered a significant amount of distance and it will be the hottest part of the day the green Loop undulates through the village on its own before joining the red Loop and meeting here at

One of the first water points that the organizers have provided this isn’t a crew point but this is a water point where horses and Riders can stop rehydrate their horses this will be really important we’ll see those leading Riders possibly come through here take some water quite quickly whilst other

Riders looking for a safer completion pausing allowing their horses to drink before carrying on with the course from here on in the loops get shorter but this one is going to be a tough one so Riders having left the water point on a quite a hard track have

Worked down that road and then turned left onto one of the most beautiful parts of the course at this point horses and Riders will descend down this Valley in quite deep sand at this point in the day the properties of the sand are dry and the H’s feet will sink into it

Meaning they have to take a pull at this point and take this course pretty steady so already on the green Loop we’ve seen lots of changes of going and Direction and a lot of undul horses and Riders are going to have to take their time as they complete the

Last part of this 28 km Loop so they’re on the green Loop and they’re out in front it’s barini 1 2 and three and there they are back in picture 19 have been eliminated so far Harry we started with 62 it’s playing out and the messages will be getting back to the teams that uh slow and

Steady wins the race and that’s certainly what we’ve seen over the previous two Loops yeah and and you know I think this is a long loop 28 km it is the last of the the longer Loops before getting a little reprieve and going a bit shorter

For a 20 km Loop um the Spanish team now going to the line they’ve lost one Riders and then now they’re down to two just these two Riders Omar there in picture just getting ready they go out uh Maria and Omar go out at 10351 so same

Tactics same tactics there are 2 minutes out of the barns out of the rest area and onto the third of six Loops third of six loops and this is the 28k they’ve done 34.4 they’ve done 32.1 now they’re on to 28k and then the distances get

Less they’ve got one of 20 one of 25.5 one of 20 so this makes the halfway stage yeah and and and psychologically you once you’ve got over this you’ve got three shorter Loops it’s manageable and it’s I find it easier to manage with the horse this

Loop is challenging you know there is a section here where they go down a valley uh uh and it is deep out there and what we saw on the green Loop Nick is the changes of going it it goes so quickly from hard soft sof to hard and back

Again um and the Riders have to react to that something else I think’s really interesting here is we’re seeing a repeat of what we saw yesterday so constanza sticking very closely to the exceptionally experienced team from Spain saw that in Abu Dhabi as well yeah for the world championship

As well yeah it’s almost like you know so Sabrina Arnold one of the brilliant Journal Germans world champion she’s done it all hasn’t she she’s Brad she’s trained she very uh influential in uh selling producing breeding and lot of these top horses and Harry you’ve had the privilege of riding alongside her

And she’s one of the great ambassadors of endurance she is a great Ambassador and and at the moment the athletes representative for the FBI as well um so you know that was her husband jpf uh trotting the horse um they are now based in France together and let’s find out

Uh a little bit more about her down um in the vet gate yeah here’s Sabrina and her horse F Bala laak success of and for me is prepared in advance the training of the horse to have them healthy Before the Race the smallest thing is what we can do on the

Race my name is Sabrina I’m from Germany I’m riding in endurance since 1991 I did my first 100 km race 11 years old since that time I represent several times the the German team on International Championship so far my records are in 2011 Vice European champion in 2017

European champion and this last year in 2023 also European champion and I won the bronze medal with the team on the worldcan games in Kentucky 2010 on the 120 I will ride a horse Nam is champion of vanel I breed his horse so he’s born

In my stable and I rode him since 5 years years old so I know him very well and the second hor that we write on the 160 the name is falak uh we bought her one and a half years ago and uh it will be the first

Time she’s doing 160 the most important I think if you are racing two days for the rider is normally we have the Habit to take care for our horses after the race so this time we will let do the work the Grooms and we need to stay a

Little bit quiet to recover because I think it will be too intense days seems to be really Technical and difficult track so the tactic will be uh just to finish the race the most important is that the horses they drink enough during the race for me and they

Eat and they are relaxed during the wet Gates so if they are not comfortable I have to change my Tactic the great German the double European Champion well done to Sabrina and well done to Sabrina for supporting here in ala mind you she does sell quite a lot of horses out here in this part of the world Harry so it’s always good to come for business so and rightly so because

She is genuinely one of the best we heard her 120 horse yesterday she was a homebred yeah you know the facilities that uh her and her husband have got in the south of France now and the some real champions coming out of their Stables more going off that’ll be

Constan just going down the hill there she is former European Champion we uh go from one double European Champion to the young lady from Italy and I think Abra just behind her potentially y these Riders who have ridden two days they must be they must feel it as they

Go out you know as they have to you know ease their muscles off again to get back in that saddle again so you’ve ridden 120 km that’s a very interesting point Co Harry you’ve ridden 120 km yesterday you’re really saddle saw okay now and what are you doing ice bath last

Night these Riders must have a routine whether it’s ice bath massage uh you know recovery drinks electrolytes themselves especially when they’re riding in in the desert in the heat but I think you know their legs could be a little bit bruised in places they’ve got to be really care with their equipment

Make sure they don’t get any abrasions because if you you know it’s very easy where the stup levers sit across your leg to get an abrasion and to get sore there if you are sore on one leg and you therefore are riding today leaning away from that leg putting more weight in

Your left leg say to to get away from an abrasion on the right hand side you are leaning one way you could impair your horse on this journey and that could show as a lameness because you could the horse could get a sore B back or the

You’re going to put more weight down one leg over the others what’s that subtle pack on uh constanza saddle it I mean it could be a hoof boot for example if they so if they lose a shoe they could put a boot on it um who knows it might be that she’s

Carrying that for weight you should ask her too you know very famous Rider yeah and a water point there on the course so we’ve got 20 20 back in and there is nine in the Vets so 20 are already we’ve got nine out nine out and then the next to go is

Aba and they’re out we’ve got pretty much third of the third of the athletes and their horses out on course so this is the water point where I was stood on the green Loop um yesterday we saw Riders riding through here taking one bottle maybe and as we’ve seen

Consistently on the loops up to this point horses and Riders pausing and taking their time they are really looking after their horses on this ultimate test of endurance 160 km cooling the horse down making sure they stay hydrated we heard from Sabrina that is you know one of the main

Concerns as aers making sure that their horses are hydrated so they’re all together again our leading group of Bahrain Uruguay and Saudi Arabia I Know so the average speed of those leaders up until this point was 18.7 it’s going to be a longer day than it was yesterday yeah there’s a there’s an extra hold and there’s an extra Loop two Loops two Loops yes of course we’re doing six six um and also also it

Is for many of them getting the completion getting them ready we heard from ABA earlier on um she completes today she’s classified to compete in the world championships they have their sites firmly set on the World Championships here um if anything this is invaluable insight for these Riders these Riders if

They come for the world in 2026 having done a 160 here they will have a definite advantage over those Riders who are coming for the first time so this stretch now on the green Loop they are heading down towards where ryers yesterday were on the red Loop um and at the point where

The yellow Loop meets it which was from this morning they’re going to hook a left and it was at that point where we saw earlier that they’re going to hit the deep sand so they’ve ridden some deep sand already now they’re on a very very firm track which has been driven on

A lot uh it’s a road connecting farms and then they’re going to hook a left at that point the going changes again so this is a good opportunity to get a bit of speed up yeah they’ve done 8 kmers so far of this the first of the uh first

Section of the green Loop they’ve done 8 km and we think that they’ll be back with us at 115 52 now remember that they started at 5:30 this morning it’s pretty tiring not only for the horse but it’s very tiring for the rider as well because they’re the ones

That are concentrating all the time yep I mean you know the so are the commentators here we get the sensor perspective here on this absolutely incredible environment so this is a track which is used a lot in the competition we’ll see Riders down here again on the red Loop

Later the red Loop a feedback from the red Loop yesterday which was the last Loop of the 120 km ride was that it was more challenging than the Riders anti anticipated everybody was talking about the white Loop the white Loop was the one to watch it was the one with the

Deep sand and the climb and The Descent the red Loop supposedly meant to be one of the easier Loops at the end of the competition had a sting in its tail so one to watch and and we I think we heard in some of the interviews there

Talking about that fifth Loop maybe they have ridden yesterday uh I think it was perhaps danielli who was saying that the fifth Loop is the one to watch this on this course because it’s the red Loop and they have another loop afterwards so that fifth Loop 25.5 km to the red Loop

Will be keeping a close eye out on that there will be a reinspection at the end of that Loop so that is a really key part of the competition we’re now on the green loop 28 km and Riders have already done almost 10 km of

It this is the point now where they turn off the green Loop separates and they turn left a change in going and a change in Pace easing off the pressure now at this point very interesting that we’re seeing you know the Spanish strategy come go to

Again you know we spoke to jumer early this morning he was saying top 10 finish that’s what they’re looking for but at that point they were you know way down um already you know into kind of 15th 16th Place they’ve already moved up within the top 10 I

Think again it comes back to that point around the first Loop and having a strategy and not being influenced necessarily about what’s happening in front of you but riding your own race because there’s every chance that the Riders ahead of that Spanish Duo Omar and Maria might be removed in the

Competition and that they will creep up towards the podium so top five Riders there we have it not necessarily in that order on the course right now but those are the top five riders that left the vet gate and are together now I think we in the lead there we’ve got

Rayan Al mopti representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia he is on bonova JJ successful mayor out here with rayan and in second place oh one to watch um last year’s winning Rider Muhammad abdulhamid Al hashimi with Lola deala and then another bar barini Rider on the far side

There and on the inside for Uruguay the winner from of the ferland cup in 2022 Fred Rico Ferber and HC yaer an incredibly strong group of riders here with years of experience between them riding at top level 160 km World Championships and at least half of that group have

Ridden here previously if not the entire group so they know the course they know what it has to offer they know where they can make up speed and they know where they have to take a pull they know some of the course they know some of it

Not all of it don’t they because they have changed some of the loops here we had previous years from previous years and I just I was just thinking then who’s going to go first who who’s going to who’s going to be bold and brave and go first well I think the Bahrain strategy

Here is is uh in a better place than it was yesterday yesterday the Bahrain strategy was a little bit bitty we lost the odd Rider they never quite Consolidated a group of riders at the front whereas now they’ve got three there they can play the game they’re in

Charge the others have to dance to the tune of the bines to a degree but we’re seeing here one Rider just taking a little bit of a break and it’s the Uruguayan again this is exactly what happened in uh 2022 he is a threat and the baranes will

Have to keep a close eye on him but he’s just playing with them you know pulls them along lets them come back pulls them along lets them come back when he was last here of course it was 120 km and now we’ve got those extra Loops so maybe a little bit early to

Start playing games but we know that they stable that’s what they do they they like to kind of tease that first group along a little bit um it’s a bit harder when you’re on your own out there in previous years we’ve had two Uruguayan and they’ve kind of pulled

Pulled the field along a little bit and spread it helped spread it out um but we’re seeing the leader freder Rico Ferber for Al a stables in uh the Emir of Abu Dhabi in the united AR Emirates with horse HC yaer yeah there’s about a it’s hard to tell from

Here there’s breathtak scenery but it’s about a 25 M Gap and that is absolutely nothing we’re seeing some amazing scenery here that these horses and Riders are riding through and let’s just capture the magnificence of the scenery of alula That is just some of the scenery and as we can see now some of the scenery that our Riders and their horses are riding through just to recap they’re on the green Loop 28k and they are a third of the way through that 28k they’ve got a

Further 19 left to go they due back with us round about 11:52 into the third of the holds and that the 50-minute hold I think and we’ll get that clarified any minute now and then they go onto the final three Loops so to recap you’ve got Bahrain three Riders from the Kingdom of

Bahrain in the leading group then the ugan as we see just recently Frederico fber and HD vza just breaking forward then pulling back breaking forward pulling back and then the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ran Al MTI and Bona JJ the packs well and then just just behind

Them are the two Brazilians riding side by side Renardo Salvador and Monica Pinto Graziano so that’s the order of classification there are the leading pack there’s a little bit of daylight I mean it is hardly three lengths in front for the leading pack and now they chase uphill they come

Uphill and into the green Loop this they rode yesterday in a 120 it was the third of the four Loops this is the green Loop and today in the 160 they’re riding in the 160 so the green Loop is with Them 28 km of the green Loop and the water points are there and also the crew points there are the water points the blue the che points from the Saudi Arabian in the green triangles and the crew points there is only one crew Point there’s only one opportunity underneath

The bridge for them to crew on the green Loop they are uh a third of the way through this the green Loop and it is pretty flat terrain on the green Loop not huge altitude early climb and then fairly flat all the way through on the green Loop so they

Are they got 18 km or so still to go this leading pack before they join us back here in the vet gate the bahrainis very much riding as a Victorious team riding as a team that’s their team name the Victorious team and they’re riding as a team today crewing is obviously you know

Access to these natural tracks is is problematic because you know it’s a world heritage site it’s a world heritage site but also you know vir your access here is challenging because depth of the sand um but that’s why the organizing committee have put these water stations

On who where they are manned there are is an incredible amount of water there and Ice if required and Bottles um but yeah only one opportunity to meet your crew on this Loop a really nice Rhythm we’re seeing here this is something which you you know from the Viewpoint we’re looking at looks

Like it could be maintained all day long yeah they have not broken out of that hand caner sometimes they’ve gone down into a trot sometimes they’ve gone into a walk they are riding so sensibly today and uh as we keep reminding ourselves this the scene set for two years time for the World

Championships of endurance here in ALA and that distance is 160 and it is over six Loops exactly as it is today in normal rides in in Europe and the rest of the world the 160s would be over 5 Loops uh and that is another route but the fbii have

Decreed that the World Championships are over six loops and are over 160 so there it is and they’re all chasing very very nicely bines are in there I at this point the green Li I think quite forgiving you know they they’ve gone through that that section of deep

Sand down through the valley and they’ve hit now a good bit of going where we can see a green and a yellow flag so they’ve now joined a piece of track which they’re familiar with having written it in the dark this morning at 5:30 a.m. um this is one of

The lit Loops so um very small discreet solar lights have been planted just to to not to shine a light on necessarily the terrain the Riders are riding with uh with lights on theet with head torches um but just to to you know the flags might be a little bit more

Challenging to see in this light so if they’ve got these little markers every 50 m um just helps them see where they’re going really and it’s worth noting Harry that this course is beautifully marked as well every Loop although yesterday we did see a number of riders not taking their right turn

Onto the third Loop um but it is beautifully marked every 50 m every 50 m and some even closer than 50 m i mean you cannot argue with that and of course this weekend uh is the highlight of the Season here in alula but there is now a

Series of rides here so um we’ve had two already this is the third and there’s another competition here in just a week’s time this is you know talks to the significance of alula in World Endurance and also the ability for alula to help local riders in getting their

Qualifications we know how important it is to have a good FEI calendar with rides scheduled throughout the year uh and a number of opportunities to qualify and if there just isn’t that opportunity in in a country then that country is going to go down in the world rankings

And the number of qualified combinations is going to just decrease uh that’s very true Harry that’s very true indeed so there is the progress bar if you as if by Magic that shows exactly where they are on course so the Blue Line the 28k on the green loop 28 kilm and they’re just

Coming up to the halfway point so they’re just uh coming up to the 14 km marker there are distance markers out there there’s the one crew point and the water points out on the green loop with three water points as well so still traveling so sensibly so well

And nobody yet deciding it’s time to go and that is what we’re waiting for doubtful that we’ll see it on this Loop probably on the fifth loop I would suggest so reminder after they done this the green Loop they’ll come into a hold of 40 minutes then they’ll go out onto the uh

Blue loop and they’ll come into a uh another hold of 50 minutes this time with a com with a reinspection and then after the red Loop another hold of 50 minutes so long long way to go so they come up to the turn and as you see freder just nudging in front and

Then I would suggest soon as they take the turn the group will start to close down sitting a bit deep so we’re seeing the uh true professionals at endurance and Harry Ingram went out and he’s going to give us on Horseback his guide to Endurance so this is zann zodiac it belongs to Jr endurance stables and is the mount for Rebecca Jane Pinda in the 120 km two star competition a very consistent performer zodiac has completed 6 120 km races and this will be his seventh perfectly built for the sport of endurance a purebred Arabian in

The home of Arabia a lightweight frame nice big deep chest IND ating a big lungs and a big heart you know these are the marathon runners of the sport in terms of tack this is a sety saddle so it’s very lightweight my Tac and body

Weight need to be 70 kg for the 120 km competition Rebecca’s kindly lent me the horse to go for a ride so let’s head out onto the Track just being on a horse in this absolutely breathtaking environment is enough to give you Goosebumps but imagine this with 200 horses on the start line as a rider I’ve got to make sure that my horse my Mount is nice and calm and relaxed before their start Zan

Zodiac is an absolute Pro he’s done 7 120s but there’s going to be other horses that are much more novice at that start line so keeping it nice and relaxed a nice long rain riding relaxed the more experienced Riders will have a routine at the beginning and it you’ve

Got to make sure these horses are warmed up their muscles are ready to run once you’ve done that warmup then it’s time to Race at 20 km an hour that is the speed that the leaders will be doing and at that Speed The Horizon comes on you very quickly as a rider you have to be able to adapt to the situation you might be tagging onto a horse in front of you you

Might have a string of horses behind you but it’s important you rise your own Race the texture of the sand can change in an instant from being rock hard almost like concrete to being very deep and it’s my responsibility as a rider to react to that and adapt how I’m riding on the hard ground I might be riding forwards like this but if I hit a big

Pile of deep sand I’m only going one way and it’s down there instead I want to be set up my maybe my legs a little bit beyond the point of vertical 70% of the horse’s weight goes through the front feet so if I’m sat back a little bit I’m

Physically lifting the horse out of the deep sand and propelling them forwards if I ride this race really carefully and I pick my way then I’m more likely to conserve energy for those all important last kilometers if I’ve picked the going and I’ve left enough fuel in the tank then I’ve got

Enough energy to make that final Dash to the line before the all important final Veterinary inspection fascinating Insight of the sport of urance now we come to the crew point the crew point on the green Loop now they go underneath the highway here and this is where the crews give them

Some water it’s the opportunity for the crews to get as much water down the flanks to refresh the horses to keep them Supple to keep them balanced and to keep them moving so we’ve got four in that leading pack and there it is the provisional Leaderboard on this the

Halfway stage of this the alpha San cup the 160 with Bahrain three out of the top five Saudi Arabia and the uan and it looks to me like the uruan Federico Ferber has just broken away a touch oh no still riding together as a pack so

Away we go and now we’ve got a man who’s uh gets around quite a bit he’s given us a fascinating insight into urance and Harry’s in the vet gate so still they’re halfway through this the green Loop there expected back into us at 11:52 they’ve got uh what 14 1/2 km so

They are at the halfway point we thought that when we surveyed that bridge that it was going to create quite a lot of uh problems but it has no problems at all uh with the horses yesterday and the horses today so they have still balanced very well the guide to endurance expert

Is in the vet gate it’s Harry Ingram delighted to be here with Anna barbas from Portugal who’s traveled here with a horse Anna how was the white Loop feel you’re just preparing to go out on the next Loop uh the white Loop for for me is a little bit difficult because

Have BR sound and up and down and we have to to down the varage speed because the the our the main objective is finish the race okay and um your strategy for the race you’re not near the leading group so the strategy is just just to get

Round how will that meaning in terms of speed for the next few Loops uh I I want keep uh 15 or 16 more or less uh because in the I I think the the five Loop is difficult too and maybe now in the green I can go a little more speed but uh

After in the in the finish I think 50 15.5 is a good average speit and we’re seeing the speeds uh a lot lower than the 120 km yesterday tell us a little bit the different challenge that one 60 presents compared to 160 totally different yes it’s totally different

Because is more 40 kilm and uh uh six Loop two times um uh I two times the week I have to go to the vet check another time and is is for the horses is much more hours and is much more difficult do you find those reinspection the most uh tense moment on

A 160 yes yes is for for me is very nervous and uh the two re inspections in One race is very bad because the horses don’t stay here and rest and we we have to keep walking and this is much more difficult andna your hor is now sell up

Ready to go out on the next Loop we wish you the very best of luck and we look forward to chatting to you later okay thank you see you byebye thanks sna good luck Anna one of the great uh Riders from Portugal 11146 they go out so they’ll be getting

Ready with Ela d v for Portugal and Well Done Anna so now we’re back on we’re back on with the leading group the leading group of five with three from Bahrain Saudi Arabia and Uruguay they’re all tucked in nobody’s yet made a move and uh we don’t expect to see it we’ve

Heard from Anna just then that Anna says that she will be going at about 16 this group well when they set off their last Loop was at an average speed of uh between 17 and 18 so going a lot lot slower than the 120 yesterday it’s a totally different format we’ve got to

Keep reminding ourselves of that and uh so the leading yeah they came they went out yesterday at 2122 23 today it’s 18 but they’ve got another 40 km to go so this is long distance and it’s all about tactics and it’s all about preser preservation towards the end of the ride

So there’s the five and they are halfway through the third of six Loops here and the alpha San Cup starting at 5:30 this morning in the dark and the OC the organizing committee unbelievable with all those solar lights and they went up first on the yellow Loop the yellow Loop

Of 34.4 KM and every 50 m there was solar powered uh baby lights marking the track all the Riders wearing head torches of course horses can see very well in the dark but just to give them a steer to keep them on course and that

Was it was some sight it really was as we headed into alula in the early hours of this morning so look at the dramatic landscape with The Rock Falls there coming down these huge mountains uh it gives you an scale of what these Riders and their horses are riding through virtually

Uncharted waters and uh it is I mean the pictures that we’re getting from the helicam from the uh helicopter are unprecedented well some sad news there uh Harris’s just joined us back um The One Challenge from Great Britain that uh Nikki Thorn and her horse sadly vetted out on that

Vgate 2 high heart rate so the British challenge has gone 23 out of the field of 62 that start Ed at 5:30 this morning and that not too bad not too bad that’s that’s it’s a On a par yeah the majority Harry in In fairness uh there’s uh some

Uh retired Rider there’s one retired Rider uh Louisa lean from Belgium uh two disqualifications the uruan and and one from Saudi Arabia uh they were disqualified on the first phase but uh the majority are for irregular gate and that could be anything that’s lameness it could be slight lameness it could be

A really sore tendon or it could be a s Hawk but so and only two on the metabolics that’s good yeah and it’s still cool out there there’s a really good Breeze you know I’ve still got my jacket on when I’m going outside it’s not it’s definitely not anyone near near

As hot as it was yesterday yet um and it is you know it’s quarter past 11 here local time seeing our Riders now progress on a good bit of course a straight bit where they can let the horses run on so we’ve got to remember that they’ve been

Out for coming up to 6 hours to 5 and 3/4 hours yeah and they’ve you know they’ve extended the lead because we I remember saying that the Spanish were 1 km behind they’re now 3 km behind so the these leading Riders have really taken the charge they working together as a group

And have extended their lead on the Brazilian Riders the Spanish Riders and constanza who is the chasing group but necessarily I don’t think that this group have picked up their Pace I think that the second group are just dropping back maybe maybe it doesn’t look to me

Yes me they’re pushing they they’re not pushing there hasn’t been the slowdowns that we saw on the uh terrains of the white Loop you know the walks and the and the gentle trots they’ve gone in a in a in a relatively good cter around the um third Loop the green Loop uh but

I don’t believe that they’ve picked it up dramatically y but we’ll see I mean who are we to say we’re not we’re not riding this we we have to wait for the clock when they come in we do so we just saw Ray alopi there uh

Close up as and then Pann back out again Ray alopi for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with his horse one over JJ how much have they got left Nick on this uh on this loop on this Loop uh 12 12 km 12 km and they’re there’re into a

Into the third 40-minute hold Y and then between the blue and the red and the red and the pink the the the final three Loops so the two remaining holds after this one they’ve got an extended hold time of two of two times 50 minutes so the group being led by freder

Rico Ferber and HC yaa fto Rico previous winner over 120 km here in alula with the same horse rain hot on his tail not letting him get out of sight 1 2 3 a small Gap and then rain Al Mobi representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did you ride in the slipstream

Harry does that help I don’t I don’t know whether you know you are getting any you know fur further forward impulsion correct like you would in cycling but from a uh from a horse’s perspec perfect sense unless they’re a lead yeah because they can just switch off a

Little bit and what you want to do is get it to a point where the caner is is just flowing along without their horses really having to struggle and it’s just the natural momentum um that is the point we’re aiming for um it’s not always easy to get them in that rhythm

Of course the leader has their work cut out because they’re the one that has to pick the ground the the drawback with this riding in a line is that you’re putting your faith in the in the horse at the front so Ryan just dropping off the pace a little bit

Yeah so how yesterday caught up with a chief Sports officer of alula zad Al Shabani zad Al Shabani Chief Sports officer at the Royal commission for alula I’m delighted to be here with you again this year uh how significant is the Fai three star 160 km competition

This is actually uh something that we are also very proud about because this is happening for the first time in Saudi and it is uh a preparation for the world Championship 26 uh 2026 uh of the endurance that we with the support uh and collaboration of the Saudi

Questioner Federation have won the bid uh a few months ago we are very excited and delighted to have more challenging races and we look forward for uh another day of competition and uh um that will be one of the most challenging races that we will see thank you the

Anticipation is certainly building ahead of the 26 World Championships um let me ask you what is the ambition of equestrianism in the alula region as part of the uh 2030 vision of Saudi Arabia and also the alola vision that Cascades from the national Vision we are uh giving Sports and equestrian in in

Specific a lot of focus a lot of investment not only not only in the event side but also on the facilities on the um standards and the whole ecosystem that makes uh the industry of uh equestrian the uh last year the Year of 2023 was one of the years that we had a

Big jump in terms of the number of events and the diversification of them uh we used to do only endurance and Polo but now we expanded to include Heritage equestrian uh Sports and disciplines including for example the tent pegging with the traditional dress and also the

Archery from back of horse and this is a sign uh U that connects the Legacy of Al with equestrian the mountains and rocks of ala are witness of over 3,500 years of uh equestrian uh disciplines and and sports and activities and we are basically besides being and active in

Bringing these events we’re also bringing back the Legacy OFA of the equestrianism thank you zad it’s going from strength to strength here um thank you very much for your time and we look forward to seeing you again next year thank you Harry we look forward to seeing you back again and hopefully in

2026 on the world championship thank you very grateful thanks indeed toad Al Shabani the chief Sports officer from the Royal Commission of alula so as we heard great vision coming forward in the next uh two to three years and all roads leading towards the 2026 fbii World Endurance championships and these are

The leading pack of the alpha San cup here in 2024 they are 9 kilm away they’ve started the turn back they’re at checkpoint 8 and uh they’re coming up to the water points and then they’ll go through the farms and up into the uh into the Vet gate so Harry um they still

Haven’t broken away yet I would say that it’ll be the Red Gate it’ll be getting towards the latter stages I don’t think they’ll go in the next Loop in the blue I would tend to agree I think the red is going to be the deci um and our leaders five leading Riders uh

We’ve got at the front there fto Rico Ferber and at the rear of the Field Ray on Mobi for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in between our Trio of three Bahraini Riders um we’ve seen Bahrain and the Uruguay Riders battle it out before over 120 km

But this comes down to who has the staying power to last until the very end of the competition the last few kilometers and we saw yesterday horses and Riders pushing very very fast towards the finish line but that tactic didn’t pay off uh because horses did not

Manage to get their pulse down in 20 minutes and the podium changed several times in a very short space of time I don’t think we got a Podium until we got the fifth one through the vetting did we yesterday uh we knew who the winner

Was uh we knew who the second horse was from farz from the Saudi Arabian they were but he was fifth originally and they we lost a few we lost we had we lost uh we lost first place originally cuz we had the UAE chat coming in he was out and then the

Katari I’m just loving this pace Harry I I really am this is exhibition riding yeah you know I walked out then Brian said how’s it going I said great they’re riding really sensitively I think it’s a uh great showcase for the sport of endurance in tactical riding um this is

You know this is where the sport should be in sense of taking and playing it safe but still being competitive you know these Riders are not hanging around and they’re leaving enough in the tank for the this which is the ultimate test of endurance as now they approach the

Final water Point um or penultimate water Point sorry yes on this loop I don’t think they’re playing it safe I think I think they are balancing intelligent isn’t it it’s intelligent riding yeah it’s intelligent riding and you know as we said earlier it’s they’ve slowed right down yeah coming to this water

Point and remember they’ve got another they know in their head that they’ve got another water point that is 2 km away from from the vet gate from home so this is unprecedented I would suggest and it is fabulous to see so rayan was a little bit off the

Pace so uh he’s just going to the water point a little bit later but the horse straight in with the other horses and having a good drink here you know the Riders aren’t having a drink are they there concentrating on the horses yeah that’s the priority here so this is totally different to

Those that haven’t seen us this is a water point with staff so what the staff are doing are passing the water to the Riders they are not crewing the horse so they’re not running alongside the rider they’re not putting the water down the flanks down the hind quarters they are

Making sure that the rider does the work and that that is that is a big difference between a water point and a and a and a crew point just easing out now of the crew Point they’ve had lots of water there yeah they they’ve been sensible again so they’re on the home straight

Now in terms of they don’t deviate from this path now until they’re almost at the vet gate so they go straight now for maybe 6 km 8 km 8 km so it’s straight straight I would go s okay I’m not sure that the GPS is quite caught up I think it’s

About 7 km away from home cuz they’ve got to go to the road cross the road they’re in the vage and they’re in the village yes so they due back with us at 11:52 so 25 minutes that would seem about right that would feel right now

Just into the Trot there now that having a little chat where are you looking backwards are we all on are we all together and soon they will pop into a caner but this looks very deep sand on this section you see you see Ryan on the liver chestnut just

Taking and the two bar Ries three bar Ries now going to the right hand side where they feel it might be better ground and uh feder Rico just coming back down so up down it’s all about using your knowledge of the surface conditions and seeing where the best conditions

Are so they’re on aart of course here which runs uh is the same track as the pink Loop which will be their final Loop so this will be their Final Approach in another two Loops time well three well three including the pink including the pink yeah yeah and you look at this Harry

The geologists and and they’ve done a whole education piece here in alula in fact yesterday they had a a talk from the uh geologists who are plotting and measuring and and learning about this landscape uh this was a seabed 100 years ago can you believe that it’s believable

Is it your years ago yeah millions of years ago sorry not a 100 years ago what am I talking about it has been a long time in the studio Millions millions of years ago not hundreds quick dried up quick yeah yeah not hundreds of years ago I’m must apologize Harry oh

Dear so we saw earlier the interview with Anna Nick her horse traveled all the way from Portugal to be here as as constanza Sabrina and all really of the chasing pack so we’re looking at the horses natives here but the the other horses who are just three kilometers

Away from them um nearly all have traveled a incredibly long way to be here yeah they have nine European nations have come to compete in the alpha Sun cup nine European nations and um let’s uh I used to do this for a living I know what it’s like but we’re

Now going to find out what it is like to fly horses around the world world it’s particularly here to alula now in Europe is winter time it’s very cold we move the horse to the highport by by track from Italy from Spain from Bulgaria from Poland need

More or less two days travel we divided the travel in in two pH is very important that during the travel by track the or must drink good food and and walking arrive to the airport we we put in the in the Box in the in the airplane box for three three horses and

In 6 hour more or less the horse Landing in alula but the horses is very easy to travel by high plan it’s very important that the horse arrive in alula one week before the the ride why because there is aimation time here is winter alula is there is

25° is um many many different the first second day the horse walk and arrive in perfect condition for the ride it’s very important point during the flight there is one vet that check the horse and when the horse arrive in alula we recheck the horses because remember the welfare of

The horse the welfare of our friend horses is always in the first Position Incredible scenes from the competition out there the highlights and back with our Riders here but an interesting point there from Jan LCA around a climatization of competitors of the horses um traveling from Europe we heard from jumer earlier training in minus5 and now competing in desert conditions

That takes a lot of prep a lot of dedication at home you know perhaps using exercise blankets to increase the horse’s temperature there was a a study done by David Marlin I think ahead of the Athens uh Olympics maybe even around it was before then it was Atlanta

Atlanta yeah 1996 yeah and it was done around deeper ground there Harry incredibly deep yeah yeah and you just see that very good reaction speeds from the Riders there it just shows that these conditions can change in a nano uh and there are the Five Flags so that’s showing them four Flags rather

That that showing them that they are getting close and closer to home but you can just see the sand coming out look at it blowing in the wind there is a breeze there today as you you said and look at the flags they really are blowing um does the sand worry the horse’s

Eyes no in a simple terms not really I especially with a breeze like this I think the dust is blowing you know out of the line uh of them but you know yesterday we saw couple of the Riders they looked a bit Dusty um you know you

Know it kicks up quite a dust um a lot of these horses are used to training in in sand conditions yeah they are particularly these five they leading five but look they’ve slowed right down because the Riders the jockeys are riding incredibly sensibly now they come up

To the bridge and the crew Point here so they’re getting towards the lad stages they’ve got one more water Point still to go but now they go underneath this bridge and you see Cruise The Spectators just sitting on the side of the highway I don’t think that would be allowed in

Europe but there we are uh and they’re underneath the bridge and the crew Point stops at the bridge and these specific rules and all the water bottles picked up and are recycled we can say that all the water bottles there is a team of cleaners that go to Every crew point

Every water Point collecting the bottles and uh very shortly they’ll be off and away and away they go that’s and off they go off they go that’s the final crew Point there’s one more uh water point in about a kilometer and then just 2 km to the vet gate so they

Now enter the village so we saw on the last Loop Harry uh that they slowed down at that water point and they took on water to get into the Vet gate and they got those very very good presentation times so will those tactics remain the same that we’ll see that in what five

Four five minutes something like that they’re coming through the Farms now they’re coming through the village and then they’ll turn uh left-handed up the hill about 5k left to go and the horses were looking excellent after the last fetting so hopefully the same again Lola diala eager to get out on the

Course that’s the gray in the middle running well with last year’s winning Rider from Bahrain Muhammad Abdul Hamed al-hashimi and in the lead who has been consistently in the lead on this loop from Uruguay freder Rico Ferber representing Al a stables in Abu Dhabi and then there are the two bini

Riders then Saudi Arabia and then the barah Rainy Rider so the leading bar rainy Rider on the shots just about to move out is opman Abdul Jal Al aadi with Soko dores then fourth in that shot rayan alobi representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia we saw yesterday Nick what it

Meant for the kingdom to get a place on the podium there it was just scenes of absolute Elation uh the riding got dunked in a in a water trough the trainer got dumped in a water trough I was surprised you didn’t get dumped in a water trough yesterday har you were very

Very close to getting getting an early bath so look at that so now we’ve got one coming up just tucked in behind I wonder if that’s our Jordanian Rider who Brazil isn’t it took a long time or is Brazil caught up interesting let’s see 36 360 so that is Muhammad al-azam from the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with Bill so they really have pushed on haven’t they let’s see where they were in the rankings previously uh bill the chasing pack this are this is the leading group but the chasing pack are what uh 3K behind yeah so actually 360 is is not on

This Loop they are coming off Loop two coming off the second Loop correct yeah so I was going to say I didn’t think that anybody could make up that speed on that Loop so 360 is our last Rider on course on Loop two they are averaging

12.4 km an hour I mean they’re not averaging that now um but it’s going to be a long day for Rider 360 Muhammad al-azam yes but as we heard Brian saying earlier and Jean LCA saying earlier to finish is to win and they want to get that all important completion certificate finish

Certificate they do and uh a qualification a step further to the Championships you know the fbii made it harder to qualify ride is now having to do two onestar 100 km rides two two star 120 K rides and two three star 160 or 140 km rides it’s an awful lot to ask of

Horse and Rider to do that distance and a tick in the box if they can get round 160 km today one step closer to representing their Nation at the Championships it is there are two arguments to that Harry um one is oh my word there’s more miles

On the clock the other is we are training sensible riding and there are two arguments and there are two valid uh um Arguments for and against yeah and right and wrong we don’t know yet because it is it is a new rule yeah I’ll give you my opinion but yeah uh I

Think it’s uh it’s asking a lot of the of the horses to do that amount of qualif in the aim is to get more experience combinations on the start line of a championships and in an effort to try and improve the completion rate but yeah it’s a lot on top of the

National qualifiers as well I love this uh he’s just coming off the second Loop these are coming in off the third Loop going for it and and but they’re all having a chat and that’s really great what do you think how what’s this like what’s the green Loop like you know what

The conversation is going to be don’t you it is going to be what’s it like how do I ride it great comad re amongst the Riders look at that balance Trot there 338 freder Rico and the final water Point coming up to the final of the water points now

This is what we were saying earlier on the white Loop they stopped and they had a good drink cuz they’re 2K from home they had a good drink and and then they went gently up the hill are the tactics going to be the same they’re coming into

The uh water point and 1 two three and so 360 the guy on the previous leap was going to go feder Rico is going to go I think he hasn’t stopped and had a drink horses have now twigged that that horse is gone the Barra is seen that

That freder Rico’s gone so they’re now also making a move from the water point so freder Rico this is exactly what he did two year uh two years ago here it was making the decision if the horse if the horse has got its ears on that leading leading Rider then it’s unlikely

To drink so they may the rider may as well give in rather than Force the point of trying to persist at the water station so there’s now about 400 m first to last in that leading group and that will equate to a minute minute and a half yeah not a

Lot in the G of things and it may even uh come back together again before they just about reach the vet gate so in the middle one of the favorites ons to watch for Bahrain Lola deala moving forward at a forward case freder Rico furber very relaxed

Style one hand on the Reigns this is how we’ve seen him lead 120 KET here before so hcaa was 12 in January in Dubai over 120 sorry 101 kilm the speed there was 2815 km an hour so it totally capable of fast speeds but this is the distance yes

And as you and I both know Harry in Dubai it’s very flat it is there’s just that one pull isn’t there up the hill the rest of it is flat and and and fairly well uh orchestrated terrain whereas here this is natural this is totally natural interestingly freder

Rico and HC came to the first hand Cup last year so the gap’s been closed look but was out at the first vet gate lame so if there are some lameness uh issues with this horse it’s not got the cleanest of Records when it does well it

Does exceptionally well or it’s out lame so we wait and see so they’re coming into the third vet gate and there’s a huge team of vets here and here is one of the leading ones Nicola Pat to me it is important that the horse is happy to do

It and when they arrive to an international level these are all horses that are happy to to do it because if they are not into work they will never reach this kind of competitions they have a pedigree that is uh specialized in this kind of competitions then he has a physical

Characteristics that are very good for an endurance Source you know we will see a Great Neck and Back ratio a very good confirmation of the legs a good size and then on the inside uh there is the engine and the engine is uh on his brain

Because he needs to be ready and Keen to work to work hard and then it needs to be tough because when he gets tired that’s the time that he needs to play the game and he needs to put something more than the Others so the official vet when the horse goes into the Vet gate wants to make sure that he is able to continue that he finished in a good the condition what the official will check first of all is the heart rate where they will make sure that the ha rate

Will be lower than 64 the ha rate is a parameter taken into consideration to understand if the horse is tired or not and after that the horse will throt for uh 40 m just to make sure that uh there not any less or any Orthopedic ISS issue

And then they will be checked on the gut sounds on the lung sounds and all other parameters like the the skin mucose membrans of the high and then they will go to the capillary refill time on the guns there are two different kind of horses you know the one that maybe when

They get tired they become to slow down and the other the good ones or the Champions are the ones that when they get tired they keep up and keep keep going because they really want to do a good Performance fantastic Insight from nicolar palati the head treatment vet here into what the Vets are looking for and what makes the perfect endurance athlete Horse and Rider absolutely Horse and Rider so now they’re coming towards the third of their vet Gates and remember they go into the 40-minute hold

After they’ve done the heart rate the Trot and the metabolics those three stages of the vet gate then they go into 40min break and then they are halfway through this the alpha sand cup the CI three star the 160 first time a 160 is ever been run here in ALA and that’s a

Huge credit because it’s no mean the 120 there’s a lot more staff involved there’s a lot more preparation involved and there’s a lot more thought involved in running a 160 I I can assure you of that so the final road crossing then and what’s interesting here is rayan and his

Fellow competitor for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia you’ve got the leading pack with the last Rider on the course and they’re having a great chat together at the back of that pack the gray and the Chestnut and our so our stationary cameras have now picked them up which

Means uh they are IM approaching the vet gate they’ve not eased off the pace from that water point so they’re going to be coming in at a Cana and we’ll see what those recovery rates are like just a reminder for anyone joining now Lola jalima the first gray in that

Group was uh the first out on course and was presenting to the vet very quickly indeed um 129 was it Harry the last V 115 115 heart rate of 59 and Lola deela by the very famous French stallion Baltic doors and the mother by this famous sah Ismael to

Alel Baltic doors of course by persk who anybody who knows anything about breeding endurance horses will know about the perc line so there the bar renes and John LCA John LCA the uh General sport director here in alula inspiration behind the alula inspir uh endurance Academy and uh Antonio farim from

Portugal the president of the veterinary commission it’s his job to oversee the entire Veterinary team not only the line bets but every member of the veteranary commission here in ALA and the most important man if we can get him he’s wearing a Stetson like is Christian Lozano he’s the president of

The grand jury and he is responsible for all officials here in the competition and the insurance of uh the rules on behalf of the international equestrian Federation so they’re getting ready and they know that they’re coming in because they are the stewards and the when the crews stand up and get ready

You know that you know that they’re coming in here we go so 160 our Rider coming off the prior Loop of and running giving his horse a breather his horse has been keeping up with the leaders for the last two or three kilometers but our leading group of five led by Frederico

Ferber Yuan riding hcer but they’re all coming in at an even pace and they’re all coming in pretty much at the same time so the crucial deciding factor even though that they’ve come in at the same time is when they get into the presentation yeah

So the clock is still at this point the clock only stops when they present to vet they go over that line to the vet into the presentation area two chances if the heart rate is too high the first time as as if that clock never stopped

They go back to the cooling area we would refer to that as a penalty anxious moments away and it is anxious it coming in here so they’ll be undoing those buckles now and as danieli was saying earlier you know he KN he had a nickling doubt that there was something wrong so hopefully

These Riders are coming in here optimistic that there’s nothing wrong that they’ve had it ridden a good Loop they’ve been careful they’ve let the horses drink and just easing off the pace a couple of strides of Trot and those heart rates are already starting to drop on the outside there Hopman Abdul

Jalil Al aadi and the last across the line and here go the crews is hamar abdah YF aljani near rain you can hear the stewards in the middle saying no water in the middle no water in the middle they have to go to their specific crewing

Area but some of these horses won’t stop you know they will make Forward Motion forward keep forward keep walking just walking walking letting that lactic acid just dissipate cuz if you just come in and stop the there’s the barain horse and and I wonder if they’re going to be

The first in the vet like they have been on the previous two Loops bridles are off head collars are on to the uneducated eye this looks as though it’s it it’s but you see how this guy he he tips the water yeah but he is he just has to

Go and he’s got a it full exactly yeah so ran takes the heart rate of his mount on over JJ they’re going I think Harry y because they’re happy with the heart rate and what’s nice there with rayan he’s got assistance from danielis Seri who was the rider we interviewed earlier who’s

Been out but has been helping R in in Europe so he’s now got a bib on to support rayan that’s DaNell holding the horse yeah you see a little rug just placed on the back on the quarters you know for a horse that’s lives and trains out here in the

Heat of the desert today is a pretty cool day so first heading towards the vet then was our leader for the entire fto Rico think that is the mount 315 hammed is abdf Al Jah with d Lori so one two Lola fala also in when they cross

That line Nick they have to keep forward motion they can’t stop they’re not going to rush it on purpose they’re going to take it nice and slow you see the the chief stward they just pointing them to the Lane yeah pointing them keep going and they’re they’re automatically

Allocated the lane so they can’t favor fav Lane here we go so 317 all eyes on the screen all eyes on the screen 317 and trotting now for d maeri nice jot thank you 58 incredible lovely TR recovery time for dies maer was 1 minute 49 closely followed by hgo with 2

Minutes 2 seconds and then 2 minutes 22 for L de jalima Ryan’s just coming in Ryan’s Mount taking a little bit longer they’re taking this uh carefully trotting now for Lola dealo 58 62 64 that’s uh gone up since yeah so L jalar is just within on 64 I

Mean perfectly Ed but also a little bit risky but a nice Trot so Ray and arm mobties B over JJ now entering the vet gate led by danieli thi who was riding earlier but sadly out and then Ryan behind danieli has been training for ran in Italy so that Ryan can compete at

European races knows the horses well and it just talks to the cadu I think as well you know they were out of the competition but uh willing to help L de jalima to the uneducated eye doesn’t look as relaxed as she did coming into the second hold second vet gate but who it

Looks fresh though yeah it looks very very fresh but very Alert 59 315 then hedf Al janah HCA there handed to the crew Ryder time for a break full metabolic check for Lola jalima his friends left well Lola’s Keen to get going they go job done I think pass y absolutely where’s my mate so 63 64 64 and now a well-deserved drink

Yep so rayan took a little bit longer there and so 4 minutes 19 and the heart rate was 64 so he needed that 4 minutes yeah but remember they do have 15 minutes okay it is all time added to their total cumulative time but they do

Have 15 minutes to get that heart rate done and in the last vet gate that we come to they’ve got 20 minutes after the pink loop after the final Loop so this that’s Rider 360 that’s our last Rider out on course who’s on the prior Loop Bill 12.4 km an

Hour we gone from two extremes and back to our CR Rider 313 bman Abdul Abdul Jalil Al awadi is possibly a second Trot not entirely sure there goes Lola back into the barn back into the rest area the average speed for that Loop was 19.05 which gives them an average of

18.7 which I think was what we had on the last Loop to be honest so very similar very Consistent and a pass a pass I think for the little May on over JJ Argentinian May you wouldn’t want to play poker with those two would you Harry they don’t get much away do they there’s ller again the world young horse Champion from 2022 with his H shik NASA B Hamad

Alifa feet being checked are they going to put any more of that gel pack in Harry do you do that after every Loop probably not no I mean at this stage I think the team far for bar probably just checking that the clenches are tight uh and there’s no need for any

More to be put in um and the shoes aren’t too worn so the first out D majar Abdullah aah daa La maeri they go out at 12332 and then Federico Farber and HT yaa they’re going out at 12334 and then it is Mohammed al-hashimi going out at 12

3343 nothing 30 seconds between first and third but fourth and fifth a little bit uh strung out now just getting a little bit strong out the fourth I think we recovered in about 2 minutes something and then rayan 4 minutes something so he’s now probably about two

Or 3 minutes off the pce is he he’s fifth yeah still waiting for the next group to come in and that will have our two Brazilians are two Spaniards and Abra Abdul from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia then there’s another group or unless constanza’s remained with that group

Haven’t quite caught up with that yet yeah it looks to me like she’s in that group but a little bit behind the pace so there’s you know seven in that group Maria and Omar could still make it to the podium where they are now eighth and nine easily easily perfect just tucked

In neatly behind traveling beautifully there’s the current leader board MRA and Uruguay the top three as we just said Abdullah hammed alah Al janahi and federo Farah here they come Brazilian Riders y going together as what they have done for the previous two so they they haven’t

Missed so they are lying in at the moment fifth and sixth yes we do now have a start time we have got uh start times Harry and interestingly enough uh Ryan Alti has dropped by a minute above uh so he Trails the leader Man alawadi 2

Minutes and 30 seconds 2 minutes and 30 seconds now that doesn’t sound a lot and it isn’t a lot at the moment but it is a lot when they get to the pink loop I think Ryan would be better just to to keep his own race at this point and if

He catches up the leaders then fine but if not he he’s got a strong contingent coming on behind him uh who would carry him forward and let’s see but you know he’s got eyes on the pride of Saudi Arabia being on that Podium having seen what happened yesterday with uh Faris abas so

The two Brazilians join us now into the vetting gate into the crewing area then the presentation area then the hold area it is they’re lying in Sixth and 7eventh ronado Salvador and Monica Pinto gratiano coming up the hill and then we’ll have the pack of uh the Spanish

The Italians and two from Saudi Arabia so the two Brazilians neatly poised they’re about 8 minutes off the curve at the moment I would think Harry wouldn’t you seven or eight minutes yeah but that is they’ve got another uh 65.5 km still to go in this the alpha

Sand cup the CI three star ronato Salvador the the first Brazilian Rider we see here he was 10th in P at the world championships in 2021 um and that contributed to a silver medal for Brazil at the Championships in 2021 so here comes Maria Ponto Alves we got Omar Omar and

Constanza so there’s not a lot between this group they have split a little bit because we had a five and a five and now we’ve got a five a two and a three they’ve split a little bit but the T tactics have remained the same steadily all the way

Through constan hor the gray at the rear still looks full of running here they come the very identifiable tack of juma’s Team the blue and orange Conan Alicia Maring G undone so she presented last time the first presented in 7 minutes but the second was uh 3 minutes so we’ll wait

And watch so another start time so Salvador and Monica are uh ranata and Monica are into the Vet gate the two Spaniards and the Italian now come into the crewing area off they get’s there yeah the ice water goes On so at this point they’ve done 94.5 km and interestingly Nick between first and 14th there is only 23 minutes that separates the Riders that’s absolutely nothing because by this stage on a normal ride there could be up to 45 minutes to 50 to 60 Minutes between that

There really could be and the difference between first place and the last remaining rer in the competition 38th is 2 hours 15 still nothing so it’s the field that field is spread out but the bit of the top is is still all to play for really here comes rato Salvador are they

Coming in or are they just going to wait for a little bit more they look at there for those of you who haven’t seen it there are screens all over the hold and the vet gate here so the r the athletes the Riders know exactly where they are any stage on the

Course uh within this specific hold and departure gate and it’s it is they cannot moan the fact that they didn’t have the information can they no so JM Sabrine no lovely looking horse both both Spanish horses looking good so different type of hard just about to say what’s that Harry it’s a

Belt uh they can ride with that on and they can get the data on the watch and then they come into the V gate and simply plug the connector in and the information is there and you just ping it off when you’re ready to go in so you

Know it’s giving you an accurate picture how the horse is going we know that uh J Maria do use heart rate monitors when they’re training and and actually riding to a horse’s heart rate monitor uh it is something that people do do I mean I would tend to only use

That in training because I think it can be a little bit misleading out on the Trap but that said if you ride to the horse’s heart R monitor you are getting that little bit of a glimpse as to exactly how the horse is coping and when they’re finding it hard so the two

Brazilians the two Brazilian horses into the Vet gate and now the two Spanish horses Maria ponton and cinch and Omar Rodriguez and jml sabrino those two are in there’s jumer on the right of your screen he always wears that style of cap doesn’t he always yeah right 55 incredible isn’t

It that’s ronato Salvador yeah and here for the Trot yeah oh there’s the Toilet big for an endurance horse this horse Harry yep tall yep side by side the two Brazilian horses they know each other so well ah so it looks to me like U Maria’s Pinos horse has got to go back for a reinspection penalty penalty too high 65 65 the

Frustrating 318 and they’ve now split the two Brazilian Riders up because the clock still ticking for 318 but I wouldn’t be surprised if they just go straight back in now well they just go straight back in or they’re going to cool again couple of buckets and then go yeah couple of

Buckets they’re going to check again remember they only get one more chance so a lot riding on this especially with the prize money on offer today 5 million s R and the top uh 25 between 11 and 25 they get 100,000 real so 20,000 20,000 22,000 isn’t it so there’s

Maria all eyes on Alfredo Greco the vet now doing the metabolics two time world champion world number one in the endurance rankings as well Maria formerly now what do you do if you are rata do you wait for Maria Pinto do you wait I would have thought so but the

Problem now is that you’ve got two horses that likely traveled to the competition together they’ve been stabled together and now they’ve been separated that horse in the uh vet out in the cooling area is now getting a bit aggravated and they’re still desperately trying to get the heart rate down which

Is not deal constanza’s heart rate down to 63 and the two Spaniard horses under the 60s and this is Monica graciano’s hor now there’s constanza I wonder what she’s what’s going through her mind past the heart rate she’s ridden nearly over 200 km of tracks at alha San so far this weekend

At that point husband and wife partnership looks good to me Harry yep all good jumer one of the first pioneers of using deep sand as a training tactic um at the time he was training for his H Shake Muhammad bin Rashid matum in Dubai and they were looking for

Ways to increase the horse’s heart rate in Dubai without risking you know Galloping up sand Junes and going too fast and they were finding that using the deep sand was a more natural way to increase the horses High rate and he’s fine-tuned the ability to adapt horses

To going in the deep sand to get them used to it weeks and weeks of walking before they Trot learning to walk properly in the deep sand then trotting making sure that they’re not rushing they’re taking their time and months of preparation and conditioning before they

Are fit and strong enough to caner in the Deep sound so this is the second inspection INSP this is the high pulse inspection and the horse now seeking its pal who’s in the hold area now remember they can ask for the stethoscope and the stopwatch can’t they

Can’t they can they after this I I don’t know okay okay we’re all right good to go Brea a side of relief oh that’s a nice truck that a lovely Trot is that he’s desperate to get at this end where’s my friend let’s see how he trots [Laughter] Back look at the ears yeah I really want to go this way okay lovely looks very fresh 566 so what does that cost them six 7 minutes yeah it could be anything like that and all because of one beat per minute too fast let’s let’s put that into context Harry that could be

200,000 R because first gets 600,000 second gets 400,000 third gets 400,000 these are reals reals and then fourth to 10th gets 300,000 I don’t think as a 11 to 25 you get 100,000 no you they don’t think about the money no that they’re not even thinking about the money at this stage

But that’s what it will cost and we said it yesterday um you know last year I was remember I was boarding the same plane as as jumer and team back to Dubai uh for my collecting flight and he he he didn’t know what the price money was I

Had to send him a screenshot of the schedule and he won something eye wateringly uh impressive for second and third on the podium deserves it so second pulse they take now they take that second pulse one minute after uh they finished the they’ve sent the horse for the Trotter

It’s called the a Ridgeway test it was first developed by car Ridgeway in the US um and it’s a really great indicator that second pulse of the horse that’s getting stressed so what they want to see is it either being the same or or falling and if it’s eight beats more

Than the first pulse then it’s cause for concern big Pat look at that great shot what a side of relief there yeah little bit tense at moments so who’s coming away to us in the distance is this Abra this is Abra Al Abdul going for the world championship qualification and completion 160 km

Ready for 2026 back here in alula there she comes we heard from uh Abra earlier on and her ambition was to go around about 16k on this third Loop yeah so we’ll see two further riders coming back to us in the distance they are one for chile and

One for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia there’s 304 so so Bonnie is a rider in the Italian endurance Stables uh Bon viard Vio and uh Omar Al balawi uh is one of the local alula Riders um who is also qualifying in on one of the horses owned by the Italian endurance Academy zagara

Daia and look he’s just undone the Martin girl on the right hand side number 304 and I’m sure he’s riding zagara Das and we can now hear from Omar k J J for It is fabulous to see and there he is Alani with that horse and it is fabulous to see the alula academy local Rider competing in these mesmerizing conditions here and in two years time he could be representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the world championships absolutely right and that

Is Sport that’s sport at its highest it’s its ambition it’s everything that sport any sport has to offer I think really interesting then was what he said about you know needing to know your hores needs being able to read your hores needs absolutely summed it up really um being able to recognize

And respond really to whatever they need so Harry we were talking earlier about the that one beat per per minute of Monica now Monica came in with rato and that cost them 12:46 ronato Salvador’s time to depart on Loop Number Four 12 51 it cost them exactly 5

Minutes you know it’s all adds up doesn’t it sport of fun as margins isn’t it really is what a lovely shot that is there’s PR D bomb Viva in the water troughs and what’s nice as well is we saw that horse getting a little bit uh alarmed that its

Partner had had left it and was you know trotting on its toes wasn’t it and ning and but now totally chilled totally relaxed completely chilled look I think uh next door is the is the friend we organiz together many courses for coures 355 and that is Abra Abul card kwood

Rococo so they’re going as we heard from her earlier they’re going for the completion they’re going to go and they seem to come in very very well though didn’t they yeah and riding her own competition not you know not pushing not trying to keep up with the leaders really just taking a time

Getting a bit of space on the track in this we have new so now the team trainer of abra’s horse just having AB hor just having a look 305 that is Omar’s horse the local horse well the Italian horse ridden by the local man from alula so uh it’s all happening in the

Vet gate and very very short L the next Riders will be going out onto the fourth of the sixth Loop and ibraim is in the vet gate welcome Monica from Brazil welcome to Al congratulations you just finished the third uh Lube can you tell us how your strategy changed from the second

Lube to the third Loop yes sure uh the second yesterday I has a horse in in 120 and the second Loop have a lot of deep sand have uh more Mountains so we preserve the horse for in this Loop in this second Loop and the third Loop was

Amazing less sand the truck was more flat and we push a little bit more excellent excellent so would you say your uh speed was little bit faster in the third Loop compared to the second Loop sorry was your speed uh faster in the third Lo compared to the second Loop

Yeah yeah yeah yeah little bit more yes excellent and is this your first time to come to participate in ALA and how was your experience so far amazing amazing I my first time in Saudi in alula is uh very different place hard the track but is is very good for endurance for

Preserve the horses I like a lot a lot excellent welcome to Ala and thank you very much and good luck thank you very much bye bye lovely interview there really lovely interview and interestingly enough Monica felt that she went a bit quicker in the third Loop in the second

Loop she her ride speed was 17.88% is uh Omar very good heart rate of 60 and now the metabolics local Rider from the aler academy and that was zagara D Shia looks all good big pat down the side and uh they get ready to have a 40 minute rest before they go off on the 20 km the fourth of the six loops and the countdown clock well that will be counting down very very shortly 8 minutes to go before our NE our

First team of three go out and they will be going out pretty much the same only 10 12 seconds between them and then a minute between another project that we the third and the fourth and fifth so there is nothing between them there is two minutes between first and fifth AR

And over this distance they’ve done what 90 km so far 2 minutes is nothing no incredibly consistent there and abra’s horse then just for the Trot looking really good really nice that’s a nice Trot that’s uh our Chilean ride I believe part of the uh Italian endurance Academy Bonnie Vio with

Magiki here we are with the bahin horses they’re just giving the horse some electrolytes perhaps some energy gels just like you know your marathon runner might when you’re sweating you’re losing salts it’s very important to be replacing those with electrolytes not all Riders and teams do use electrolytes but

Uh I think personally think it’s important and just the having a bit of uh sodium in your system as well will help encourage the horse to drink which is so important to help prevent the horses getting dehydrated while they’re running out on the track these Riders tacking up ready to go out

Again they have just six minutes before they go out again to start the fourth phase of the competition which involves the blue loop a 50 minute hold at the end of the blue loop and the reinspection that means a first veter inspection the hold of 50 minutes and they come back 15

Minutes before they duy to depart for the second inspection this is when things start getting serious they’re very nervous times aren’t they those compuls reinspection they are because you’re not just judging the horse on its ability after the track you’re judging it when it should have

Recovered and it should be you know back towards the Baseline almost so almost time for L deala to head back out taking on board some useful fiber really good quality hay and fiber helps hold the water in the gut um and you know really helps with the G

Sounds yes there is genuinely no expense spared with these horses there isn’t is there no they are the kings in the stable they are so there’s one of the farers Harry there’s the so these are they are a set of uh aluminum plates and the idea of those plates uh

Is to is just to give a the heel a little bit of lift and tip the horse a little bit forward so you know any equestrians out there you know if a horse is a bit of navicular pain you’re just pushing the horse a little bit further forward on its stride perfectly

Legal and we had a we had a horse that cut its fedlock really badly in the field and and this must have been I would say 45 years ago and For the First Time The farers put a a plastic plate between the the hoof and the and

The shoe and that’s exactly what this is doing now and that was groundbreaking technology in those days these days farers are super skilled aren’t they yeah get a good farer is it’s yeah it’s it’s hard to get a good farer they’re few and far between but um in our

Stables we’ve we’ve now switched to plastic shoes we only use plastic shoes uh are they cheaper no more expensive yes no yeah they come from Germany company called Duplo um but we just feel they give a good support a good grip uh but it’s it’s about shoing for the

Competition I think plastic shoes don’t suit every type of terrain and neither do aluminium but we can see that aluminium wears much more quickly than traditional steel but it’s lighter so the foot can glide through the air without having too much drag you can see

We saw the new shoe the plate this is an old plate um so you can see how much it’s worn we to clean it out clean the sand out before they put the new one on this plate covers the whole hoof and and if they were on a you know some wet

Grass or something like that that would be really slippy but for this desert environment that type of solid play Give it gives enough grip but a really interesting design L of horseshoe there you know one we don’t see very often likely one of the blacksmith Italia shoes uh as we were

Saying um the Chilean Rider Bonnie is based in Italy and you know they are pionering these types of aluminium plates and interestingly enough in Jumping Harry the trend now is to is to ride horses and jump horses over 1 M 60 tracks uh without any shoes at all

Really a number of top athletes that don’t have their horses um shod so who knows and you you do get endurance horses competing Barefoot I think the issue there is it takes a long time to condition a horse to being Barefoot and we saw out on the track

We’ve seen clips of it the rocky areas it’s incredibly abrasive out there and the reason we put shoes on horses is to stop the foot getting sore and and wearing away too much hoof as protection really I mean no pressure Mr fario we’re we’re watching every move I’ve never seen a

Shoe quite like that it’s interesting isn’t it and that’s obviously this horse’s set of shoes that have been pre-prepared because the fit is perfect so in the sense of they must have used the grinder to help shape the shoe uh and he’s had a spare set ready to go knowing that he

Needed to change the shoes at some point in the competition will he change both front shoes must do yeah is good to have uh symmetry always aim for symmetry across the the two front feet so now he’s just going to pull them forward to pull down the

Clenches the ride are taking a very keen interest in what they’re doing I have had it before actually at Windsor uh horse lost a shoe put it back on one of the the nails the clenches just too close to the uh to the sensitive part of the foot count down

Begins Harry the countdown begins Bahrain Uruguay bahin that’s the one two three and as we said nothing between the top three and then a minute’s gap between four and five so there is just nothing between them it is inches there’s the leading horse but that’s only 12 seconds in Fr this horse

Is incredible L Jala it’s just so eager every time to get back out on course they almost have to pin it down so that he can get back on it again and is prick looking very alert but it’s not who’s looking the most alert now it’s looking who’s

Looking best at the end of the next three phases of competition rayan watching on but not mounted he has a 2 and 1/2 minute delay on the leaders so his hor just been warmed up and walked by the groom our leader now leaving onto the fourth phase of of the

Competition it’s going to be very interesting now as as the the next five go out where six and 10 go the two Brazilians that that will be an interesting one to see whether uh they’re going to wait for each other or they’re just going to slow it down and

And pick up the pace going further forward so we’re away onto the fourth Loop to give you the technicalities some uh altitude CL CL two altitude climbs they’re going 100 m very early on as they have done in all the loops so far and then uh coming

Towards the last they are going on the about the 15K Mark they’re going for another climb as well so it’s 20 km in this the blue loop and our leading our leading three Riders are now out on that Loop they’re out on course and this Loop has not been ridden over this

Weekend you’re absolutely right Nick this is a I mean it repeats some bits of other Loops but it’s the first time anyone’s been onto the blue loop our leader the leading horse de lader um and you know what’s interesting Nick this horse and the gry horse L de

Jala they have the same father btic doors and this horse was sixth at the um world championships for Young Riders In Castell SRA in September last year he’s been this horse was fourth at your ride in Royal Windsor with a speed of 22.9 in those conditions yeah I mean there were something [Laughter]

Else it goes from the sublime to the ridiculous in those conditions it was what was can only be classified as soft soft softer and very soft in places polar opposite to what we are seeing Here so our three four Riders are now out on course onto the fourth of six loops and uh we’re away and it’s starting to build it really is srain and Uruguay are out and about and Harry is going to give us a guide to the Loop down here on the blue loop the fourth Loop of the 160 km competition horses and Riders will have covered 100 km at this point and the distances of the loop from here on in get a little bit shorter getting to this point in the competition horses and Riders will

Breathe a collective sigh of relief they’re going a lot lot more easy compared with the white Loop but this stunning scenery they will being there in the heat of the day in these Canyons getting just a little bit of relief from the shade these Canyons provide find

Yourself on your own at this point in the competition and things will get tough so over halfway now on the blue loop horses and Riders have swung for home having met their crew at the bottom of this Valley a slight change of scene but the easy part of the blue loop is over

This is a more technical aspect they’ve got to navigate through the deep sand through the Canyons this might be the shortest Loop of the 160 km but it isn’t the easiest and this is a very technical aspect late in the competition Well there it is Harry there is the blue loop and you saw a particularly deep bit of ground out there didn’t you halfway home it’s a story that we’re repeating throughout but it’s one of variety it’s changing all the time we’re going from very hard to incredibly soft sand very

Quickly um you know the Riders will be riding across established tracks and then they’ll swing off and all of a sudden they hit a bit of natural deep going uh and they have to adapt yes they do and overcome and the interesting fact Harry is that the riding speeds are very very similar

Comparatively 19.5 in Loop one the uh 34 the longest of the loops they get a good one in the bank then they come back to the second Loop the white Loop and they’re going at 18.71% so it’s it’s 100th of a kilometer per hour difference between what was perceived as the very

Hard Loop the white Loop and the green Loop so they are riding at a pattern all these leading horses are riding at a pattern quite right in the village they go D maery leading with the three close behind so the only Rider we have lost from this group

At this moment from the previous one is rayan yeah R mty and then uh at 12 46 we’ll be looking in about 6 minutes to see whether ronato Salvador waits for Monica graciano remember Monica gracian the Brazilians uh there are the stats they’ve covered 96.5 km and now they’re

On to the 20K blue loop and we’re expecting this group back into the Vet gate at 135 something like that if they maintain this pace Jima and Maria husband and wife the leading husband and wife of World Endurance one would suggest Harry absolutely yeah totally I’m just thinking about the

Brazilians um what what would you do if Alice if your wife had got was 5 minutes behind you and you’d ridden side by side for 96.5 km what would you do I think rato has no choice but to ride on the pressure is on Monica to catch him up

Because in between you have Maria Omar and constanza and if he waits 5 minutes rato those three aren un they’re unlikely to disappear from the competition so he needs to stay with the Spanish I would suggest and therefore it is on Monica uh to catch up they won’t be thinking about the

Prize money but that’s 200,000 yeah which is 444,000 yeah yeah I’ve been thinking about it I think in fact I know I would they know right so away we go hottest part of the day you drove the whole of the blue loop Harry your opinions on it

It’s a nice short Loop uh at this point in the competition 20 km will be a refreshing after the previous Loop but uh there are elements where it’s going to they’re going to interrupt their flow and Rhythm um and it’s hard when your rhythm is broken because you have to

Keep stopping for the train to keep it consistent and that is what’s going to stop them getting to the really uh fastest speeds and I think you know we saw the recoveries just getting that little bit slower then they’ve got to be careful now um because there is still an

Awful long way to go so they don’t want to overcook it on this loop three water points one crew point out on the blue loop they’re trotting now and then just picking up caner again is this brinkmanship or is this or is this sensible riding bit of both I would

Say yeah I think so yeah I think I think he’s pretty sensible still the Shadows are over these huge mountains so they still got the blue yellow and red flag so they are still in a very early part of the course before the blue loop then uh veers off and

Follows what they have done on the yellow Loop for the next kind of three or four kilm then they cut across don’t they they cut across yeah and that’s the only that’s the bit that they’ve just done on the green and then they come back up to the

Crew point and then the water point and away and uh head for home and the CH the challenging bit on this Loop is is that return where it runs parallel with the red Loop and we heard as we heard yesterday the red Loop is challenging and that return Through The Wades here

And the Canyons is very deep sand and that is where the hardest part of this Loop so the last uh maybe 10 K before the run home through the village they look in this unbelievable scenery uh so insignificant don’t they but they’re not in any shape or

Form so the two Spanish horses now going back out and being prepared we’ve SE we’ve seen it with nearly all the leading horses but these horses are being cooled again ready to go out so they’re running with you know damp coat to try and keep them cool for as

Long as possible I haven’t been into the Vet gate Harry are there any cooling fans in there or is it no beautifully shaded it’s just all totally under shade yep and there is a really nice breeze in there today we can see where we’re sat

Uh in the guest area you know the big fabric shades are flapping in the wind here and sometimes in the canyons the the the wind is almost funnel through them you can whistle they’re getting a really good Breeze yeah perfect for 160 km perfectly conditioned aren’t they these

Horses very much so so the temperature out there now 19° 19° yesterday it was 28 something like that much hotter yeah and then it’s going to increase the hottest part of the day today is going to be around 400 p.m. which is 21 okay still though you relatively cool when we

Compare that with with what we had when we were here last year which was a month later we were mid-30s well I remember a ride that I ran in uh suffk where it was uh do you remember it was 36° that was the year there was no grass

It was just no grass it was this color wasn’t it 36° heat but the horses because they’re an Arabian horse they coped quite brilliantly with it didn’t they and I was I would think in that in those conditions they were getting more sand in their face in suffk than they

Are in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so still tracking 319 that is ronato ready to go not waiting not waiting he’s a serious competitor he’s not he’s not messing around yeah trains in Europe has horses in Europe also competes back home in Brazil y um you

Know he’s a global competitor got a very very good record in World Championship ships this man yep and that’s why they’re here looking forward to 2026 correct he’s really they well the team that he is a part of have really put Brazil on the map for uh endurance it’s

Always been very strong in South America but you know getting a silver medal in Pisa that was a breakthrough moment for the it was wasn’t it yeah yeah off goes rata and away they go not waiting for their fell Countryman monik gratiano there’s the temperature chart

With the riding time the total time of the ride 717 7 hour 17 we’re expecting 19° and then it just climbs 2° to 21 totally different conditions to yesterday yeah totally different and and it may be winter in Europe at the moment but you know in the Spanish horses the

Portuguese horses they will be used to running in much higher temperatures much much higher temperatures giving you that example of 36° in in in in Houston so up we go these two just getting ready Maria and Omar just getting ready and where’s constanza she’s a minute behind have we

Seen her she will be getting ready won’t she Harry she will the horse will be being prepared now and I would suggest that she’ll push on a bit to try and tag tag up tag up with these two these two are the ones to watch they were second

And third respectively in the alphan 120 km last year off they go and they look fantastic on the fourth Loop and if we put this in perspective this is a bit like looking at the last Loop of yesterday yesterday’s competition and we’ve still probably got another what 4 hours to

Go so yeah something like that but the horses what I’m saying is the horses look great don’t they for this stage in the competition they look amazing so there is constanza lissia just ready to go out with the fourth Loop farar dubas and we caught up with constanza earlier

On it’s really amazing ride in the desert the first goal is to finish and uh the most important things for me is the welfare of my horse so it’s really important that my horse is in a good condition usually we training a horse four or five time in a week we go for

Training in the countryside but also in the training track for some Gallop work this is the first thing if you do a good training the horse will be good if you are in the desert if you are in Europe if you do a good work and a hard work

During the training the horse will be good okay while I’m competing I’m focused on my goals so I’m focused on the truck and also sometimes on the landscape that I have around me like in alula the landscape is amazing so it’s it’s important and I enjoy Also the the

Landscape in my mind I have an idea of my progress I have an idea of the speed that I have in that moment and also about the kilometers that I have ready speed the GPS is really important to uh control the average speed the time and also the the

Kilometers I want to be in a group because it’s very important for an endurance horse to compete together with other horse like in cycling no if you are alone for your mind is hardest if you are in a group of course it’s easiest to to Endurance in her blood endurance in her veins and one of the Superstar young talents coming through and also doing so much for endurance in this part of the world yeah and it was great to see far debas there in training in Italy in Winter and here we are now in the desert

Leading out onto the fourth Loop looking fresh and ready to run constanza having ridden 120 km yesterday successfully with emirat debas and now with farad debas so she said then in the interview that she wants to ride as a group she finds herself on her

Own so as you said Nick I think the tactic is going to be cat up Spanish Riders 100% she’s pushed on from her previous two and she’s trying to push them on and catch them up uh she didn’t present as quickly she came in with uh Omar and Maria she came

In but didn’t present as quickly so now is the opportunity for her to a little nudge she can see them in the distance yeah you see the helmet just B the distance and off they go yeah okay back with our leaders then and our four Riders becomes

Five which means rayan arobi has made up his 2 and a half minutes to be back with our leading Riders from Bahrain and Uruguay wait for confirmation once we see a bit closer but that is what we suspect has happened what are they 13 km home so they’ve

Probably done seven no they’re more than that uh yeah they’ve done 6.8 so they’re 13 km Harry so at this point lot of twists and turns the track is still reasonably hard I think just at the top there is where we did the first part of the track guide

And uh at the moment the going is reasonably good yeah that’s rayan at the back so with our leader has reestablished his position I think Is HC Yer and uh freder Rico Ferber all in a line and this is pretty much how it’s been since half 5 this morning water point up

Ahead there at WS point two they’re going to swing round to meet their crew for the only opportunity to see their crew on this exactly at the halfway mark yeah cuz it has to be no more than 10K there can’t be 10K apart okay and sometimes Harry when you’re in when you’ve had

Genuinely difficult conditions like we had at Windsor last year it’s really hard to find a crew point that you can get within the rules I can imagine but that’s very complicated because you’ve got cars getting to it and you equally have the issue of access at Windsor I

Know it’s not quite the same but um well very similar you can’t just drive through the park um so not too much of a stop there because it’s early days in this Loop but they did stop they did slow down get some water get some fluid how

Much fluid would you drink as a rider they’re drink the horses are drinking a lot but how much fluid would you take on board or would you go for the energy you know these energy capsules I think you can overdo the energy capsules it’s important you’re drinking water as well

Um otherwise you you know you start to feel a bit queasy up there the constant motion um I think if you if you’re putting water on the horse just have a little sip uh at the same time maybe and make sure in the in the vet gate that you’re eating and

Drinking to give you enough energy it’s not too hot today lots of chocolate or wine gums and things like that yeah but again the same principle applies you know don’t overdo that um and and if you can eat proper food then that just lines your stomach a bit and

Makes you you feel a bit better yeah yeah yeah but r will have their thing you know it it’s same as Sports you know whether that be I don’t know fruit watermelon or something or you know their go-to food like when I was playing rugby back in the day it was oranges at

Half time and it still is you know they will yes they’ll have their energy bars and and things like that but I just wonder whether the Sports Nutrition has met endurance yet yeah and there are brands that are targeting you know selling nutrition you know bar energy bars and things like that and

Gels uh electrolyte drinks and I think important for these Riders who have ridden two days are the recovery drinks afterward so replacing the electrolytes maybe with a bit of protein in to make sure that the muscles are you know on the way to being repaired yeah for sure

Those riders that have been for two days they’ll have had a good massage in a physio last night weren’t they you you you’d think so you’d hope so yeah really steady pace and then very soon they turn left-handed won’t they Harry that’s what we we looked at we looked at going down

That on Friday but we decided not to you’re quite right y we went the long way round we took a look at the sand and thought there’s not a lot of mobile signal here having already uh got one pickup stuck yes in the Production scalers very it’s very soon Harry isn’t it coming you can see that track there that’s the track that they were on for the prior Loop the green loop as they came down and it’s the track that they’ll be on for the red loop as well

The hard track that we saw them on and progressing so they’re going to hit that track and then they’re going to swing a sharp left yeah and just one car uh propred by the organizing Committee just for safety really following those Riders potentially we’ve got

Uh we know we’ve got vets out on course as well so there might might be a vet in the car just keeping a watchful eye on the horses and here comes the turn uh you know huge credit to the OC they’ve got Communications all the way around

The course and I know how difficult that is I mean that is phenomenal with this terrain especially in and there’s the left turn onto the soft ground but especially with the the GPS signal which we know about in these canyons and this is the they’re going to

Start to just drift downhill here and here’s the graphic of the of the loop Harry and yet again it is a loop of differing altitude differing terrain yeah so they’re just about where the marker is they’ve just gone through the first water point and they’ve just done that left turn um where the

Checkpoint is and they’re heading back to the crew point which is the pink marker uh on the map before heading back towards our final water point which is just 2 km away from the venue and between the crew point and the checkpoint in other words the purple and

The green triangle that’s where the altitude starts to climb a bit that’s the tricky bit Yeah y absolutely so they’ve made the turn at the bottom of that course now we oh my god there they are join our Riders just trying to pick them out from the from the

And and that car is certainly braver than we were doing a very good job of keeping up with but it’s giving you know they haven’t been able to follow as closely as they were the cars having to pick its way I think because that is a deep

Section and I I believe Nick that’s the area we walk to and we look downley as they come down and now we’re going to go into the W into the valley which follows the green Loop so they’ve ridden this on the last Loop but they’re going downhill

At this point in deep sand it was where we did the course gu with the green Loop exactly um so it is a it is a challenging area this and and you know they they are cancering on and we can’t quite tell the gradient from the helicopter but this is a challenging

Part of the course and they will have to just be a little bit reactive Riders mentally getting a bit tired at this point as well so they need to remain totally switched on yes they do because they’re going downhill and they can see in front of them what we can’t see is

They can see in front of them this huge Valley right in front of them yeah and uh so the leading horse is Lola diala and uh one of our favorites to watch the rider having won there last year Muhammad Abdul Hamed Al hashimi um and the horse winner of the

World young horse championships in 2022 with his Han sh Nessa on the outside I think we’ve got the Uruguay I don’t know in this m the middle I think Harry but it’s it’s really tricky isn’t it the Shadows the Shadows are so deceptive now aren’t they I mean it’s it’s it’s

Award-winning filmography isn’t it is Emily’s just sent a message oh don’t worry so what you’re not seeing here is that the horses are genuinely going down hill but because it’s such deep sand they’re not having to just sit a little bit deeper they’re having to lean forward and they are going downhill but

Because the terrain this is fabulous riding you can see they’re just knocking off the pace a little bit there yeah and you see how they just where the last hes picks up caner the ground has suddenly got a bit better again but you can see now it’s just suddenly got worse again

And you know that’s that kind of stop start stop start that’s what really takes it out of the horses is not being able to maintain consistent motion and momentum um you know losing the momentum then having to propel themselves forwards again out of the deep sand Ryan

Just going into the Trot is that feder Rico in front it is isn’t it yeah that’s feder Rico in front yeah just keeping up a little collected hand caner yeah and as we zoom out you see the distance he’s gaining but they’re not taking the B

They’re not taking no I mean you know if you want to go on your own you you go and try it you know you’ve got another two and a half Loops left got 50 55 km left I would say at the moment probably 58 km in the whole competition

Yeah you’ve ridden you’re now over the 100K Mark so you you’ve you’ve done the most of it but the next two Loops because they’ve done the 102k the 110k is uh that’s Omar our local alula rer that we heard from earlier Al is he waiting for somebody I think

He’s waiting for uh Bonnie viard De Vio uh who’s also part of the uh the Italian Academy who’s been out here coaching the Riders so I think that’s possibly the third Rider uh just out of the gate so with Omar’s walking they’re going to ride together good strategy they’re not

Challenging for a Podium at this stage so you know they’re taking it steady and they want to work together as a team wonder if uh constanza has caught up there comes there we go yep and then I think that might be Abra uh our leading female Saudi Rider on the right

Of the frame but Bonnie now cering to catch Omar up and they’re off together avar has ridden individually all the way through this ride hasn’t she she has yeah I mean it probably would make sense for her to go with them now uh but as as she said to us earlier

She’s very much here to ride our own competition and to get that all important qualification out there go starting the first of their 20ks they’re about 500 m in at the moment and just getting a catch up on our leading group they’re almost at that crew Point Harry so they’re almost at

The crew point they’re almost hit halfway here we go I mean this loot will be over before you know it but it’s only K the crew points just just sort of to the left hand side of the screen isn’t it so this is the one where if I’m right

This is they crew around um some palm trees and I think they hooker left so we’ll see you know a farm start to come into sight it’s a slight change of scenery for them bit of shade perhaps um and that’s where they’ll meet their crew so sorry Harry you’ll see a white C

Car coming into the distance on the left hand side of your picture in a minute that is one of the control points control point six we feel uh with the Saudi police in charge of that all the control points any minute now and then they can see the crew point in

Vision so you’ve got if my eyes are correct you’ve got freder Rico Ferber in the lead then uh Muhammad Al hashimi in second on Lola deala Ryan Al mopti third and then the two remaining Riders and I think that is D SL maeri uh following up the rear hammed Isa Abdullah YF Al

Zanah and they had a really good presentation didn’t they uh D thei in the third vet gate they were first in they did it’s interesting I I you know bit of a nerd about breeding but lalima D maeri both by Baltic toor they’ve got that perect bloodline it

Breeds an incredible recovery time uh on these horses here are the trees so that’s and the control point of the crew point upad to get towards the crew Point yeah there’s your leaderboard Bahrain still sticking together it is totally an utterly different tactics to the tactics that we

Saw yesterday where they were very much riding as individuals today they’re riding side by side encouraging each other all the way through and Federico fber is maybe a second and a half quicker at the moment but pretty undeterred that he on his own exactly so they just slowed down for

That section where the where the car couldn’t follow because it was so deep and they make their way now across towards the crew point they are just moments away from that crew point this is their only opportunity in the halfway point uh on the loop yeah but it’s worth

Saying they’ve got one more opportunity to get water in yeah uh on their way home so when they when we see the crew Point coming in Vision that is the halfway marker of this the fourth of six Loops of the alpha San cup the 160 CI three

Star so crew point just come into Vision now that is it at the top of the screen just about make out the crew there they’re going to stop here Harry what you reckon I think they slow perhaps to a trot and take a lot of water uh on board

You know it’s still cool out there but it is the the warmest part of the day still approaching so uh useful to to keep the horses uh hydrated and and just making sure that if the coat is nice and damp if they can wet the horse all over

As as that evaporate when they left the crew Point it’ll continue to cool the horse so trying to make as D the horse with as much water as possible you mentioned David Marlin earlier on Professor David Marlin from the University of Cambridge Cambridge University he did some ground breaking

Research on humidity and and he and and the wet bulb humidity temperature ratio uh for uh the Olympics in Atlant because they were desperately worried about the humidity it’s not just it’s not the heat it is actually the the wet bulb it’s the wet bulb is the humidity that affects

And actually uh one of the officials here Major D Su Moon from Malaysia he ran a world championships and they didn’t run it during the day cuz it was too humid they ran it ran the world championships for endurance at night and um you talk about the cooling fans and

You talk about wetting the coats point I’m going to make is that uh David Marlin came up with this groundbreaking technology which was if you can get as much here comes the crew point if you can get more water onto their coat the temperature comes down so you see in

Endurance you see in horse racing buckets of water going on that drops it down very very quickly here we go into to the crew point we’re at the halfway mark of Loop Number Four the blue loop of the 160 it also dismissed some of the old school principles that you needed to

Scrape the hot water off in order to keep it cool and you mustn’t uh you know the sun attracted the Heat and therefore made it hotter in fact if you can get as much cold ice water onto the horse that is the most uh efficient and effective

Way to cool the horses down so here we are the crew are meeting the Riders running alongside taking uh passing up bottle after bottle after bottle but they’re going to stop for a drink they are going to stop for a drink yep so having a really good drink here

Having a drink means an opportunity for the crew to really DS of the horses they’ll keep going while the horses are drinking at this point they won’t be the horses aren’t going to be affected by uh Riders the crew doing that oh quick break though for the urqu again yeah

Exactly he’s shot off up there up past the farm and the other Riders they’ve only just noticed now they react yeah but that’s that’s no distance Harry make it up they’ll make it up they they’ve already done 110 110 kilm so as they turn for home and here is 355 it is Abra

And caran roko and Abra is competing she’s riding really well she wants to ride at about 16k to compete for the 24 World Championships let’s find out a little bit more about her I cannot describe my feeling it’s it’s a very big uh uh event and uh being

The only one uh Saudi female it’s it’s it’s a pressure actually but I will be I will be there and I will prove that uh everyone can do it especially the females in Saudi and out Saudi uh my name is AB ABD uh Rider and trainer so I have been uh five years

Endurance uh Sport and I have done uh more than uh 20 uh races my last uh also race outside of Saudi Arabia was second place in Slovakia uh and many of them actually inside and outside Saudi Arabia actually it’s not an easy one to be a female first it’s it’s a it’s a

Challenge you know um I know it’s it’s it’s all depend on the endurance and the ability of the person uh uh whatever if he uh male or female but uh I I take it as a challenge and uh uh I see it we can do it as as a female and in Saudi

Arabia they are supporting 100% the Saudi female Riders um and we go for a very uh high levels uh because of this support generally in Saudi Arabia we have uh uh our culture they are between the camels and horses uh it’s very important to us to to to prove to the

World that we are having this sport uh in the first place because of our culture uh then uh we we we want to spread this culture uh abroad of course well uh endurance riding is uh a trip of enjoy I know it’s a hard uh and

It take a lot of effort uh physically and mentally but uh I see it um a trip of Joy when you are uh alone with your horse in the middle of the desert or in the middle of the forest uh challenging the the weather the floor and all the

Condition uh to reach the end with a very healthy horse with the full fitness the only one advantage is uh the feeling you give for yourself uh you can see uh very uh strong men uh you’re competing with them but uh for the the people here

Like a judge and doctors they they they make it equally if you are male or female it’s the same the rule is the same uh but it’s all about yourself when you feel that you can uh do it like a very strong man it’s it’s a it’s a very yeah it’s a special Feeling and her ambition is to compete in the 2026 World Championships and there is the leading group still federo leading the bahrainis in there and bahini horse in second then Ryan El MTI and then the other two barini horses so there’s nothing between them the Gap after the crew point with

Some 6 kilm to go in this the fourth of the six Loops remember when they come in they turn left-handed here and they’ve got one more water point one more opportunity to refresh their horses on this the fourth of the loops and then when they come into the hold

In around about 20 minutes time that’s what we’re expecting at this pace in around about 20 minutes time then they go into a hold of 50 minutes 5 Z minutes so still as we started at 5:30 this morning on this 160 there is nothing between 1 to 5ifth just tracking slightly

Uphill this at the 15 14 15 they’re coming up to an altitude of 900 and then they’ll drop downhill and then they’ll turn through the village and left-handed up into the hold up into the Vet gate fascinating tactics just waiting to see when somebody’s going to go maybe they’re

Holding it right back to the final Loop to the pink Loop 20 km that final Loop and that will be in about two hours time up the hill they go 5K to go and as we heard the event director Brian Dunn speak earlier these tracks are

New and they’ll take advice from all the athletes uh Europeans the South Americans the Americans and the uh Middle East Riders to see what worked what didn’t work in preparation as the countdown Begins for 2026 for breaking down into the into a trot again and this is where the Gap is closed up

Again so this is the section that we talked about where they left the crew point but they’re now running parallel with the red Loop this is the loop that caught so many people out yesterday the last Loop of the 120 km remember the leading UAE r rode this last loop at 29

Km an hour but couldn’t get the pulse down at the end these Riders are riding it more like 18 1718 so quite a dramatic difference in the speed that we’re seeing here in the 160 km which is the world championship distance as we prepare for alula 2026 I think what is so encouraging

In today’s competition is that they’re riding with their heads and that is very heartening to see I think so too I it’s really there’s been good teamwork they’ve been really reactive and responsive to the terrain uh you know it’s not been a win at all cost mentality at all and this leading group

Very very consistent uh very experienced um and doing so far an excellent job of course you know their look can change very quickly in a 160 um but so far so good interestingly Harry if the GPS is right there’s no reason to doubt it uh Omar Rodrigo has just dropped off the

Pace behind Maria uh ponton and constanza lissia has caught up with Omar so there’s a bit of a gap building between the two Spaniards should the GPS prove accurate interesting yeah it should do I can’t see why it wouldn’t yeah feder Rico is still leading Harry

He’s on a very consistent horse and you know aside from the lameness issues that hcaz has had that tend to uh occur early in the competition um previous competitions once they past the first Loop he seems to be pretty consistent and you know totally taking a stab in

The dark here but any types of kind of arthritic changes to joints um once you get moving and everything thing loosens up the horses past the first Loop tend to be pretty good and we heard Brian saying yesterday tough technical testing this is one of the technical bits so

They’ve had to slow down because there’s a bit of a corner there but it’s gone into very deep ground in that testing conditions so it is brilliantly designed this course a lot of thoughts got into it and it’s evolved hasn’t it over the five years this competition’s been running for um

Just deep sand there at the rear of the pack and getting lighter sand coming further forward there you can see the agriculture huge agriculture in alula and they’re not far away now Harry just about to say that there’s the water point just missed it top of the camera

Shot there just 2 km from there to the vet gate so hcas are there Frederico Ferber the rider he hasn’t changed his style throughout he’s got his one hand on the rain it’s a very relaxed style ofin to what we see in South America and then in second place just

Easing in the deep sand Lola de jalima and last year’s wi winner Muhammad Abdul Hamed Al hashimi the rid is now all a little bit spaced out as they pick the going through this section and I suspect that when they hit the more firm track in the village

They’ll group back together again or actually at the last water Point uh and then they’ll go into the Vet gate together again so we saw in the previous two water points that’s just coming up now in picture feder Rico literally just stopped had a very very brief drink and then

Carried on the other Riders stopped and had a drink so what are we going to see now they come over that track and shortly they’re at the water point there it is got to turn sharp left-handed here one of the farms on the right now here we go feder Rico comes

In where are we going they can take water are they going to have a drink feder goes to the trough in fact they’re all going to the trough is federo going to go this is so interesting to the Federico’s first away to the the the horse is unfaced they’re still

Drinking ryers unfazed I know Bahrain is taking he’s not letting him get out of sight rayan in third place and then the barini Riders and then D majeri who was the first to leave the last F gate is the last one this is unprecedented to me this is unprecedented that all

Focusing on what’s coming up next they’re not thinking oh I’ve got to get the break I’ve got to get the break I’ve got to challenge them they’re just they’re riding with their heads very impressive to see so they’re on the run in now to the vet

Gate as they approach the end of phase four of the competition remember there’s six phases to this competition so as they approach the final stages of this the fourth Loop the blue loop they’re heading left-handed up the hill and we’re going to find out what waights in front of them at the vet

Gate My name is Sharon dupy I am from Botswana in Africa I’m the appointed technical delegate from the FBI At This Magnificent event in alula the technical delegate has all authority we check the track we check the venue we familiarize ourself with all information that’s been given out to

The Riders and we are also the link between the organizing committee and the FEI we have all these vet inspections in a 120 endurance the horse will pass 7 to eight vet checks and for a 160 more than 10 and all the vet checks will happen in exactly the same

Protocol so the Riders will come from the loops and cross there will be a line here so they will cross and the time is being taken here the rider will be weighed and he at all times must be above the minimum weight uh at this 2024

Rules now allow a rider to lose up to 1 kg uh if if he’s being weighed for the first time horses past the arrival line now and they go into the cooling down area in this area they will try and cool down the horse as quickly as possible to

Present to the vet in where the time will stop so this is kind of part of your riding time next the horses will move into the Vet Lane and this is the line where the time will stop so the horse crosses this line and then has to move forward to the vet

Lane I’m nicoa Pilan Italian vet I’m here as the Veterinary service manager and president of the treatment vets the first thing that the line vet will do is to check the heart rate it has to be under 64 bits per minutes after that he will do a throt around 50 m back and

Forth we are looking for any irregular gate that can concern us that the horse cannot keep you know going on the track when he comes back the line vet will check all other parameters that will give to the lime vet picture of the metabolic condition of the horse if the

Lme vet is Happy uh they also pass the uh examination we now are at the vet out this is where horses depart to the holding area um after passing or failing to qualify in the vetting area when a horse fails to qualify the rider cannot appeal against a veteran

Decision all the Riders want to leave the vetting area as quickly as possible so that they can have enough time to look after their horses in the holding area the fbii rules and regulations are written to protect our horses brilliantly explained and that’s what awaits these five Riders the

Leading five Riders of the AL Alpha sunand Cup coming off the fourth of six loops and they’re all going well here are the crews as we heard with Sharon Crews getting ready the water and uh it’s all about the presentation time that all important presentation time making sure that the

Heart rate is 64 beats per minute making sure that everything is right we can see and Fe hear the breeze there though Mick yes we can the nations flags flutter in the back 41 Nations started this the first ever running of a three star 160 here in ALA Uncharted Territory for these Riders

After this Loop there’s only ever been up to 120 km run here so they have two more phases of competition and they have nothing to base that on no previous data no experiences from Riders to speak to or inform how they ride but they’ve ridden very intelligently very conservative up to this point

So let’s see how this phase concludes first to last five lengths across the final road crossing so I was just about to say stationary cameras will pick them up there we go so in order you have Frederico Ferber Uruguay Uruguay you have Muhammad Al hashimi second we have rayan Al MTI

Saudi Arabia in third I just need to see the white socks to tell the latter to apart okay so you have have uh hammed aljani bahin bahin and then to conclude you have hman Al aadi also from Bahrain three from Bahrain one from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia one from

Uruguay all experts in riding in these conditions but never ever before at alola all those uh Six Flags in a row there and the green and white signifying the 5 km training track that you rode on all those weeks ago Harry uh with uh Rebecca Pender’s horse so now they turn

Left-handed they can see see the finish line and hopefully hopefully all these five horses will pass and then they’ll go into a 50 minute hold with a compulsory reinspection is have they got a compulsory reinspection on they’ve got two compulsory reinspection wow okay normally normally there would

Only be one but maybe the president of the veteranary commission and the foreign vet have decided Carlos and Antonio have decided to put in another compulsory and that’s perfectly within their rights so up they come look at that after a forward for hcas there after a very very long way I’m

Just trying to do the math 114 114 km after 114 km they’re all looking perfectly poised and ready to go again we hope but they’ve got a long way to go they’ve got two vet checks now to come up one immediately uh they want to present and then one 15 minutes before

They want to go out so that could be in around about 48 minutes time about there they just the side Federica comes in first we think with h yaa based out in Alain in Abu D in the UAE then last year’s it is Muhammad al-hashimi and Lola in they go and there’s still

Nothing between any of them more Riders going out on to this the fourth Loop the blue loop so all in a row 315 it looks like it’s coming in first but there’s nothing between them that’s Hamed Al janahi so in they come off they get you notice there the clips

Are undone the marting Gs are undone the bridles are off the head collars are on and here’s where where the crews get to work the Riders doing the same very shortly the heart rate monitors will go on onto the horses see what they think probably might not let them stop too much quick

Drink 114 km they’ve ridden got another 46 to go Lola checking out the heart rate can’t quite read it they were right on the edge the last time they presented 338 the horse the partnership that have literally led the way remember they’re trained up in Abu Dhabi that’s the uruan rider Federico

Fber still not got the heart rate down yet on Lola first in are they going in yes they are so Bakin going first that’s hammed Al janayi and Des ler they’ll be sent to the vets it is uh completely independent line allocation So the minute they come in between that building and the canopy to the left that’s when the clock stops now they’re into the vets Uruguay MRA 361 just that’s R mty but over JJ struggle to get the heart rate down on the green loop loop three started what 3 minutes behind the

Leading group then has caught up so now the ugu hor HC yaer 61 look at that 54 54 Fest lamaar and that after having ridden 114 km 61 61 61 54 so they’re all in that 64 parameter anything under or on is fine so there’s the Trot now we go to

The metabolics testing the Garten making sure that everything is fit to continue the whole purpose is fit to to Continue still Ryan’s horse trying to get the heart rate down so their average speed slowed down a bit on the fourth Loop 18.5 so they’ve gone 19.5 18.7 18. 7 and now 18.5 Uruguay really nervous moments for the riders in all the crews now right Ryan says yes Ryan says yes let’s go with bonova JJ J 361 maybe 2 minutes two minutes off the pace there’s danela Danielle from Italy where Ryan CH trains with so what are they saying It’s a represent I think it’s a represent for siroko Bahrain oan alawadi so that is a represent foree Danielle just presenting Ryan Altis Bova JJ on the Trot turns them round nice loose rain got the heart rate Down perfectly shown under the new regulation regulations so now look 313 on a represent that means time is still ticking tick tick and uh they will lose their time so it’s all very tense out there and Harry is uh down in the vet gate as they’re trying to represent 313

Oan alwani uh representing Victorious Stables of Bahrain you’re now just completed uh the fourth phase of the competition your horse had a high heart rate on the first inspection but you’re quite confident now that he will pass this this second uh presentation uh yeah

For sure the horse uh did well uh as the weather is hot so we didn’t go speed from the first Loop uh we go for reasonable speed uh especially it’s the first 160 kilm uh in so it’s like a practice to test to expert the ground so for next year and

The World Cup the year after and we’ve been watching you out on course via the helicopter the leading group that you’re in have been riding very sensibly changing your speed slowing down letting the horses drink all part of the strategy is that going to maintain the

Same for the next few Loops or will it now get a bit more competitive no for sure we’ll maintain the same thing you know as uh as you know and you see the ground is very hard and it’s a mixed between hard and soft ground so you have

To deal with it you cannot go uh full counter you have to slow down you have to drink uh get the horse to drink some water not to get dehydration but you must be thinking the podium places Bahrain you’ve still got three horses in it very strong position

For team bahin yeah for sure Victorious whenever uh we participate we are looking only for the podium the first position so that’s how we’re planning uh from the first Loop uh for sure the following up from His Highness and the instructions getting Loop by Loop and uh we’re following the instruction and

Going according to the plan so just to cover you’re getting instructions from his hnas Loop by Loop yeah for sure he’s behind us he support us so he read the race we give him the information he do the analysis and he give the instruction Loop by Loop opman alawadi for the

Victorious tables thank you very much inshah good luck for the rest of the race welcome thank you very much thank you so we’ve done the trop we’ve uh measured the heart rate we’ve just heard from the rider of SRA de Terrio doesn’t want to go home doesn’t want to go back to the

Vets I’m sure that the Vets will be asking them to retrot again no sounds like he’s happy those are the heart rate monitors so remember they’re going into the 50 minutes hold that and we’ve just had the reinspection of hammed Jan and Des lari the first there it is there’s the horse uh

Their reinspection is at 1414 and they will start 15 minutes later Loop 5 of six at 1429 that’s uh siroko we just heard from oan and now the Vets doing the final of the three checks the metabolics and we’ll wait and see we’re just getting information that the

Top three will go within 33 seconds of each other and we’ll wait and see one of the othman’s hor Soko has passed the vet looks to me like it has CU there was no three card trick so yes there it is it is Bahrain Uruguay Bahrain they’re going

Out the reinspection 1414 145 14 15 and there is 33 seconds between them so now waiting to hear about uh R MTI and bonova JJ and this horse that we see in camera 313 SRO deiso then we uh are seeing that the Brazilians are about 1.1 km away and

Then the two Spanish and the Italian they’ve split up a little bit they’re about 300 M apart the two Spaniards of Maria ponton and Omar Rodrigo and constan lissia they are 1.6 to 1.9 km away and then the second of the Brazilians really caught up the pace

Monica graciano 2 and2 km away so 313 goes back into the hold do we I not not sure there they are that’s the group the two Spaniards and Constanta Constanta remember she started in the pink helmet she started uh a kilometer apart from these two so she’s pushed on

She’s pushed on to catch up Omar and Maria ponton the other two there’s the Brazilian on the left and uh and Maria as well so now they’re all riding together so Maria who started 5 minutes behind this has really caught up and ronato Salvador the two tremendous silver medalist from the world

Championships in Pisa they have caught up and now they’re back together riding as a partnership but remember Monica in the previous vet gate she had another reclassification she wasted about 5 minutes so she’s really picked up the pace will that prove costly we’ll have to wait and see constan

Tracking neatly she’s caught up a kilometer and Maria and Omar are right in the mix again so there is the second of the groups we’ve got five through and we’re waiting to see whether 313 and seroco make it through I think they’ve got a high pulse rate uh we’re not

Totally sure but definitely definitely we’ve got two for Bahrain and one for Uruguay ready for a reinspection so the next five are joining us two for Brazil two for Spain one for Italy up the hill they come for the fourth time with two to go let’s hope ranata Monica Omar Maria and

Constanza just see the flags BL blowing in the wind it’s very windy out there keeping the temperatures down first of the two Brazilians comes in reonardo Salvador and unes Trio and he rode the previous two Loops an average of 17.9 it’s great s cannot reiterate what an encouraging

Site this is to see these horses coming in looking so fresh after 114 km constanza’s really caught up now will that will that worry them bearing in mind that they took a relatively long time to present at vet Gate 3 you see there you see that uh ronard Salvador and

Monica graciano in Monica jumping off as they crossed the line before they got into the hold because she had a Time penalty on the last presentation so has that getting off just lightening the load on the back has that worked Martingale comes off Clips are undone and on goes the water

These two certainly missed each other at the last presentation so there’s Maria and Juma husband and wife lying in fifth at the moment but as we’ve seen as we saw yesterday and was we’ve seen so often in this sport that the podium finishes can change and change and change it’s never

Over until you’ve got three home so yes we have uh uh that I think we think 313 may have been taken out of the competition couldn’t make the heart rate so for sure we’ve got three ready for reinspection now we await this lot Juma on the right Maria on the left the Spanish

Colors of Team Juma the orange and blue blue Brazilians now the two grays still not ready they’re still not ready to go yet there’s the two Brazilian horses ARA and Monica there’s jumer with Maria’s horse in they come presentation time Omar just going to the next

Line and if you want to see an expert Trotter horse dumer is the one 301 tensions building in this vet gate we’ve got the two spani the Italian and the two Brazilians ready to present and Harry is in the vet gate so Dr khed a strong race so far for Bahrain but the

First time 160 km have beenin run here so untested um you’ve still got two combinations in the competition tell us how it’s going from your perspective well uh we are not we are very familiar with uh alola uh this is six versions and uh 160 kilomet is the first uh trial

Uh preparation for the World Cup in 2026 so it will be good time a good experience for the all Riders and even our management and our trainer to evaluate the ground how the the flow and how it’s going the the ride if it is uh yeah we do have two horses two horses

There are in front first and third right now and we hope to finish the the the coming Tu luo uh safe and we we are manage to be uh riding our Rider to do the rides all the uh five Loops uh safely and quietly not to push the

Horses over the limit and to evaluate the the ground uh correctly uh the last Lo we will manage to see where our horses to be awarded to be in the podium this is the idea to be honest with you this time is not to be on the podium and

Is more than that to qualify our horses and test the ground and and and 160 cam because usually being here uh in 120 kilomet uh it’s good trial uh management is very good uh organization so far so good uh the commit officials they are deal with it in a fair way and looking

For it and you we spoke to one of your Riders earlier you’ve been receiving instructions from m h sh NASA um and the Riders riding very sensibly taking their time if you’re in a position on the final Loop for a Podium will you push for push for the line no doubt no doubt

No doubt that is the the tactic of the ride the tactic of the right to make the the to save the to take the uh safe of the horses for uh on the up till the fifth Loop and uh we will be in the last

Loop and the sixth Loop which it is also uh the same Lube on the 2026 coming so in the last Loop for sure we will push our horses to be awarded in the podium we last year we’ve been awarded in the podium as a winner of20 so will and we

Miss it unfortunately yesterday we arrived second and uh the horse has been evaluated in lame and it is a part it is a part of the sport the lame and uh the BS High PS uh our horses is not been unfortunately passed the final loop Final Exam we will hopefully today have the

Podiums as we have it last year it was a shame to lose Ryder 313 opman we spoke to him earlier just now on the was it high P well it’s uh unfortunately it was lame uh what was not not 100% sound and we keep safe the horses uh and they we

Recognize that it is the horses not 100% sound from the on the fourth Loop so we said that it is on third Loop so we said that it’s is fourth Loop we see how we thing going with this horse but um as I tell you lame is a part of the sport so

The horse be sure lame but hopefully it’s not severe injury in the horse and we will look after then fix the horses and we come for on the r Dr K thank you very much we wish the very best of luck inshah uh well I wish for everyone to

Be a win a good win and then the podiums uh good to see all the nations here in ALA uh good uh trial for World Cup on 2026 uh his high sh Nas I’m sure he’ll be delighted to come next year and to test by himself and riding next year

Because it will be the last trial next year so it is a good opportunity for everybody to to come next year this year it is a first test and the look for me it is good it’s the the track is need is very tactic track uh to be deserve to be

A World Cup track to be for championships well done for ala hopefully to have they successful it’s a great Insight thank you very much that’s excellent very good great supporter of endurance khed Dr khed Hassan the manager so’s I thought you were come on that’s uh interesting 345 the

Combination of Jordan Remember Jordan sent 11 here and that is the Jordanian kasm Al and zala so we can tell you that we have lost uh R MTI from Saudi Arabia we’ve lost oan from the Kingdom of Bahrain so at the moment we have two from

Bahrain and one one from Uruguay they do have to go to their reinspection at well just under 9 minutes time all three of those then they’ll be going out onto the penultimate Loop the red Loop 25.5 and that was the last Loop yesterday a lot of riders felt that that

Was a tricky Loop and then uh we’re waiting to hear of our two Brazilians and our two Spaniards and our one Italian so we can confirm that Maria Alvarez Ponto Ducks has climbed from 8th to 4th just like that and she is in a reinspection at

1434 and she sets off on the fifth at 1449 and Omar Rodrigo Blanco also goes off at 1449 so the two Spaniards team jumer lying jumer team lying in fourth and fifth and constanza nissia goes off at 1450 so she has made up the dist the difference of that 5 minutes that she

Lost after the third loop with that second reinspection and now we wait to see the times of the two Brazilians those two Grays and the uh doesn’t look too good with Christian Lozano there there so it’s all happening now it’s the competition is really really building and we’re waiting to see where it’s

Going to take us and Harry remains with us in the vet gate Ryan we saw what it meant for Faris aburas to be on the podium for Saudi yesterday you’re up there in the leading group do you feel the pressure uh first of all thank you so

Much uh we are so happy we are so happy that Faris did uh the result of yesterday if you remember last year I told you fire us he will do something good so we put our trust with him and alhamdulillah he got the second position so uh yes today we got some

Pressure to to do some good result because we were ready more than ready and uh the mer she did very good she did very good but the track was little bit difficult and uh she’s very strong and she’s little bit uh nervous so I think next time she will do it easy inshallah

And how’s she going now um you are maybe two Loops left uh now uh this loop I got eliminated yeah I got eliminated of little bit lameness and uh I’m happy she’s okay she’s okay I’m sure she’s okay and next time she will do it easy

She was looking so strong on the Trap but it is a challenging one at 160 km is here for the first time um there’s nothing really to go on to base how you ride the the the competition exactly yes on the truck she was incredible alhamdulillah she was very strong and uh

She’s always like this and about the the the truck if you talk about 160 first time yeah it’s difficult six loops and you have two examination and uh the the distance is is good we like the distance but the the track is difficult so for first time 160 I think uh

Interesting yeah and what’s your prediction for the rest of the competition um I’m so excited for the next competitions here uh we have to do it but in terms of this race now who do you think is looking the strongest out there on the track I think I think uh it will

Be uh with the Muhammad Hashi from bahin I think I wish him best of luck and bahin team and Al Team all of us are brothers and I wish them best of luck okay Ryan well I’m really sorry it didn’t work out today but uh we look

Forward to following you on future rides and obviously at the Championships in 2026 just before we go what does it mean to have the Championships here in alula it means a lot it means a lot it can I can say it’s uh it’s it was a dream for

Us now it CES through so from now we start to prepare we start to qualify the horse we choose the horses so the world championship 2026 will not be easy but uh we have big big big chance and they think it will not leave from Saudi

Arabia I hope okay Ryan alobi thank you very much thank you thank you so much thank you what an ambassador for the sport of endurance bad luck for Ryan today but it really interestingly and uh it is fascinating to see the Young 23-year-old Omar alawi in ninth spot at the moment in

Ninth spot at the moment and uh remember he is part of the Ala Academy so uh that is a future Dynasty building now to give you the uh overall standings as we’re seeing it now and it really is starting to unfold we’ve got Bahrain we’ve got uh

Hammad aahi and Des laari the dark the liver chestnut horse Des laari 315 and they will depart providing all these athletes and their horses past the compulsory reinspection which is 15 minutes before their Judah start they will start in first place at 1429 then you go to Uruguay as we’ve

Just heard from Ryan it is Federico Ferber and HD yaer and they will start at 1430 there is 18 seconds difference then they will go to Muhammad Al hashimi and Lola tala the horse that carried his H shik NASA to Glory at the Young Horse World Championships two years ago and they

Will start at 14305 some 8 seconds behind freder Rico then it gets really interesting the two Spaniards really have climbed the ladder remember they went into this fourth Loop in 9th and 10th place they’re now lying in fourth and fifth that is Maria Alvarez former world champion and Omar

Blanco Rodrigo Rodrigo Blanco with the two Spanish horses cinch deel and JM El sabrino and they will go slightly later 20 minutes 19 and a half minutes after the first Rider then the two Brazilians they came back to each other because Monica graciano she started 5 minutes after

Rata Salvador if you’re still with me but they came back together and they go pretty much at the same time 2 seconds apart and then the young lady the young 25-year-old European Champion former European Champion Constanta Constanta Lisha from Italy she will start a little after a minute uh 20 seconds after the

Two Brazilians and she does like to ride in a group she doesn’t like to ride on her own and she will go off in eighth then we go to the two from Saudi Arabia and they’re lying in 9th and 10th and they are literally about to join us here

In the vet gate in fact uh I think we’re seeing them very very soon it is Omar alawi and from Ala lying in ninth place and then Abra andada here they come 355 just coming in and here is Abra she is riding at her own pace desperate to finish this ride

Desperate to qualify to complete this ride to make sure that she has the two CI three stars under her belt so she is eligible to compete in alula in the 2026 FEI World Endurance championships brilliant Ambassador for sport and for endurance riding here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

338 just uh looking at camera there that is the second second they’re just coming into their reinspection now and they’ll be doing exactly the same thing the Vets exactly the same thing there’s Lola the uh bahini horse of Muhammad al-hashimi winner here different distance though and the Vets are looking

At exactly the same there’s Federico’s horse HC viata exactly the same thing metabolics Trot heart rate to make sure that they are fit to go out onto the next Loop the penultimate Loop the second last Loop the red Loop of 25.5 there’s the thumbs up so they

Passed the reinspection so they got 15 minutes more to wait laari so Bakin now the ugu horse 51 on the pulse there back down they come this Lola all looks good I think yes all confirmed so it’s two for Bahrain one for Uruguay those three have passed their reinspection they’re all

Confirmed they’re all good to go and they will start at 1429 to 1430 there is only 33 seconds between the first three as they go into the last 45 km and here is Abra Abra Abdullah car into the Vet gate competed in Italy competed in Slovakia with Kang roko

There’s the vet on the left hand side with the heart rate monitor saddle will come off all confirmed just a little under 15 minutes to wait now we are in uncharted waters up until now the history of alula has been over four Loops we’re just about to start

What in in 12 minutes time or so the fifth Loop the red Loop 25.5 federo and you heard uh Ryan say it’s all about teamwork we’re all Brothers we’re all friends now I wonder what they do little bit of a more of a breather they’ll repeat the exercise there is abra’s horse

Roko all about the rates the American sh van Dyson just about to go back out 28 eliminations so far a lot of horses out there on course on Loops three and on Loops 4 the vet card for srao we heard from Dr khed from the Royal barin endurance

Team good metabolics AAA C and uh it was just The Irregular gate still waiting to see whether rok’s heart rate can come down they’ve got 15 minutes tth times every stage of this competition not only have they had to ride across some of the most testing and trying

Conditions but they’ve got to pass the vets and as we heard from Sharon they’ve got 11 over 10 vets and uh we wait for Abra Harry is back in the vet gate so I’m here with freder Rico the trainer of freder Rico ferber’s Mount HC Yer freder Rico how’s it going so far

Until now she’s doing very very good we are very very happy also he arrive from UAE was very bad how the trip was very bad it’s more than enough what he’s doing until now and H AER and freder Rico were winners in 2022 here that must give them an advantage they know the

Track and they’ve won here before yes but this not the only because many people from here it’s very nice place the people coming and right here they want to come back again it’s not the only but it’s true the sh know compete here three times and we’ve seen freder Rico just

Push the pace a little bit from the group but then come back again do you think Frederico will now get a little bit more competitive these last two Loops my idea is try to first to compete with the distance because it’s too too hard the race I want to wait until the

Last Loop but anyway we need the other people help also because it’s not easy to pull all the race all the horse if the other no no help to go maybe the hores from Back start catching us so working as a team with the other Riders

And then on the last Lo maybe making a dash to the line yes this one I think they will be for everybody the same but what happened yesterday also you need to watch out about this Frederico trainer of hcer thank you very much we’ll let you get back to looking after the horse

Okay than you thank you very much thank you thank you not long to look after because they’re away in uh 1429 yeah so 9 Minutes they’ll be coming out of the barn out of the hold out of the crewing area in 5 6 minutes there it is 338 HC

Vataa look at the cream going on just checking the who’s making sure we said the f is getting to work there now and let’s just have a look closely and see what plate we’re going to go on is it a new or are we just taking it off checking the feet

Just putting the new studs in these pictures they’re giving us such a fascinating insight and there is the Vini endurance horse Dela Messier they’re leading the way but only by 12 seconds so we uh await the arrival and Harry has been super busy let’s see where he is

Now Mar Alvarez ponton you’re doing really well at the moment I believe in fourth place how’s the race inv folding uh the race has been um fine for me but we had some problems in the first loop with the camels and this I think will be

Um a problem for us at the end in in fact we are little bit of slowing down because we are not sure how bad they uh they will be after this but because they were really quiet until that moment and for 5 km was a mess completely mess so

They were running too fast for 5 Kil kilometers you’re worried that they’ve metabolically compromised or yeah not only fast really scared and with the camels close to us and was not only the speed it was the the excitement but your vet card looks good so far and you’ve got the re-exam now to

Pass it’s a nervous moment for any Rider yeah is all re exam are always difficult the horses are fine they are doing really good they are really nice in the track we hope it will be okay and let me ask you you rode yesterday 120 km and

Today 160 km as a rider how do you prepare to do such an enormous amount of distance on quite challenging terrain uh usually I have done it a lot of times before but this time I’m coming from an injury I’m not really drain but it’s fine for the moment it’s better than I

Thought and it’s not so difficult to do it the the worst day is the day after the third day um well hopefully by the end of to day you can have a well earned rest we wish you the very best of luck and let’s catch up again later thank you

Very much thank you Maria well done Harry and there’s the horse there is Maria’s horse cinch deel and the countdown begins and where’s the tactics going endurance expert the man who’s been everywhere in alula I mean is there not a blade of is there not a grain of sand that you haven’t covered

Harry uh I don’t know it’s all changed this F gate isn’t it I mean hasn’t it just you know look at Maria and and Omar and look at the Brazilians creeping up the uh rankings yeah so I mean the first time 160 km have been run here um all in preparation

For the World Endurance championships 2026 and and every single Rider we speak to every trainer everybody they all have their eyes on the ultimate the world championships this is not about pushing the horses beyond their capabilities it’s about getting the practice learning and using that intelligence for the World Endurance championships and these

Two horses 315 and 317 the two brainii horses have got good records here in alula we heard Dr khed but but they will be aiming for the FEI World Endurance championships 2026 my name is Kami Maran I work as a director of the equestrian sector for the Royal Commission of alula we are

Very excited to host this new edition of the force and Cup this year is um new challenges and new highs let’s say with a a record number of country participating and for the first time two rides the two star ride which is the the regular for cup 120 km and the three

Star Ride For the First Time 160 km we’ve recently been awarded the hosting of the urance world championship in 2026 by the International Federation so it’s a it’s a big honor but it’s also a big challenge to be ready and to be uh to have all the technical requirements

Set uh so this right on Sunday will be the first uh test for us so the championship will happen in October 2026 which is from now bit more than 2 and a half years on Sunday is the first 160 kilom organizing here so the trucks we have for Sunday might not be

The same next year might not be the same in 2026 horses are part of the culture and the heritage of the region of the Kingdom uh if you walk in the the Wes you see carvings of horse riding so it’s really part of the DNA of the

Region this is a unique place and uh all the feedback we had from people in the past year who came here to compete in 120 everybody said it was an exceptional place and they really enjoyed it not only the the ride but also the place the endurance World Championship

Ship it’s an event that is happening only every two years the criteria are very very precise so it’s great um great honor but also great responsibility we want to to use this event in order to have endurance and the equestrian sector as a as a key pillar of of alula in the Future Yeah Some great footage there of alula and the old town this is quite remarkable nestled in such a historic part of the world so here we are we see the three leading Riders they’ve passed the re exam and they are now ready to leave just three so the team of five that we

Saw earlier has been reduced down to these three we are seeing pictures here of last year’s winner Muhammad Abdul Hamed Al hasimi with Lola deala Lola deala the winner of the young Horse World Endurance championships 2022 with his H shasa who we’re also told is keeping a close eye on what’s Happening

Here on the ground and has been feeding information instructions to his team team Victorious for bahin number 338 Frederico Ferber with HC yaer and we heard from the trainer also called freder Rico everything going to plan so far but this is unknown territory an additional two Loops last yesterday four Loops today six

Loops so Ryder 315 hammed Isa Abdullah YF Al with d sler now heading out onto the start of the red Loop a slightly longer Loop this one 25.5 and we heard from the Riders yesterday that it’s a uh deceptively uh tricky Loop and one that needs needs care Rebecca Jane Pinder

Describing it as more challenging than the white Loop that we’ve heard so much about D slager having a very consistent and good recovery time hence why this horse is is out ahead and the second place feder Rico furber 20 seconds behind they’re all out that’s it so the leading Riders they’re

A little bit spaced out but they’re going to catch each other up and we’re over to the Head now who’s picking the rers up now as they leave onto the Redling and way we go Harry 25.5 bit of a sting in the tail there isn’t it after doing a 20 km Loop earlier and now going up another 5K it’s normal it is normal uh you would always try and finish on 18 to 20 um and it’s the only

Way that they can make the distance here on behalf of the horse Brian uh Brian Dunn is just about to join the event director here in alula Harry spoke to him earlier on this morning Brian we’re now in Loop five first time that the blue loop has

Been ridden yes they’ve ridden all the elements of it but not as a combined uh the ride is continuing and it it’s it’s it’s unfurling isn’t it it is indeed Nick and um we’re entering to New Territory we haven’t gone this far before so we’ve got two extra Loops

We’ve got an extra 40 km it’s the first time we’ve done it here in alula it’s testing and it’s proving to be te testing and tough for them it is and and look at the graphics they’ve literally just started the uh the red Loop uh 25.5 and then they’re going to 20 Harry

Just asked me an interesting question he said uh yeah it’s a bit of a sting in the Tail Going 25.5 I said I don’t think it is actually if if Michael designers were designing this they would do exactly the same absolutely right and we looked at the blue and thought okay we

Could put the blue where the red is and put the red is red but it doesn’t suit doesn’t suit does it it doesn’t suit the ground it doesn’t suit the area and Nick it’s only 5 1 half km yeah it is and let’s face it they’re riding 160 today

To become a true champion of the alpha Sun cup and Brian they are I don’t know whether you’ve seen any of these incredible pictures that we’ we’ve been getting from the from the heli and from the crew points and from the water points they are riding so sensibly and

It is so refreshing to see this is how we planned it this is tactical riding yeah they’ve appreciated the briefing they’ve appreciated the maps they know where they can hold they know where they can push and they know where they can give the horse a rest and

Interly after these this Loop and the next Loop they’ve got a representation so they’ve got a re-exam so they’ve got to be on the ball that’s really good to see that was the Slovakian Rider the young Slovakian Rider uh Barbara fova and Ral badia Brian and you’ve had 41 different

Nations competing in this 160 that is unprecedent it’s unheard of it is and and I think because news is getting around and because of the media people are now seeing it live it’s live streaming this year and last year it’s new it’s not flat desert it it’s not

Dubai it’s not Abu Dhabi it’s new it’s something great it is brilliant I mean the scenery is breathtaking it really is breathtaking but the from what I’ve seen and i’ I’ve hardly scratch the surface out on the loops but from what I’ve seen the conditions change instantaneously so

You go from a hard road to you to um not Road a hard track to a soft to a deep sand to a soft s to a Twist to a turn to an up to a down it is the true test of an endurance horse absolutely right and

Don’t forget we started early when it was cold yes and uh we all had our jackets on and I’ll PS on this morning we’ve taken them off as the day got on and again Nick after 5:30 when the Sun goes down it’ll get cold again yes it

Will so we’ve got all these factors and it’s Unique and that’s the word I use is unique and I have another unique one this course cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world not for the scenery not for the atmosphere and not for the facilities but also not for the

Track as they just go they’re what 2K out now they’re going through the Farms aren’t they Brian this is quite a hard stretch of of of the track this is where all the big farms are and and what I had no idea about until I came to our Lula I

Knew that sort of north of Riad and north of tobuk it was very AG ultural here the agriculture is is phenomenal here as well isn’t it it’s like Oasis isn’t it in the middle of the Desert Oasis but where you see now Nick what’s left at the last Loop have you got

What’s left to kick on now do you wait another kilometer where do you decide the race starts well that’s just what Harry and I have been discussing since about 5 6 this morning Brian uh I I would say in my humble opinion having the Slovakian barbaras just about

To get get going the clock is counting down and good luck to them uh really good luck to them young lady from Slovakia uh Slovakia of course have hosted a world champions championships before you and I were there in 2017 um I don’t think they’re going to go here is my prediction

Until out on the pink until the final final water point I don’t see that that’s where they’re going to go I’m going to disagree with you Nick okay I think if they’re together and we’ve got a group I think they’ll ride steady there’ll be tactics I don’t expect a

Sprint till they come out of the village don’t you so 2K one and 1.7k away and again it’s a long slow climb it’s like it’s like the finish at entry isn’t it it’s it’s like the elbow coming through the elbow and up the hill abely coming

Round tum corner and coming up that’s it that’s itby Hill this course has got everything absolutely everything and even so uh our old mate uh Jr was on the on the text this morning saying my word this looks beautiful I just wish JR could be here cuz he would appreciate

This we WE John Robertson Brian you and I one of our oldest friends uh he is as you are and don’t take this the wrong way Mr Dunn sir uh you no you are both founding fathers of this sport I I refer to John as the Elder Statesman of inurance and he is

And and we hope you’re listening John and we we wish you well down near Gatwick in in in Sussex uh but he would be so pleased with this having been and set up rides all around the world Malaysia in Dubai in Abu Dhabi uh in Slovakia everywhere in the world where

There’s been an important Championship he has been part of it as you have absolutely right and you know what we miss him we do miss him yeah we do we’ll see him in May at Windsor thank you very much Brian and pleasure good luck over the next uh two and a half

Hours it’s going to unfold I’ll take you at your word 1.8 kilm away I think they’re they’re going to go a little bit sooner I think they’re going to go about 4K away a pain is on when we’re back home when we’re back home Mr dun right

Okay thank you very much Brian and good luck so it looks to me like Barbara has got problems with the knitting she’s got problems with uh the Stirrup and I wonder what she’s got to do there she’s just I wonder if she’s got some spare tack no it looks to me like it’s

Literally just come out of the Buckle now she’s just got to pop it back in put the foot in the srup hopefully because I wouldn’t be wanting to ride another 90 km with only one srup I really really wouldn’t looks like we’re okay are we are the feet

In turn the cage round and we’re away so they’re now out on the red loop our leading three Riders are out on the red Loop and this is in uncharted waters and let’s see what Harry made of the red Loop one of the flags the central one’s dropped

So I’m down here on the red Loop traing through this pretty deep sand having Come From the Canyon over there horses and Riders descend on this deep sand track down onto the road the red Loop 25.5 km and it happens late in the race so horse and Riders at this point could

Be getting tired it’s a technical Loop they will need to ride it very carefully they’ll have to go slowly through this bit and then when they hit the harder ground down there they’ll be able to ease the brakes off and let the Rhythm flow

On here we are at a crew point on the red Loop horses and Riders at the furthest point away from the vet gate at this point they have progressed all the way through this Valley up to this point where they swing a u-turn through here which will be packed full of crew the

Leading Riders will caner through here quite quickly taking lots of water onto the horses those horses and Riders taking a little bit slow will stop here and let the horses have a drink they’ll progress through here they navigate The Canyons then back into the village before hooking a left back to the all

Important vet gate where they must pass the veter inspection welcome back Harry nice to see you and the red Loop yeah you know we did that course guide before we heard the rider feedback yeah and I think we underestimated it um I mean look at how

Deep that sand is they are sinking into mid Cannon bone at that point um yes but I I I’ll put this question to you Harry uh in the United Kingdom uh a lot of horses like soft ground deep ground that ground to me there it’s very deep

Sand but we would refer that to that as bottomless ground so the horses are going through it does that make sense yeah I it does I don’t know whether that’s the case here or not but I don’t know I think the the issue with the sand

Is it’s you know as you know yourself from walking through sand is it’s just sapping isn’t it you know it takes the momentum out of your stride and that is the challenge is horses energy is is putting the energy into the legs and then using the tendons to flick their

Body forwards isn’t it uh and the added strain of having to to kind of propel their body out of the sand onto the next stride but I think we’ve seen such clever riding so far we you know they’re really picking their way is it harder to walk through sand or to do a

Little gentle hand caner I don’t know it’s a tricky one once if it gets really deep I think you have to back off the Speed but there is something to be said about keeping a bit of forward momentum so that you’re almost bouncing on top of the sand um rather than

Sinking into it obviously if you go too fast then you’re the horses feet are hitting that sound so hard they’re going to go into it um but remember these horses bahin Bahrain and the leading horse here trained in the united AR Emirates they are used to the sand they are they really are

And it doesn’t discount from the fact that we’re in in uncharted waters though no exactly um and look there you see they just come across another piece on that corner there uh as they go into the canyon I know exactly where they are here they going to go down down don’t

They and then once they have done this last bit of deep sound they hit a really hard track to the crew point a real stunning bit of the course here where it’s so narrow just imagine okay we’ve had 61 Riders we’ve now got the first three going on the red

Loop yesterday we had what 82 finishers yesterday they all rode the red Loop but very very few people very few people apart from the farmers have ridden through this for for Millennia yeah Y and that is history in the making it’s very unspoiled terrain isn’t

It off they go it’s a little bit harder here Harry isn’t it yeah it’s downhill you can’t quite see that from this perspective but they’re going downhill now so they’ve they’ve climbed up to this point they’ve gone through through the very narrow uh Wes there and now they’re going downhill towards the track

Which then takes them out towards the uh checkpoint crew point Sorry where are they 25.5 this so they’re probably at checkpoint 21 at the moment yeah they’ve not so they haven’t yet joined up with any other Loops which means they haven’t ridden this part of the course at all yet today

No today and then very shortly they’re coming downhill to join the the green Loop then they leave the green Loop then they are on their own for maybe 100 beers then they are on the yellow Loop and so it’s starting to starting to feel familiar yeah another three minutes and

Then Maria and Omar are out of the starting Gates so they’ve a little a considerable lead that these three have a good 20 minutes but okay it is one it is under 90 seconds with one block first to nine yeah and then and then we go to

Saudi Arabia we go to ABRA AB Abul who’s doing great doing isn’t she in ninth place oh my word fairy tale fairy tale finish if we can get the next two Loops done she’ll be reinspected at 1455 and they’ll go off at 15 10 and then for France Camille kulong

She’s got a very good record in uh in endurance in Europe Camille with s SW flinker uh another reinspection so and then we have Chile Chile ready to be reinspected at 1458 who’s that coming in it’s 308 just getting ready the ugan so interestingly Camille is riding a horse

Also owned in the UAE SW fling owned by YF abdulaziz Al shimari and it’s got a good record in the U so also trained for the sand and desert conditions so we’ve got the Italian horse the grey horse 308 constanza’s horse and then the two there it is that constanza’s

Horse of far de batas and they will go off and there that tactic played off she caught Maria and Omar back up and uh she’s under a minute apart yeah and yesterday she hung uh at the tail all day all day and then pick them to the line there it

Is there is the uh start Time ready to go so coming and then the other thing Harry I don’t know because um you’ve been out with the Stars uh Omar Al balali from alula is also lying in 12th space uh with a compulsory reinspection and ready to go at quarter 3 that’s it’s incredible you know I remember sitting

Here last year seeing him and his fellow riders in the 120 km and you know they were basic riding skills and they were tackling it it was a really big deal for them to be complete competing here for the first time and trying to get round

Is their first 120 look how far they’ve come you know know we’ve now got a rider potentially with a world championship qualification from alula which is all part of the investment in the future of the sport in this region of the world and look how far these three have gone

Uh this is the one part isn’t it this is the one part the sole part of the red Loop which is it’s tough isn’t it it is tough so 31 have been removed from the competition we’ve got 22 out on Loop either the red Loop or the preceding

Loops and seven in the vet gate at the moment ready to go the ETA for the leading Riders is 356 local time off this Loop and there we go team Spain Omar Blanco Rodrigo Maria Alvarez ponton out onto loot Maria coming back from an injury not quite at full ride of

Fitness and I was so intrigued to hear them talk about the incident with the camels on the first loop again I I look at the vet card it is perfect but it’s playing on their mind still you know they had an in the fence got pushed over I think

There was some camels on the track the camels ended up running with them for 5 km and spooking the horses so the horses were panicking for 5K and running maybe a little bit too fast but no you know and it’s obviously worried her that there might be an injury at that point

And that’s going to come back later um but you know you’d think you that was in the past now you might move forward but obviously not look look at this another piece of sensible riding they’re coming downhill and they’re just popping through a little canyon there they might

Just pick up the pace in a minute is that a steep incline down Harry I that’s a really steep incline down yeah oh yeah you can see it oh my word this is where we filmed the first piece of the root footage for the red Loop just almost

Just exactly where they are now coming down there so they’re going to come down here and then eventually hit the track at the bottom and turn left that’s the track is coming into shot now so that track is really nice and firm and it takes them all the way down

To the crew point at the bottom of bottom of the camera shot yeah y that’s it but they’ got to ride really steadily coming down the hill yeah so they’ve got about kilometer maybe still to go before they hit that nice track does it start to flatten out as they get towards the

Bottom it does yeah once they hit the bottom it’s nice and flat so off we go off we go it is uh Brazil Italy and 344 we haven’t seen previously Donna alel Jordan for Jordan now let’s just check that she’s not on a preceding L

She is yeah I think she is is yeah she is she’s ready to go full okay so we’ve got three Riders on the red Loop and the one Rider on the blue loop that’s interesting look at the Gap there I know so we’ve got no we’ve got the

Three leading then the two Spaniards and then the three here so uh we’ve got eight out now haven’t we on on the red yeah which is the penultimate Loop Correct and we saw last year we saw Omar and Maria riding a consistent competition and not getting pulled along with the leading Riders they ended up second and third same thing could happen today could do anything is possible in in in sport Now where’s the leading group here

They come Harry is that the leading group no that’s nothing that’s the Brazilian Rider Brazilian Rider rata and uh and constanza and Monica incredible I I wonder how she picked up the pace I just want to check her her average speed Monica’s average speed in the final Loop so their speed was

17.59% the gas a little bit and just and just caught up and then slowed down yeah first water point for the leading pack the leading three they’ll deserve it now having come down that section I think we’ll see all the horses have a drink here yeah it’s been going downhill for a

Horse is is as tiring as coming up here it is horses drinking really well so Haas are not really interested in the water but looks but they’re rather persisting interesting talking to Dr caros earlier yeah it was was isn’t it His Highness is constantly uh if you’re watching

Sir thank you very much for your tremendous support of endurance and uh good luck to your team good luck to all the teams because as uh Dr khed said uh it’s it’s a true family and he’s used to alola and good luck for the world he kept on calling it the

World Cup in 20126 didn’t he off the go again when do you okay so you so Harry um you’ve heard from us uh you’ve heard from Brian you’ve heard from me I reckon about 3K out Brian says 1.8 and don’t tell me you’re going to sit on the fence and go 2.3

Um I think that we will see a much faster Loop in general and so you know I think they will they will push the tempo from the get-go you know they’re not going to be battling it out per se but I think they’re going to be pushing the

Tempo however there is chances of probability are that maybe we might lose one of the three in the next V Gates if it’s the two bines on the last Loop there was no need to push so we’ll have to see it depends if it’s bin UA or just bahin Bahrain Uruguay Uruguay sorry

Yeah as they come down onto the flat on this the fifth of six Loops here is the red Loop 25.5k they’re at the bottom end here is the water Point they’ve gone through the first one just done the first one and then they’re coming down to the Green

Point control point and a crew Point correct two crew points out on this 25.5 and and three other opportunities to water their horses so plenty of water out on course they need it as we’ve seen all the way through this ride we have seen it this uh everybody said yesterday

This was one of the hardest Loops there are at uh 4 km at 15 km and at 20 km some inclines some elevations that they need to travel up and travel down they’ve just done that first major travel down now they’re in the valley and then they’ll start the climb

Again distances are slightly opening up but that’s nothing in this sport that really isn’t it’s been an amazing day it really has in the first ever running of a 160 CI three star here in our AA just take a look at these Highlights Who’s going to be on the top of the podium is it going to be one of these three we will have to wait and see it’s going to be at least another another 2 hours I would say Harry wouldn’t you at this speed they’ve got another 30 km of

Riding to go they’ve got another 50 minutes of hold so let’s say that they’re riding at 17 km an hour which looks to me like they are at the moment uh so they’re riding at 17 km an hour they’ve got 30 km to go that’s 2 hours

And a 50-minute hold so just under 3 hours potentially from now yeah I think so I was just trying to understand then why they put slowed up but then all of a sudden all together just struck off on caner um one of them probably said come on up come let have a

Little chat let’s have a little chat and off we go they all know each other so well they know each other’s horses they know their strengths they know their weaknesses they’ll play to those weaknesses against the others and you reckon that they’re going to go quick

From the first let’s see how many we get through the I think quick from the first and a slow Bild towards the end I don’t think there going to be a point let’s just see how many we get through the next vetting two horses leading both with the same father

Interesting and they’re on this now the hard track they on the hard track down to the crew point that Seline will certainly start to creep up in value if they both win this if they both come onto the podium of course it that’s that’s what breeding does yeah already

One of the uh best known Stallions in France but you’re quite right so our leader Muhammad Abdul Hamid Al hashimi with Lola toal that’s the gray and then on the right of the shot is hammed ISA Abdullah YF Al janahi with d leri and then in third place for the

First time I think today uh hcaz freder Rico Ferber ugu Rider not leading the group and taking a back seat letting the bahrainis do the work at this kind of quite crucial point of the competition So they’re sticking around the 18 km an hour mark the speed was a little bit slower on that four flop 18.04 and there we have confirmation of our leading Riders yeah we do yes we do uh where do you think the bines are going to go I think they’re going to

Stay at this certainly for this Loop these three and you think that the the tactics will come in early doors they’ll try and all get into the Vet gate at the same time but my thoughts Harry are that the bines always like to go well at towards

The end of the loop yeah I mean you’re not wrong I think the both of those horses have an incredible recovery rate Lola and uh dies MJ so it might be that they try really hard to get into the Vet gate quickly so that they get a small

Lead on the U going out onto the last Loop go out strong y pull back in the middle go home quick yeah the Barra is you know that that’s their blood that’s that’s what they do you look at shik Nasa in the young horse championship in

Vic you look at shik nassa in Abu Dhabi last year you look at shake nassa at Windsor I mean what did he win last year four three stars world champion current world champion and and the world championship and the world championship for Young Horses the year before he’s

Always gone out strong towards the end mhm and he’s the team principal the question is will the Uruguayan be able to summon up the energy to do that Sprint finish and then you know we saw yesterday a really exciting finish um it was chopping and changing right until

The last moment but then all change at the final vetting and then it could go Spain Spain Italy or Brazil Spain Italy it could go I mean Spain could win this Spain could quite easily win this so could Brazil y so could Italy correct so could Saudi

Arabia anything is possible it is it is Sport Harry that just keeps on giving isn’t it this is a long stretch now and the Riders will really have to work hard to keep their eye on the ball and keep Focus it’s a roted track you know when a

Hard sand track uh has ripples in it because of the cars driving on it um so the foot placement will be key making sure that the horses don’t stumble uh and they seek out a little bit of soft ground here so the opposite of what we’ve been talking about today really is

It’s too hard they need to seek out the soft ground rather than the other way around and they work now down to a crew point and water point at the very furthest point away from the vet gate and then they swing a you bend right back around and head towards

Home let’s have a look at the bottom of the runners now and see who’s still going so we’ve got Riders well one Rider 360 who we saw earlier uh R riding in with rayan um still on just arriv from luk three but their average speed is dipped to 11.4 so

If they go okay did you mention to me Harry that we got a we’re about halfway through this uh red Loop Harry did you did you mention to me that we’ve got a vet gate closing time we have yeah after this Loop we have got a v gate closing time

Yeah which Loop are they were on they were on the green Loop if they arrived from 3 and that closes at 3:42 so they do have a little bit of time that means that they are being allowed a little bit of leeway to make up some

Speed um but they’re going to have to get faster it’s a bit hard when you are you dip below the minum speed and then we’ve got a good contingent from Jordan still in the competition our sole uh Rider from the USA Cheryl van duen is still going strong and the young

Slovakian Barbara she’s still going strong there it is there’s the purple line we started on the left hand side of the screen Harry all those hours ago and now we’re creeping ever closer to the right hand side of the screen 100 miles 160 km the highest classification in endurance

Ci3 star the 100 the uh 100 km the 80 Mi the one star the two star 120 km or and then you get to a three star of 160 km the ultimate test so there you see the track and the Riders are going down on the left hand

Side they’re going to swing round and then they’re going to go on that track on the right hand side as they head up the valley to the right and they’re going to be taking that track all the way to the top of the screen there that’s the way home it gets tough so

This bit looks good where you can see a well defined road but then as they go head towards the Canyons on the way home they have to climb back up and over and there is some ascent and descent on the course so 160 km there are six phases of

The competition and we did class a phase as being the loop and the vet gate and having to qualify for each phase means passing the veter inspections and moving through each Loop making sure that you navigate safely around the course there’ll be GPS trackers on these horses keeping an eye exactly where they’re

Going and course Marshals out including the Saudi police of course and the vetting that these horses have just been through it was a double vetting in the tents that they had to pass a vet inspection when they came into the Vet gate and then also a reinspection 15 minutes before they went

Back out on course that’s pretty normal in these longer competitions in the latter stages and the same will happen again at the end of this stage we heard yesterday the red Loop is one of the most challenging Loops along with the white Loop and the properties of the sand will

Have changed now they’ve had the the sunlight’s been on the sand all day but not as much as it changed yesterday corre we haven’t got the heat of yesterday have we no exactly it’s only 20° out there only well I these are desert horses they’ll be used to a lot more

Yeah they but when we were in B how hot was it there for the 160 oh my word oh my word it was very hot it was you know 30 32 34 plus and the humidity was much much more at least uh not at least thank heavens for these wonderful conditions

The mountainous conditions that we have in our Lula it the humidity there’s no humidity it’s it’s all pure air so that’s much much better it comes back to that point that I was talking about with David Marin just coming along nicely aren’t they Harry yeah taking in turns to

Lead but the real Champion there is Lola deal M the gry horse 10-year-old M based on her previous record but of course you know everything can change but you’ve got the rider who won it last year over a 120 yeah and the young horse championships also 120 as an 8-year-old

Y so they’re swinging around now and they’re going to go down here and then meet their crew they’ll be able to see their crew now still got a long way to travel Harry yeah this is the furthest point away from home now tactics here same as we have done for

The last I don’t know five crew points that we’ve seen with these three Riders yeah got to be isn’t it why why change the plan now they’re certainly not rushing are they I mean you know they’re taking their time now they’ve had a a grueling uh trip through

The Canyons to get onto the road and then are they going to have a drink I think so but look they’re really cool in the horses down using buckets everything real ding I’m loving watching this Harry I genuinely I am uh as a Horseman myself I think horse welfare is absolute ly

Paramount in anything that people do with horses and uh they’re away so is that the uruan no oh no there’re still no sorry they’re all still there um so Federica goes first and off they go he’s picked up the pace and hores have this remarkable ability to to almost know where they’re

Heading back to home and they’ve swung round the ears will be pricked forwards and back towards home they go it’s got quite a lead now maybe 50 yards or so but this is a pattern we’ve seen before is freder Rico not giving the others too much time at the crew points and

Just stretching the field out at this point Bahrain oh a little spoot there from the Bahraini R Al jalima you saw something Shadow caught the horses ey just jumped sideways a little bit it’s a sharp horse that and it’s uh shown that previously leaving the vet gate has been quite hot to

Handle keeping the Riders on the ball and you’ll see so you can see as the the track is that dark color it’s quite firm where you see the two tracks deviate from each other and widen that is at the point at which this track’s going to get harder and they have to

Navigate through those Canyons a fantastic shot you can see almost the venue on the horizon and they have to work through a Ascent like which PLS out and then it descends into the village it’ll be a sigh of relief for the Riders when they go down to that final water point

And then hit the village for that last bit in but this Loop will really separate the field it is one of the most challenging and it’s happening very late in the competition this is one more Loop than we saw yesterday already at this point well at the end of this

Loop they will have done 140 km 20 km more than our finishes from yesterday than ever before Harry than ever before y so as our three Riders are out we caught up earlier with Z AL sharber the chief Sports officer for the Royal commissioner aala is he Alani Chief Sports officer at

The Royal commission for alula I’m delighted to be here with you again this year uh how significant is the Fai three star 160 km competition this is actually uh something that we are also very proud about because this is happening for the first time in Saudi and it is h a

Preparation for the world championship 26 uh 2026 uh of the endurance that we with the support uh and collaboration of the Saudi quester Federation have won the bid uh a few months ago we are very excited and delighted to have more challenging races and we look forward

For uh another day of competition and uh um that will be one of the most challenging races that we will see thank you the anticipation is certainly building ahead of the 2026 World Championships um let me ask you what is the ambition uh of equestrianism in the

Alula region as part of the uh 2030 vision of Saudi Arabia and also the alola vision that Cascades from the national Vision we are uh giving Sports and equestrian in in specific a lot of focus a lot of investment not only not only in the event side but also on the

Facilities on the um standards and the whole ecosystem that makes the industry of uh equestrian the uh last year the Year of 2023 was one of the years that we had a big jump in terms of the number of events and the diversification of them uh we used to do only endurance and

Polo but now we expanded to include Heritage equestrian uh Sports and disciplines including for example the tent pegging with the traditional dress and also the archery from back of horse and this is a sign uh that connects the legacy of ala with equestrian the mountains and rocks of ala are witness

Of over 3,000 500 years of equestrian uh disciplines and and sports and activities and we are basically besides being an active in bringing these events we’re also bringing back the Legacy OFA of the equestrianism thank you zad it’s going from strength to strength here um thank

You very much for your time and we look forward to seeing you again next year thank you Harry we look forward to seeing you back again and hopefully in 2026 on the world championship thank you thank you very much zad Alani the chief Sports officer of the royal commission

Here in alula and look at this these are some of the sites that you can see here in alula quite Beautiful The road to the 2026 World Championships the vision of alula is mindblowing with their equestrian center with the sporting excellence and their endurance Sporting Academy it really is uh going to be the future in this part of the world so the three that are out there we’ve got nine horses out

On the fifth of the six Loops still to come nine horses are out on the loop on the penultimate Loop and these are the leading pack and what have we got left to go they’ve done over half this the red Loop 25.5k and then they’ll come into the

Hold the competition has been going now for nine just coming up to 10 hours and Bahrain Bahrain and Uruguay and that lead has not that leaderboard has not changed since 5:30 this morning Harry no but interestingly what we’re seeing here I think is the Uruguay pushing on at the

Front which is not dis similar to what we’ve seen all day but uh our winner from last year Muhammad Abdul Hamid alashi and Lola de jalima the gry horse he they’ve decided to keep a mark on that Rider the other Bahraini Rider uh who riding D

Hamd Jah uh isn’t on the tail now that is you know we’ve seen this before and they might Bunch back together again but it might be just a little indication that that horse is just that little bit tired and can’t quite respond to the Challenge from the Uruguay yeah possibly

You’ve been out on the red Loop um you’ve seen much more of the red than I have uh but there are still some areas where it becomes Technical and there are places where they can catch up and then they’ve got the final push the last four or five kilometers which is pretty much

On the flat yeah and you play to the strength of your horse on on a particular day uh and it might be that you know that horse suits a particular way of going which you know is not disimilar to the World Racing no um and so you know it might be that they’re

Riding their own race and they’re just not at this point going to be bothered by the Uruguay pushing from the front where they can still see they’re within 100 yards or so and these don’t forget that these jockeys are professionals they know what engine they’ve got left

Underneath them don’t they yeah and it’s a feeling it’s very hard to describe but it’s a sense of feeling um and you know when you ask and you get something straight away and the horse is on the bridal and and giving you a bit of contact on the RS you know you know

You’ve got fuel left in the tank when it’s a horse is running a little bit flat Landing a bit heavy and you you know you squeeze your legs together and there’s nothing there you know you you know that that point that the horse is tiring and you need to take it carefully

From that point on I think also what’s been very noticeable Harry um is that the interviews that you and Ibrahim have conducted everybody has been welcomed everybody has been so appreciative of what is been uh established for them here in alula and that to me is

Is the future I’ve seen it grow in other equestrian disciplines where actually the young ones are really now getting far more appreciative of some of the facilities and services that they’ve been given here and the opportunities yeah I really think anybody in endurance is needs to have a Lula on their radar

It’s only going to go from strength to strength and you know I see it as a as an international venue uh for many many championships to come not just in 2026 and so those young and aspiring Riders who are looking at this and and wanting to reach this level um there are lessons

We can learn from from how these Riders have been attacking this course today and you know I would definitely keep one eye on alula 8 kilometers still to go for the leading pack just a reminder a recap we’ve got nine out- on course on this the fifth of the six Loops nine

They are two from Bahrain one from urug two from Spain don’t discount them two from Brazil don’t discount them think back to Pisa cuz they’re part of the silver medal winning team then you’ve got the European champion of constan Alicia and then you’ve got uh Abra Abdul kadada from Saudi Arabia

And then uh you’ve got the French on uh an Arab trained a UAE trained horse Camille Kum and flinker so there’s an awful lot to go out there and four out of the 10 horses are trained in Europe six are trained in the Middle East and I’m always amazed and you know

By what Maria and Juma are able to achieve and their horses look so fresh they’re trained in Europe but they’ve traveled a huge amount of distance to be here um the the Brazilians shouldn’t be underestimated from their performance in P are in 2021 with their silver medal but really the you know the

Leading trainers and riders coming from Spain are dominated by juma’s team at the moment they seem to be just going from strength to strength the that Gap Nick is you know it’s just that bit wider than I would have thought if the uh do you well it’s been like that it’s been nip

And Tuck all day Harry I know and they’ll get to the water point and then they’ll stop and they’ll catch up again catch up again it’s not a big gap that that really is not a big gap if you cast your mind back to Abu Dhabi last year s

Sh nassa uh was third then pushed up to second then they rode that racing line he knew what was in the tank underneath his horses and he won the World Championship he did so that uh after 140 km at the end of this Loop y

There they’re at 132 km that is not a big gap I know where they are now they are coming in now or approaching very shortly the next crew point they’re just hit in a tharm land um and they’ve done already a little bit of difficult uh

Going on this course but once they turn away from this Loop you’ve got about 2 km of really sticky sound before they get to the get to the RO through the w y yeah oh they’ve caught a horse on the on the blue loop so the preceding Loop that’s always

Nice for the these leading horses gives them something to focus on stamina of these horses Harry is is unprecedented the Arabian horse tracing their their ancestry every horse goes back to the Arabian stallions there’s let’s not forget that and they were born and bred in this part of the world and

They were born and bred to ride across the desert and they were born and bred to float on air and that’s what we’re seeing here is the magnificence of the Arabian Horse Arabian horse is a generous Earth with a very good character and very good mental ability Arabian horse have a very big heart an horse that is perfect for endurance when you ride Arabian horse you can’t ride another horse for the welfare to to the horses

And uh to prepare a competition we need work very hard every day it’s important training is very important that the horse is in a good relationship with other part of the team in our stable we give the the food to the horse three three time a

Day we check the throt every day the groom in endurance is also the crew during the the ride and it’s very important there is a feeling with the horse and all the team play together in the same direction don’t forget that the the Arabian horse endurance horse are

Generous they give us more that they have and when you you start to training the horse uh because in endurance we started when horse have four years it’s very important that you start very slow you must keep calm with the endurance horse if you give time the horse you can

Have the chance to have a big Champion the road is very long and we can cut our road no shortcut give time to your horse and you receive from horse all that your horse can give you when you finish a big ride and you win share with your

Horse you feel inside you that you are the king of the worlda and uh fine words the Arabian horse is a generous horse so here we are Uruguay still leading Bahrain second Bahrain third and 32 combinations still left in this the alpha sand cup the CI three star 160 32

Out of the 62 that started I’m not suggesting we’re going to finish on that but so far so good Harry yeah I think the organizing committee and the FBI will be very happy with that as a stat so far it’s not dissimilar to what we’ve seen at another

160 km R um you know the veter commission will remove any horse that’s showing any signs of you know early dehydration Etc um and we heard from Carlos I think yesterday the foreign veter delegate it’s a preemptive measure so they step in before any incidents happen in order to preserve horse weal

For which absolutely Paramount for the sport of endurance and I think you know just pi picking up the words of Jan Luca there um they Trot in their horses every day you know and the Grooms get to know those horses inside out so they know when there’s an issue with their horses

Cuz they are this is a competition of good horsemanship Above All Else certainly is and you see the generosity of the Arabian horse there they’re going through the deep sand and what have they got five 5 1 half kilm to go on this Final on this penultimate Loop the red Loop

And just a little maybe a touch more six seven but not a lot and the Gap is closing yeah a lot to to compete for Nick a lot at stake yeah so out of these three Riders providing they make they make the next four Veterinary inspections because there are four uh

And there is 1.4 million s for these three Riders uh so that’s about €300,000 there is a total of 5 million uh real so that’s a million euro on offer today the richest prize fund anywhere in the world 15 million yesterday 3 million euro and a and a the

300,000 S car so now they’re turning back uh and here’s the weather hottest part of the day today at 21° 3:00 and then it’ll drop down to around about 17° at 6:00 when it starts to go into Dusk and then they could be riding at 10:30 tonight it would be 2 3

4° so they start started at 3 4 5° this morning and they’ll finish in the same that’s right Nick so we’re expecting these guys to have finished you know way before them but the the slowest Riders on the course you’re right the time the the minimum speed that they have to meet

Equates to a finish time of 10:30 tonight and the organizing committee have therefore lit the uh final two Loops of the competition with these very small solar lights placed uh by the flag so that the competitors can navigate flag to flag and we saw this morning it

Was a a start in the D almost the entire first loot was in the D Riders riding with head torches and and there really is nothing like it the feeling of of lining up on a start line they’re pitch black with nothing but a head torch to see uh with so many

Horses yes I totally agree with you Harry as as an event director and as a chairman of an organizing committee it’s actually one of the most terrifying but then it gets easier once they’ve gone and they’re away the horses find their way it does become easier and

Just looking down the prize list at the moment 32 combinations still out on course and the organizing committee here uh really generous in the fact that uh all they’re paying prize money all the way down to 25 and the lower placings could come home with 22

23,000 which you know that pays for all their expenses in relation to this trip you know we must acknowledge anyone who’s flown here flown horses here they that’s already been paid for as well by the organizing committee but the accommodation Etc does their trip and you know leaves enough in the pot

Probably to pay for the rest of their their equestrian season and invest in the future of the sport we heard from a rider yesterday saying saying that you know if she got the prize money she’d be taking a horse to the world young horse championships and and it would help with the shipping

Costs so these Riders so dedicated to the sport and you know using the the finances that are generated here in alula to help them uh further their endurance careers absolutely absolutely and you know what has struck us is all the way through yesterday and today is that the consideration that the

Riders have given to their horses yeah totally agree you know it’s a technical track it’s not one where they can be pushed and hammered they really need to take care and the endurance Community as well I think is very grateful for the for the media coverage and investment in the

Sport which you know is is unheard of in the sport of endurance worldwide really so 4 and 1 half kilom away and great vision here in alula and we’re going to have a look now at the uh plans for the AL muadil Equestrian Center here in Alula so the almot Delan Village will be the center for for major competition here in the region the idea is not only to have facilities or infrastructure standing and not being used it served the purpose of positioning alula as a global hub for competition endurance is one the key

Milestone of the world championship in 2026 will be the first stage but we we have also many different disciplines that will be represented uh we are very uh strong on polo as well but also we will have a outdoor stadium that will allow dress jumping we will have a Heritage competition so tent

Pegging Force back archery so the sequan village will really Encompass all the dimension of of equestrian and we promote thanks to these major events then we have have the the Riders we want to have alula Riders represented and we are investing right now very heavily in in Riders development program

In order to have alula Community represented at the best level and this world championship will allow to accelerate these developments the ambition is to position alula as a global equestrian destination 4 kilm away from the fifth of the sixth Loops here in the alphas Sun cup there’s the leading three two for Bahrain one for Uruguay and at the moment can tell you that we’ve now got 12 12 out on course Chile France two for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Italy Brazil

Two Spain two Bahrain 2 and Uruguay one and there’s the leading group there’s the group of three as Al hashimi and Farber bahin bahin Uruguay but there is an awful long awfully long way to go there are four fettings still to come there is uh no there’s three vetting still to

Come uh there is a hold of 50 minutes and then there’s 20 km so yeah 20 km and then the final veter inspection which has caught so many horses out yesterday yeah caught the first uh the second to the fourth out yesterday didn’t it yeah and the and the

First across the line and the first cross line UAE Rider yeah so just a little bit of daylight there Harry little bit of daylight Bahrain tracking second and third Uruguay in the lead by about 20 lengths I think a good tactic there by P I think you know let

Him just go Um the more they react the more they encourage him to push on and being on your own at this late stage is is not ideal so the uruguai really you know nothing to be gained there by pushing on his own Harry uh I just wonder um when you

Go and do your winners interview you looking forward to it if the ugui wins they don’t have too much English do you have Spanish uh a bit Rusty yeah we spoke to his trainer yeah freder Rico I listen he’s been everywhere for for years and years and years and years The aane Stables

Y and the airlane Stables seem to pick and choose those round rides with deep sand and do very well um they W not with this horse but they did win the you know the test event in bhib for the world championships and bhib is known also for its deep sand

Um not quite as challenging as this one though no but for last year for the World Championships uh they did amend some of the the Deep Bas on the Bas on the feedback from the test event and we heard from Brian this morning uh now it’s a completely different uh environment here because

These guys are riding through a world heritage site so there’s very very little in the environment as we have heard from zad and from uh from everybody here in our Lula the environment absolutely key crital as they coming up to their final water point on course uh the environment and

Here it is here it is here it is now what are the tactics here so they the you notice the second of the bahini horses which which tanks are they going to that’s interesting isn’t it all the same one all the same one so that they can’t

I just wonder if they’ boxed him in there har on purpose on purpose is he saying to them move out or is he he’s Jing for a bottle okay I just cuz he has gone off a bit early hasn’t he the ugui yeah and stop them drinking and he’s trying to do it

Again now look here we go I know that’s what they’ve done very clever very very clever I wonder if they’ve um I’ve been Boxed In by two Banes at winds apart before I know TS yeah and off they go 2 and a half kilm to go

On the fifth of the six loops and then so I don’t think we’ll see any riding tactics different here but what we’re going to see is some crewing tactics in the vet gate this will be about speed they if they can get their horse in quicker they get a lead on that last

Final Loop and that is incredibly important crews are going to be working extra hard extra competitively in this vet gate and three horses with Incredible recovery times you know their horses are running between 18 and 20 km an hour and they’re coming in within 1 minute 45 or 1 minute

15 even for uh D majeri the horses are recovering to under 64 beats per minute which is not too far off the resting rest 40 for a for a Arabian horse maybe a bit lower for some and as we heard John Robertson uh tell us this morning uh that that

Research 25 years ago Still Remains to this day that horses with bigger uh fos that are born with bigger Hearts have a lower resting heart rate you learn something new every day Harry and the you know bread the breeding programs selecting these lines and with we have two horses here with the same

Father I I cannot get over for the last 10 9 and 3/4 hours what a consistent Pace every single combination has ridden in this Ride 160 km this is the world championship distance and the first time it’s been run here on the tracks of alula the Riders will have seen the the struggles that Riders had riding very fast in the 120 km yesterday and made a strategic decision that it’s better

Safer to play it a little bit slower today so we expect those riders in in six minutes so they will arrive at vet gate number four the final vet gate of this competition apologies vet gate five and normally that would be the finish with a five loot 160 a five lo I

Think on a course like this it’s really you know it is taxing and I think it is worthy of a six Looper because it just breaks it up it gives them time to recover and recuperate before going back out on course so let’s just recap so they’re going to come in to the

Fifth vet gate Y and they’re going into a 50 minute hold with a compulsory reinspection should they pass the first vetting 15 minutes before they are due to start so we have got there are what 10 minutes before they present yeah uh then they’re into a 50-minute

Hold so that’s an hour 15 minutes to present to it yeah but I’m just giving you a time scale now so so we’re an hour before they go providing they’ve all passed the two vet vetting that they’re still to come so we’re an hour away before their departure give or take the

Odd minute yeah and then they’re going off on the pink Loop 20K and that will take an hour at this speed but I think they might just pick it up so we have seen Loops 20K Loops go off on a 160 maybe 50 minutes okay so we’re probably an hour and 50 minutes

Away before we know who the champion a minimum of an hour and 50 minutes away before the champion of the alpha sand cup 2024 is going to be so that’s quite right the only thing is that after they’ve crossed the Finish Line they have to pass another veter

Yeah so we’re 2 hours 10 minutes yeah because they’ve got a maximum theyve got 20 minutes to recover at the end and there’s no you know all the way through they’ve been rushing to get into the Vet the clock still ticking until they present to the vet at the end the clock

Stops when they cross the finish line and then they have 20 minutes to present their horse to the veteranary panel and if the heart rate still too high like we saw yesterday with quite a few combinations they w pass the all important veter inspection so just moments away now once

They cross the final road crossing we should be able to pick them up with our static cameras out There and the vet gate will the officials will be back at their posts and the crews started to establish and the veterinarians a huge team of veterinarians here on site both in terms of the line vets and also the treatment vets they’ll be scrutinizing the horses here so they’re coming up the hill

They’re coming up the hill final rad cross final road crossing they’ll turn left-handed any minute now see the bottom uh of the screen all those Six Flags they’re denominating the Loop colors and this the red Loop so this 25.5 they’ve got half a kilometer to go

And they’re all stride for stride on a hand counter if they can get through this vetting the last Loop is pretty flat it’s the flattest of all the loops and it’s one of the shortest at 20 km yeah we haven’t seen it yet no we’ve nobody’s done it although they’ve ridden

The white of it but they’ probably got four or five kilm that they haven’t seen so as they head up the hill here is the animation to explain how the vetting Works Harry so this is the vet gate set up Riders are coming off the loop but

The clock’s still scking at this point when they meet their crew they have to remove the tap quickly and cool the horse down this is the best way to bring the horse’s heart rate down to the magic number 64 beats per minute a Formula 1 Pit Stop once the heart

Rate’s down they present to the veterinary Commission on the basis of the heart rate is 64 beats or below then they can proceed with the rest of the vetting if it’s not they’re back to the cooling area and it’s as if the clock never stopped the vetting includes a full

Metabolic check and an analysis of gate they trop them 40 m away and 40 m back they are looking for any irregularities if the horses pass that inspection they move to the hold area this is where they get a rest and for this vect it’s 50 minutes they eat they drink their crew

Take care of them they give them a massage they put their feet in ice they cool them off and then prepare to leave on the next and this time the final phase of the competition they’re nearly in there are the three crews ready and waiting well

This is tense 311 they’re about to go out on their fourth Loop and that is Sabrina the Sabrina Europe Champion the European Champion we heard from her earlier on good luck to you Sabrina great Ambassador for the sport based in France these days and uh has bred produced trained so many champion horses

So their eyes will be dead set ahead as they turn the corner for home and they will be now looking to pick out their crew to make a smooth exchange the horse to the crew the Riders will Dismount they’ll already have unclipped some of their tack as

They approach the vet gate so that the crew can quickly remove the Bridle and the saddle to get the water on quickly every single second in this vet gate counts because the sooner they present the vet to the vet the sooner they get back out on course for the final Sprint to the

Line nervous times team trainer team vet from uh Victoria’s team of bakra here we go our three leading Riders I okay I’ll put it out there Harry I think that they deserve to pass I really do they have ridden beautifully I’m with you yeah yeah uh they could do no more

And now it’s in the hands of of the Gods as they say over here in shalot there goes Sabrina out she goes on the fifth Loop falala laac 200 M here they come so riding the gray Muhammad Abdul Hamid Al hashimi with Lola deala the world young horse Champion of 2022 on the far side Frederico Ferber and HG AER representing ugan Alain stables in the UAE and first into the Vet is 313 315 sorry hammad Isa Abdullah YF Al

Janahi with dager right the attack is being undone and it’s quickly off and the water is straight on the horse having a quick drink and the crew walking backwards with the horse this is a race to the vetting between Bahrain and the Alain horse the

Ugu Harry is it a is it a race is it a race because as we’ve seen with the Brazilian horses uh with the Italian horses if they go too fast and they don’t get it right you’re quite if if the heart rate is 65 one too high on the

Edge maybe slow and steady wins the race maybe but the key here is to have one eye on what everybody else is doing and they will do come on these guys are professionals and we can see you know outside from where we’re looking crowds now looking around the monitors are on display

Here water going on dine the stew just making sure it’s four people the four crew and the rider can assist you’ll see the bibs allocate which crew can help which horse okay and there’s freder Rico the trainer let’s see if we can see what that

Monitor says I’m not sure we can at this stage just see 65 oh now if it it’s going down I would be tempted to go but he’s going to play this cool he’s going to play it cool he’s okay he says go okay so more water

More water and then go first in in goes HC yaa they’ve seen they’ve responded D majeri for byra now going to the vetting 2 they’re going to go in together we’re just waiting on Lola deala the world young horse Champion who we know has got a great Sprint final

With having sprinted to the line with his highest Jak nassa freder leads in and there’s the final horse Lala so now it’s all on the heartbeat first nothing is going to separate that field in terms of presentation time so Harry just to explain when they come across past that

Building the clock has now clock stopped and the whole time 50 minutes has begun yeah but if that first heart rate isn’t below 64 it’s as if it never stopped so the Vets we’ve got Pierre Julia we got looks to me like uh vek pekovich and he goes to the

Uruguay and the digital heart rate monitors are now placed on the horse’s left hand side near near is the heart to take the all important reading and there’s a protocol for how long they need to be applied for and the average across a full minute but

If that average is lower than 64 so now the TR it can go so the heart rate is five HC gazer now we troed new rules this season about how they have to tr the horse they’re not allowed to drag them they have to stay at the side fro is just struggling to

Encourage a horse on a loose rain Harry but look at the barini horse in the background bar horse is looking good 57 57 very good so he played it safe he could have probably gone on 65 it would have been fine but he was you know he was just waiting for the banians

To go this is dager looking good very level very level very level from the side Harry we have to say we we are not vets and we don’t see the front and back it was really interesting I was down in the vet gate early when I saw

Bang on the nose for Lola the gray from Bahrain now the Trot still no pulse for 338 on the board look we’ve got the two barin in but not the uruan there it is again there’s vo going I think the ugu’s heart was fine otherwise would wouldn’t gone for Trot but now they’re

In the metabolics and Harry for those that are just joining us the metabolics vital absolutely important they’re looking for early dehydration markers so they take a second pulse one minute after the first one and they’re looking for the pulse to not go up too much after the Trot then they’re going to

Listen to the gut sounds they’re going to check the color of the mucous membranes in the mouth the capillary refill what they’re checking is is basically the blood going to the extremities of the horse or is the blood being pulled to the core because the horse is starting to be a little bit

Dehydrated I think they’re both passed Harry I think they’re pretty happy yeah we’re becoming uh masters of reading body language here we’ll of course wait for official confirmation but looks good six oh no 338 I just saw 65 come up there Harry not sure whether that was

Uh are they going back out or are they going into the hold that’s the uruan 315 is in so 2 minutes 16 with the presentation for 338 I think everything is fine and 2 minutes 33 for L Jala so our leader at the moment Is HC Yer and freder Rico

Fer a strong Contender having won the 120 km here in 2022 didn’t start in 23 so we just saw Jima exit the vet gate there going to do a hyper sensitivity check and then to the rest area for that horse but I think we’re all good I think

We are so I mean that was uh the Vets all smiling Christian Lozano on the the right hand side the president of the grand jury chairman of the endurance technical Committee of the fbii big cheese in the world of endurance and uh he seems very happy as well

It looks from the information we’re getting that hcaz may have had a high pulse there but I can’t quite make it out because it didn’t go back round to the um yeah we will getting 65 here but the board was saying 57 wasn’t it no I think

We were we I was definitely I saw 65 flash up and then it came off the screen so maybe it’s a technicality I har Harry it does happen yeah and mean all it takes is for the vet Rider to exactly to click click the wrong thing exactly so

To me I think they’re fine I think they’re fine I hope they’re fine so we’re now into the 50-minute hold and uh out on course coming home within the next what 3 and 1 half kilm we’ve got the two Spanish and the two Brazilians and the Italian they’re all neck and neck

And then the uh Saudi Arabian over halfway through the fifth Loop the French the Chilean and two more from the kingdom so at the moment we got three out on three for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia out on course do there we’re seeing the farer we’re seeing him in practice

Shing some of the uh Italian endurance Academy horses earlier changing the aluminium plates that have worn down from the quite hard goinging on some of the tracks out there spee spee h so there Jimmer puny Dax running down ready to meet his wife Mar Alvarez ponton and Omar blano

Rodriguez yumar is the trainer for those two horses cinetic to beel and jml sabrino they have just 3 kilm to get to this point and are just outside of the podium at the moment jumer a previous world champion and European Champion himself and a very respected International leading figure in the sport of

Endurance his team have been here both days and had a successful completion yesterday in the 120 km competition and Maria goes again in fact both Riders go again for the 160 we heard from Maria earlier she’s just coming back from injury not quite at full fitness yet

But she’s done a lot of these 160s and is the ultimate athlete okay confirmation then there was a a small error with the technical System earlier showing that HG had a high heart rate but we can confirm now that they didn’t and it was 64 beats per

Minute and so they are uh in the lead and uh joh John Robertson has been you know feeding some information in uh throughout the day and just another bit of useful information from him the just the way the heart rate monitor system is used it works in 15c increments and if

The heart rate is 64 below after 15 seconds then it passes um the average obviously being 16 beats for that 15 seconds and if it’s 32 beats in the 30 seconds uh uh then it goes for another 30 seconds so basically that they’ve broken that minute down into

Intervals and worked out the average so a reading of 64 might be because the har monitor was only on for 15 seconds but by the whole full minute minute the heart rate would have come down even more team Spain preparing for the arrival of their two Riders still in the competition

And joined by fellow Spanish Rider Gil bangua carera who was riding earlier but sadly didn’t make it through the second vet check and there is Sharon dup our technical delegate who responsibility is kind of the intermediary between the organizing committee and the fbii and overseeing the course of the

Track HC AER then in the rest area looking very bright to say this horse is now covered 140 km it’s eating and drinking we’ve seen it drinking on the track looking very very good only 20 km left now of the competition let’s see how much further the Spanish team have to

Go just 2 km now now so they are in the village from the last water point we’ll be here very very shortly remember the leading Riders and all the Riders at this vet gate they have to pass one more veter inspection 15 minutes before they go back out on course this is a

Reinspection it happens towards the latter parts of uh endurance competitions at this level and possibly the most intense veteranary inspection of the day so far because the Vets know that that horse has been resting for 40 minutes and are expecting to see it rehydrated with really good metabolic criteria and if there’s

Question marks at this point before possibly a competitive uh last Loop then they won’t take any risk they certainly won’t you see Zuma team Cru just poised ready and waiting nothing has left to chance in the hold nothing at all it only takes one of these leading Trio to be removed from

The competition at the reinspection team Spain to move into Podium position Mar pops up yep and you were saying earlier Harry good quality hay it really does improve the solidity of the gut yeah so it helps hold the moisture in the gut so they retain the water really well and there’s some uh

Lucern there a really you know densely nutritious I was going to say high highly nutritious highly high energy yeah ready to go really important to get that fiber really good for the gut at this uh part of the competition and I always remember Jim saying you know always buy the best quality forage

You can afford it’s the one thing it does not skimp on very little hard feed but forage really that’s think really yeah J just looking at the uh apps to check where they are nothing left a chance Juma team Juma team is a is a team of detail no stone is left

Unturned you know it all looks very seamless from the outside but everything has been planned here they come here they come they’ve just been picked up on our static cameras so maybe 800 M or so the Brazilians just uh coming behind them yeah they’ve left the Brazilians a

Little bit little bit haven’t they yeah and uh I would think constanza is with the two Brazilians very possibly but great teamwork again from Team Spain always working together you would expect nothing less y from Juma punak Omar Blanco Rodrigo the Spanish champion from last year and Maria Alvarez p

Two time World and European Champion close behind both horses looking incredibly fresh to say they have run 140 km once they cross the line into this V gate so we got three to go into a reinspection two more just coming into the Vet gate 600,000 s 400,000 s 400,000 s

300,000 s 300,000 s so fourth to 10th Harry is 300,000 s so that is if my math is correct 60,000 Euro wow that’s a that is a Monumental amount of money isn’t it but I can’t imagine you know do you think that’ll be playing on their minds at this point

I don’t think it’ll be playing on them I think it’ll be in the back of them there he is taking the turn for home and they’re still on that lovely Steady Hand counter and remember they’ve ridden 120 km yesterday and they’ve ridden 140 km so far

Today chatting to way to each other Omar and Maria it look it gets a little bit deep there Harry on the turn yeah so as a pair those Riders have ridden 240 km at this point oh know 260 km sorry yeah 260 km and another 20 to go yeah that is on

Across yesterday’s competition and today’s competition I mean it’s like driving from London to Paris and there we have the the I going to say the Brazilians but actually don’t think they are they are possibly on a prior Loop um because the competition has been spread out now so

We’ve got competitors coming for a safe completion and a qualification at this level who are taking their time looking after their horses and those who are challenging for the top 10 where the serious prize money is to be won two Spanish horses then lovely spring in the step for the leading horse

There JM saino and a third place for that horse in 2022 over 120 km here in alula do you know um Maria was talking earlier about her injury Harry do you know what injury is she’s just coming back from I don’t know but um she has

Had a few injuries in the in the in her she had one at the Europe remember that one at at at Houston Park when she banged her arm on the gate going through she blamed her husband so Jim is ready he’s watching he can see the horses he’s checking the

Gate thinking you know is everything okay and as crew it’s you know your heart’s in your mouth most of the day because you don’t don’t get the feedback that the rid is getting from the horse so you have only you know those moments out on course to see and assess how it’s

Going and Juma so heavily invested in the outcome of these two horses and Riders here they come looking very good to say they’ve covered such a distance I think any endurance Rider would aspire to have horses in this condition this stage in the compe position a little Pat for JM

Saino as Omar Dismount but he’s straight to work as a rider he’s helping take the saddle off and let’s watch now we’ve got somebody to pass the buckets and we’ve got two people pouring from either side and the har monitor for this horse is a strap so it’s put round the

Horse oh and that was the one he was riding with oh no he’s still got one on sorry and then jumer does jumer find them more accurate or it’s just it’s horses for courses hores for coures yeah I think you know this uh horse pal it’s called is is an

Invention of uh Tom m mcginness is it Tomy mcginness yep CEO of horse Hare Island great Ambassador for endurance Y and recently become a father what on Tommy so we you know what I like about this is nothing thing is rushed but it is so efficient and effective you know

Look at how there is such a small break when there’s no water being pulled on that horse and they they’re just walking step by step by step yeah no one’s shouting each other there everybody knows their role there and it’s very effective and they’ve got uh you know

They’re walking backwards the leader so they’re saying to the horse just slowly slowly slowly come on calm calm calm and the keep it every centimet of that horse is is is now wet and the cooling impact that has with this ice water to bring the core temperature of

The horse down that is what helps lower the heart rate to that magic number 64 in order to pass the all important veteranary inspection now they check the heart so the BR Brazilians and constanza virtually with us we’ll see them any minute now coming into the crewing area

There they are is that no I don’t think that’s constanza yeah in the pink I think on the right yeah oh it is yeah middle now middle Y and the two Brazilians just behind three gray horses yeah you know all those horses I believe have traveled from your

As have the Spanish horses it’s you know it is a big ask to travel such a distance change of climate uh and then compete him Conan are a leading Rider a European Champion herself uh in 2019 she certainly is rode yesterday rode brilliantly in the 120 and is riding in

The 160 today and very instrumental in the whole of the uh the family uh in the whole of the Ala Academy just tracking in third in that group so you’ve got Renata then Monica and then constanza so you got two Brazilians and the Italian coming just about to turn left-handed as

They head up the hill into the crewing area juma’s going in nice and steady no rushing now hores look exceptional the man who has perfected the art of the Trotter he trots these horses religiously all the time every day before and after uh their training and each horse trots

Differently and he adapts his style to that particular horse is Juma still riding Harry I haven’t seen him R he only tend now to rideing kind of the big championships um but he rod in B yes he did just going to say I haven’t seen him ride for a

Year as the uh two Brazilians and the Italian constanza Monica and ronato they track up the hill to the crewing area yeah he was third in the world championships Echo Falls the uh Arab cross Appaloosa with the Appaloosa Market yeah very uh distinct and now they wait for the reading of the

Heart rate needs to be 64 beats or below he doesn’t look worried does he right here we go are we about yes here we are look at that stride for stride for stride you’re watching a magician oh my word 4359 59 so uh very very good heart rates from the two

Spanish and a lovely long loose rain to come back to the vets there’s Maria and here they are some more athletes coming back off the fifth Loop and uh the two Brazilians coming in and constans lissia is coming in and here she Is I’m costan Alisha I’m From Italy and I’m an endurance athlet and I’m 24 years old I’m here for the F and cup 2024 is one of the most beautiful place that I ever seen in my life the landscape the weather the track is really beautiful is technical we have

Deep Sun but also hard track for me is to focus on my horse in endurance the welfare of the horse is the first thing I choose the strategy as the best way for my horse the most important thing is to finish uh and is that my horse finish in a good

Condition I live all my life in this endurance in this Sport and uh this is the first thing that I think in the morning and this the last thing that I think in the evening before to go to the bed to transfer our knowledge to the

Saudi people and Saudi athlet we start a training camp they become a quite good Rider they are really uh increase their technical patterns so I’m really happy to help the alula athlet and Rider to to grow up and I hope that uh this type of training camp can continue also in the

Future well done constanza and training the local Riders and just about to go into the Vets with her horse far debas and one of her local Riders Omar alawi from alula is out on the fifth of the sixth Loops so when are they going in there goes constan running in now just to

Check so just to recap we’ve got three horses and riders coming back in for a reinspection should they pass that reinspection there is 17 seconds after 145 km with 20 left to go with uh after 140 km with 20 left to go there is 17 seconds dividing first

Second and third sport is fine margins but this is quite honestly the finest of them so just getting the heart rate down we’ll pick up on the Brazilians there’s one of them that’s Pria Deon VI of Monica uh pinto and she’s caught up uh fellow Countryman ronato Salvador and uses Trio so we’ve

Got two for Spain two for Brazil and one for Italy still to be presented with three already having been presented and then we’ll find out whether they are all ready to go out on the final Loop which is the pink Loop 20 km worth One of the biggest horses in the field Renardo Salvador usz Trio and it was so interesting I think it was after the there’s constanza it was after the third loop after the GRE after the uh green Loop uh that Monica pinto and Renato Silva and the two horses got separated cuz monikas had

To come back for a reinspection just one beat per minute over that 64 and they had a 5-minute gap between two and both horses looking for each other where are you where are you you’re my mate Harry was saying earlier that these are very very nervous times making sure

They’ve completed 140 km making sure that everything is okay that the Vets the trainers believe that they’re ready to go and get presented so yes we can confirm now that both the Spaniards uh Maria ponton and Omar Blanco have both passed their initial veteranary inspection so they

Will get reinspected at around about 6 minutes to 5 and the gap between first and fifth now stands at 23 minutes but that is uh very little in Endurance Sports the gap between the first three 17 seconds so we’ve now got five through potentially going out onto Loop Number

Six now we wait for two Brazilians just coming in and the Italian it’s worth noting that these lanes are automatically selected it’s not a choice of which lane they go to it is done by random selection Pria there’s constanza leaning over the rail freder Rico with the South American cap on the left

There just come up on our screen that muhamad Al hashimi and Lola the gray for Bahrain it says reinspection we’ll get clarification on that so there are the heart rates good heart rates 55 64 47 59 they’re all within the Spectre the spectrum of 64 30862 that’s the one that constanza wanted

There’s Monica Pinos prair for Brazil 54 heartbeat there vo Che now having done the vet there’s Alfredo Greco Superstar Italian vet so coming up up to the reinspection 15 minutes they’re into reinspection these the three leaders are in to the reinspection before they can go out onto the sixth

And final Loop of the alpha sand cup so there’s so much going on there’s there’s only six eight horses in the vet gate in the hold area but a number of those horses going through rata Salvador I think yes 338 the uruan Federico feber and HC yaa in for their reinspection

And now Lola in for the reinspection and on they go good pulse for Lila deala 55 good pulse for Monica Pinto so the horses now in for the reinspection 338 the uruan the horse from Al a good pulse 51 so 55 51 318 that’s getting ready for the reinspection

It’s been a long welcome back har it’s been a very long day but it’s nervy now isn’t it a little this barrier between them and the last loop I just saw HC actually trotting out there all good yeah a little bit slow wasn’t it was a bit of needed a bit of

Encouragement but I thought it looked okay so Jordan getting ready to start they’ll go out and the uruan ready to go 338 Christian is there the uh president of the veter Comm uh the president of the ground jury he is Mr El supro in the world of all officials

Here a little discussion going on between the Vets there yes okay so I think he may have called a three card metabolics so now here’s farim the president of the veteranary commission uh so three car trick on metabolics means that the horse they’re not entirely satisi satisfied and one vet

Has a c of concern so now it’s the decision of the Three Vets there’s no conferring between them they each undertake the metabolic checks and they write on a piece of paper whether it is a pass or a fail and pass that to the ground jewelry this is a very tense moment for

The Uruguayan Rider and the allain Stables there’s the trainer who doesn’t look very happy or nervous F Rico Pablo Carrera the foreign veter delegate and uh Antonio farim Portugal and Spain to the top and they’re genuinely are the best vets in the world Y and you know some of the Best Bets

They know that this horse is in a Podium contention and is going to run on the they need to make sure that this horse is fit to run absolutely there’s a lot of responsibility on their shoulders right now uh and they’ve said I want the

Line vet has said and we’ll look to see who their reinspection was voy voy peket has said on the reinspection inspection this is was from Jordan this is uh the card from the first um just checking so there’s nothing particularly alarming they got a B for M memories but there’s nothing

Particularly alarming there but as I said Nick this is one of the strictest Fenty inspections they’re wanting to see a an kind of improvement over the 40 minutes they’re in the hold yes they are so Lozano there on the right hand side with the uh ston C just

So Carlos pado Carlos foreign veteranary delegate checking the muus membranes and now no conferring it’s either a pass or a fail on the piece of paper and they’ll fold it up and hand it to Christian yep and he is the deliverer Christian with the big hat just there with the sunglasses on he’s

Getting the second of the vet slips we wait and see I think they’re happy I think they’re happy y thumbs up Christian says pass so they will go they will start that’s a really nervous time uh 1646 I don’t think freder Rico could watch I don’t think he could I

Couldn’t watch Harry and we’re in a monitor in in the back of uh a beautiful restaurant watching over the vet gate okay now he runs he’s got to tack up pretty quick now right where are we up to with the other ones so where we’re up to I can tell you Spain have

Two Italy has one Brazil has two coming in is uh Abra Abdul and she has got for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia she has got 2 kilm to go then Camille colum for France with s SW flinker another 2. 5 km to go the chillian of Bonnie VI Deo and majika delin uh

They’ve got what another 3 kilometers to go and then the local guy 23 years of age and it is Omar alwi and zagara Dasia for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from the AL Ula endurance Academy they’ve got 3 km to go before they come into the hold

So that’s what we’re looking at at the moment and the two Baron is good to go yeah uh good to go as far as I’m concerned yeah I think so yeah they’ve done their reinspection and I think they’re good to go perfect well I think Harry Anything could happen it’s

Been almost they’ve been the competition has now just gone in uh to its 12th hour 18.4 km an hour is the average at the moment and 20 km is the last loop with sense that they might just increase the pace a little bit on this last Loop let’s see so remember the

Conversation uh a couple of hours ago you think that they’re going to go quick from the start and then pull back I think they’re going to go at a steady pace and pull back and go from about 3K out Brian Dunn uh Brian Dunn thinks that

They’re going to go from about 1.8k out so who knows let’s see let’s see it’s a tactical game now it is okay this is the quiet now before the Riders leave onto the final Loop we’ve got the three riders in the lead then team Spain hot on their heels but there’s

There there’s no way they’re going to make up that Gap but they will be hoping that one of the Riders is removed from the competition at the end and and that is not impossible we saw that quite a bit yesterday with horses and Riders just going that bit too quick on the last

Loop the last Loop yesterday was the red Loop which these horses and Riders have just done today is it’s the pink clue which nobody has done so far 315 moving now to the starting Gates Hamad Abdullah yusf Al Jani and D leri Crew moving with the

Horse the bit not in yet but everything else fully tacked up and Lola deala they’re just putting a bit of water on the horse to help start the cooling as soon as they go out of the starting Gates this is where we see it Harry this

Is so we’re now on to the final six Loop let’s now have a look back at the fifth Loop here at the alpha Sun cup be well there we are been a very long day today but very exciting we’ve seen excellent horse care from these top three Riders throughout the

Day they’ve navigated the course exceptionally well all making a decision that it is not worth being too competitive too early on but now it is all to play for for the final Loop five minutes to go Harry just under five minutes to go and there they are two barini horses

Looking good and there’s HD AER the uruan from Alain endurance up in the north of Abu Dhabi so where are we with uh others that are coming back in very soon we’ll see Abra Al Abdul for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia they’ll be coming into the crewing area we heard from her her

Earlier then tracking neatly behind it’s Camille Kum with the U horse SW flinker then for chile and it’s Bonny viard de Vero and majika Deli for chile they’re about a kilometer away I would say and then the young man 23 years of age Omar albawi from Saudi Arabia and Abdul

Rahman aluga also from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and those two are riding together in fact it looks to me like Chile Saudi Saudi are riding together and we’ll get those pictures coming up the hill very very shortly these two horses just being warmed up then ahead of the start of the

Final Loop was being wared by the crew and here we have jumis Team the two horses for Spain going for their reinspection and this horse you know it looks very well both the bahini horses look really fresh is that talcon powder that they put on behind the a little bit of tal

There just to prevent any abrasions you know you don’t want a piece of ill-fitting tack to cause an issue at this late stage in the competition the fact this horse is tucking in so much to those turns is a great sign maybe a little bit more water down

The down the flanks in a minute yeah absolutely and I always think is interesting Lola deala the gray horse here is always looking so strong at this point before it goes out it’s like they have to TU it in behind the bay horse in order for it to stop pulling the crew

Member around this interesting they’re putting a bit of water on these horses before they go into the reinspection it’s not something I’ve seen that often before yeah he’s on board forto Rico further he got three minutes to go 1646 No 2 minutes to go we’ll get the countdown clock in a

Minute and the gap between first and third is just 17 17 seconds I know after 140 kilm this is a nervous moment for jumer so AB Al Abdul just coming up the hill now and there’s last year’s winner of the 120 correct Muhammad Abdul Hamed Al hashimi with lolaa

The colors of red representing Victoria Stables I wonder what His Highness sh NASA’s instructions have been for this final Loop he’s a double world champion yep you know he is a double world champion world champion the young Horse World Champion with the seniors yeah in

B big winner last year in the in the three stars as well yeah let’s watch these horses Trot in unison for team Spain looking good Maria watching on from the end of the track laser focus on her horse and of her fellow compatriot Blanco Rodrigo and now the metabolic 10

Seconds to go now where are the tactics who’s going to go first who’s going to go fast who’s going to win it who’s going to win the 2024 Alpha sand cup here is the first of them it is feder fber the allain endurance teams HC yza for Uruguay away they go they’ve only

Got 10 seconds there’s the second just coming into pick now it is the second of those Hamed alahi and Lai for the kingdom of bahin and there is the third also it is Muhammad al-hashimi and Lola deala so away they go Harry now we’re

Off down the hill we come 20 km of the pink Loop they’ve ridden most of it I would say they’ve ridden 80% of it haven’t they it’s just that small section where they could cross small section yep and under the highway twice they’ll meet their Crews at both points

So two crew points for this 20 km Loop 20 km now remember they’ve been tracking about 18.1 18.2 uh and some 18.4 18.6 they went off fast 19.4 in the first that was at 5:30 this morning and they’ve continued that steady pace of about 18.4 throughout the remaining four

Loops now we’re off to the last they’ll know what there’s underneath them and they’ll know what to expect but as we saw yesterday you can never discount this overcook it overcook it coming up the hill the heart rate doesn’t come down and and you’ve just ridden you’ve just put 160 km on your

Leg all the way around yeah you know it’s not often we sit here and say that that absolutely hand on heart these three deserve are fully deserving off the podium places with the show of horsemanship that they have put on today so there’s nothing between them there nothing no they’re going to close

The gap I think here and they we’ll see them as a three whether they increase the speed or not now or in the latter stages waits to be seen so I think we’re hearing Harry that the Spanish horses have passed there they are so that’s now five that have

Passed and Omar are just traveling nicely like they did yesterday they just need to keep a little bit of distance on the group of three that are behind them constanza for Italy and then the two uh Brazilian Riders rata and uh Monica so to give you

The recap so uh Maria and Omar are 23 minutes behind Okay but they’re lying fourth and fifth after 160 km and as we all know anything can happen and then you get to the next group of the one Italian constant constan Lisha and rato Salvador and

Monica graan Lima pinto and they go off and they are only 35 38 seconds behind as that group so there’s just so many different permutations to play out over the next hour hour and 10 minutes and we remember we’ve got that veteranary inspection at the end it’s

Not just first across the line it’s first across the line and the horse that passes the veter inspection which is exactly the same as has happened throughout the day before they even started and at every single vet gate since then of the six phases of competition as we now are on phase six

11 and a half hours ago or 11 hours 20 minutes ago they started so here is uh the first of the Saudi riders coming back up up the hill Abra Al Abul and keran roko and what a fairy tale it would be for her she set her stall out right from the

Word go she said I really want to finish I’m going to go at about 16 km per hour all the way through the day I’m going to travel nicely I don’t mind being on my own I just want to get this all important finish so that means I’m

Qualified for the FI World Championships in in 2026 absolutely leading female Saudi Insurance Rider and her sights firmly set on the 2026 World Insurance championships what a moment it would be for her to represent her Nation back here on home soil so as ABA comes in they’re now out

On the final of the Loops the pink Loop 20 km and here’s Harry’s guide the pink Loop the final Loop of the 160 km endurance ride it starts the same way as the white Loop but before the uh White Loop climbs up there the pink Loop sweeps left and remains flat

And fast this is the easiest Loop of the course and at this point they’re heading back for home the finish line of the ultimate test of endurance 160 km it’s the end of a long day the finish line is in sight just these last few kilometers

To do and the decision to make whether you’re crossing the line with your teammate hand in hand or you’ve left enough fuel in the tank for a race finish the question on everyone’s mind is who is going to make it to the podium and pass that final vet inspection There it is the pink Loop the road to the 2026 World Championships it’s been a very very busy day here in alula and there has literally been something for Everyone Yeah what a weekend of sporting excellence and excellent entertainment Harry it really has so here we go coming up the hill and what a feeling this must be for this lady Abra Abul Kong roko let’s hope that’s all I can say Harry let’s hope that we get through the

Next 50 minutes for them to be able to go out onto the the sixth and final loop I mean I would certainly be very pleased to see her do well and your lovely uh interview with her earlier and I’m willing her on from the sidelines horse looking good taking it

Steady and you know not all the field are looking for a Podium position but she said that from the word go from 6:00 this morning exactly exactly y there’s one of the Brazilian horses on the reinspection 319 this is US’s Trio and puls 49 45 sorry it’s really low very good hopefully everything

Good here’s hoping so there is roko this is AB bras horse and here is in the middle there is Omar alawi uh who’s a local alula Rider part of the alula endurance Academy which has been Central to the vision of alula endurance they’ve bought a tried and

Tested method from Italy over to alula to educate the Riders to help upskill and on the right chillian it is Chileans Bonnie via Deo with magika delagi and on the center in the gray it is for France it is Camille Kum who has an amazing record in endurance riding in

France with s SW flinker so we have three nations remember 41 Nations set off at half 5 this morning three of those Nations represented there Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Chile and France Bonnie also an individual bronze medalist from the 2021 World Endurance championships in Pisa which was an incredible achievement for him

Personally there’s our two Brazilian horses then so what time do they go at Harry they go out at uh the reinspection is at 1702 1702 for the two Brazilians and the one Italian horse Spain go out at 1709 with the time just coming up to 5:00 so

They’ve got 14 minutes left to go those two horses just getting ready the two best mates just getting ready there’s moniker on the left the actual Rider of that horse and those two well they’ll be going out and cheral Van Dyson and Barbara of Lova Slovakia and the Czech Republic still in the

Game so in they come into the Vet gate off they get 140 km completed and hopefully another 22 there’s uh ABA just watching on on roko you can’t relax in this final vet gate because you’ve got that second inspection so you know you’ve got to keep the horses moving around it’s

Really important at this late stage you don’t let the horses stiffen up and this is the horse of Omar Al balawi with the crew from Italy Nico holding the line there cooling the horse this Rider going for qualification with his sights firmly set on the 2026 World urance Championships here in

Alula this is the championship distance and the first time that 160 km has been run from this venue on these tracks we’ve seen many successful 120s we saw one yesterday it was a thrilling competition and a bitter fight to the line the leading pack the two baranes and the one year aguan

Are just over 4 kilm gone of the 20 so with the time they remember they went off uh at 1646 the time now local time is 1649 so they’ve been on course for 30 minutes they’ve covered 4 km they’re tracking at about 19k I would say I

Think they’ve U their Pace a bit Harry but you’ve got the uh the Magic app yeah I mean it’s hard to say at this stage but we’ll bring you an update as soon as we can on the actual speed that they’ve been traveling at so there’s the first of the Brazilian

Horses in for the reinspection goes out for the Trot the 13year old first one done now we take the uh turn and back down for the second what the Vets will be looking at to see if they’ve just tightened up a bit in the shoulders in the muscles very good

Heart rates 48 and 55 constan liia horse far deas also in for the reinspection we’re hoping for the green light for the final Loop these Riders some of whom have ridden both days of competition still waiting for abas to come in huge team of veterinarians here I think there’s something like 17 line

Vets and 12 treatment bets Harry really remarkable and all of them have qualified through the star ranking of the FBI so they’ve had to go to events in order to to learn their trade to look at endurance sources they’re used to seeing you know what to look out

For I guess and very few vets very few vets go from I can think of two in the United Kingdom uh that do multidiscipline three if you can’t the Swiss one Fred but that’s that’s all the majority are single discipline endurance Specialists uh but very few go on to do multidiscipline

In in equestrian so that looks like they’ve passed constanza we hope we’ll uh see in a minute tracking the leading board they they’ve got uh five they’ve done 5 kilm now so they are picking up the pace slightly Harry and they are on the GPS we’ll get the pictures soon uh

And uh they’re tracking each other they are neck and neck on the GPS so they haven’t broken yet so 709 for Maria 711 for Omar okay I’m getting an update from Fabio down in the time Bove the leading Rider 317 at the moment is going at 20

Km an hour so they have increased the speed Nick and we do expect that final 20 km Loop to take one hour but yeah so that is Muhammad Al hashimi and Lola deala for the Kingdom of Bahrain the Victorious endurance team the Royal endurance team of Bahrain so

There’s another one with the Trot sadly we can’t see the number but very soon we will 305 it is that’s Omar that’s Omar from the alula endurance Academy now we wait and see Zera deia Alfredo Greco the vet and here we are Harry 15 kilm to go out of 160 and it is

Bahrain neck and neck and just uguide tracking in and traveling nicely they’re they’re all traveling nicely yeah consistent at this stage but they’ve up the speed to 20 km an hour having been averaging about 18.5 and we might see that incremental increase now on this the pink Loop and

The easiest Loop of all six stages of the competition yeah the slight incline the very slight incline only 40 m at around about the 11 km Mark so uh this is all about testing the horse’s ability to ride over 160 km the Riders have got

To have the wits about them it’s been a long day so how far have they got they’ve gone they’ve traveled from the left and they’re now all the way to the right there are a third of the way through they’re about 7K 6 and 1/2k through the sixth and final Loop

Wow it’s been a very long day but these horses have looked fantastic at all times they’ve really taken great care of their eoin companions letting them stop and drinking and we’ve seen the great care that the crews have taken in the vet gate and the bares leading putting on a show of

Force under the guidance of his H sh Nas bin hammed Al Khalifa from Bahrain his team team Victorious and himself sh NASA the world champion Lola deala leading is Forwards let’s have a look at that pink Loop then remember this is the 20K final Loop Loop Number Six the 20K distance traditionally the easiest of all the loops the last loop as it should be first of the water points two water points four five control points and the

Crew point the uh one crew point two crew points two crew points under the bridge under both under the bridge yeah and uh yes I have to say hats off to the co design has hats off to the OC for getting these courses absolutely spoton

Because uh you and I both said when we went and look to the bridges on Friday I’m thinking oh my word I would never ever as an organizer ever sanction this it is genuinely under the remit of Sharon Dey the technical delegate and there we are 301 and 303 the two Spanish

Horses leaving the barns getting ready to go out onto the final 20 and I would never have sanctioned it what do I know about horse sport what do I know about endurance but they’ve ridden those bridges beautifully and they’ve got two more to come both crew points we had 200

People go under it yesterday and 65 today many times just proves hurry that I’m an imal so two Spanish Riders two Spanish Riders we’ve got a here uh two-time world champion in Mar Al ponton Spanish champion in Omar Blanco Rodrigo all riding for jumes team the very well respected endurance Rider

And trainer in himself third last year in the world championships north of Barcelona in Spain look at Maria on the right of the shot just watching Eagle eyed as she has been all day on the horse this means the world to Maria and her husband Jima puny

Dax and then counting down you can see that constanza is there and so of the two Brazilians constanza will just go out just in front of the two Brazilians always in the line in a line on the track in a line in the vet gate these horses know their routine it’s a

Practiced art form if you if you looked at them in the in the crewing area when they came in there was one step it was like it was like uh it was like dancing it really was it was one step two step one step two step

One step two step they were counting the paces the in no in the crewing area so they kept the motion but just gentle steps gentle steps gentle steps so they’re just about to go out and remember they’re lying in fourth and fifth spot they just don’t look like

They’ve run 140 km at this point no they certainly don’t 106 to go Maria will get back in the plate any minute now and both of those Riders In fact uh four of the Riders of the next five rode in the 120 yesterday Harry so

Uh hats off to them really off to them as a rider that takes real grit and determination in know riding at speed and navigating that terrain is physically demanding as a rider 39 seconds to go crew just stepping in checking the final uh adjustments to the tack checking the girth checking the

Stups up in the plate we go you’d think after 140k someone could have given a leg up there no chance and they approach the departure gate for the final Loop of the alasan endurance cup was 4 seconds for Maria 7 seconds for Omar they’ll both wait at the same time won’t they

Harry yeah all very soon uh re and they have established themselves there they have W and they’re going out together there you go this is a team effort it’s been a team effort all day they started with three they’ve still got two going strong they’ve ridden in a

Line they’ve taken it turns to go in front as we’ve spoken about horses are her animals they want to go together Zuma can do no more it’s in the lap of the Gods certainly as the crews get ready to get in into the trucks and go to the crew

Points of which there are two on this Loop both under the bridge Crossings on either side so they’ve got uh a little under 10 12 km to go the leading pack remember there they are and they’ slowed right down 11 hours 40 minutes they’ve been in the riding time

And that was a unique time to see them coming on the final Loop wasn’t it Harry you don’t see that often do you no I’m not quite sure why they were walking at that point and you know maybe some B attack had broken or something and you

Know they were being good Sportsmans by stopping and and waiting for whoever to sort it out and now they’re back up and running so this to put it into sporting pance Harry if you use the tennis this is a grand slam event this is definitely up there with the majors isn’t it oh

100% this is the world’s richest endurance competition but also it’s the precursor to the 2026 FEI endurance World Championships here in alula with their great vision for the equan village and everything else that’s happening in this uh amazing Heritage there are the two Spaniards one of the strongest fields

That I have seen at a competition outside of a championships we’ve had world champions European Champions multiple world champions uh you know and the Riders here who have won before on this course over 120 all competing for this the longest competition this weekend at the Alazan endurance cup that’s the leaderboard as

It stands but there’s an awfully long way to play out on this there’s 10 km for these three still to ride uh 10 12 km they’ve yet to get to their first of the two crew points we think in fact we’re pretty sure and they’re now they’re still riding at

That steady pace and they’re only going by my estimation at around about 16 to 17K an hour at that pace Harry so are they going to go for it at the end are they going to do what uh Brian dunad and go go late go large or are they just

Going to stay at this pace who knows it’s all to play for two barini horses leading the uruan in third and I just so the GPS tracking is saying that they’re going at 20 km an hour and I think sometimes just our helicopter makes it look nice and steady but

Actually they’re motoring on a little bit um but still not pushing you’re quite right still not pushing here’s the first of the crew points okay so now what are the tactics are they going to stop Harry are they going to stop and get a drink or are they just going to

Keep on motoring and save it until the second crew point or are they going to do a pit stop here who know knows I think the two barini horses look like they’ve got more left in the tank than the Uruguayan I would agree but who knows who knows only three individuals

Can tell you that truly under the first of the highways and thank you for not pointing out to me that what do I know about endurance that the horses are never gu underneath that bridge and on they go it’s been a very technical track today there’s been lots

Of undulations changes of going the Riders have had to react and respond to help preserve their horses for the duration of this 160 km competition and one more vet inspection to pass even once they crossed the line and yesterday we that called a lot of riders out 150 km so far 10 to

Travel So they are still tucked up like a sandwich they there’s nothing between them no there isn’t even a piece of sandpaper there just isn’t good perspective now of where they’ve got to go and what they’ve got to cover as they swing round still very very close indeed

So it’s all down to this Harry it’s all down to this and the new rules that came in to being after the being voted in at the FEI general assembly in November last year and came into force on the 1st of January 2024 there can be no dead heat

It is up to the judges we have seen dead Heats before of course we have um but there can be no dead heat well I tell you now the Bon are not going to be Crossing hand inand with the Uruguayan Rider but no if for whatever reason they

Leave the Uruguay Rider then the same team team for for the Victorious Stables Shake NASA so we’ve now got five horse rider combinations out on course as we said earlier two for Spain two for Bahrain one for Uruguay just getting ready ready to go at uh 1717 in a minute and a

Half’s time it is the next group of three constanza ronato and Monica Brazil Brazil and Italy so now we have news we have news on the next group that we saw coming in the alula rider the alula endurance Academy Rider is very much in the loop he’s in

11th place that is the young 23-year-old Omar alawi and they will reinspect at 1736 alongside Chile’s Bonnie Via de Vio and at 1734 it is Abra abula for a representation for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so and then for France at 1736 they’ll represent and they

Hopefully will then go out at 17 53 it is Camille Kum and SW flinker so that is the uh there’s Constanta she’s away for the pink Loop Italy forward seat letting the horse run on as she’s hot on the heels of the Spanish Duo the prize money today 5 million

S and every place counts yes it certainly does so let’s just remind ourselves Harry so constanza is lying in sixth position so that’s 300,000 s which we’ll do the calculation to convert for those of you joining from elsewhere 65,000 give or take okay well ride well constans that’s all I would say yeah

Take care you’ve got to pass that V inspection where are we look at this stunning scenery though in Al it it’s truly a unique track as we heard from Brian Dunn the event director earlier on today now then let’s have a look here we’re seeing one horse that’s constan alone that’s

Constanza and the Brazilian Rider just behind that’s rata Salvador silver medalist from Pisa constanza wants to get a bit of distance early on in this final pink loop on the Brazilian Horse and Rider combination who are hot on her heels her horse recovered well in the

Vet gate which meant it’s out on course quicker yeah it’s out on course quicker Harry but not by much 3 seconds taking it easy here they just go down hill in the deep sand picking up changing the lead the equestrians out there it’s very important to keep that

CER lead changing so they don’t get used to using one side more than the other here we are the ugui taking the lead yeah absolutely and they picked up the pace Harry and they’ve got 9 kilm to go coming up to the water point on the

Final of the loops the pink Loop 20 km they’ve got 9 km to go and these this combination have been traveling like this all the way through now this will be interesting will they stop will they stop at this water point because up until now all the way through the

Competition they’ve all taken a break they’ve all taken a break they’ve given the horses a drink but have they left it they know what’s underneath them this is a Uruguayan challenge the Uruguayan is taking the water and carrying on full speed and the GPS track is now saying

The speed’s between 24 and 26 km an hour so a significant increase in Tempo so they’ve gone they’ve gone at the halfway stage now the uruguayan’s challenge can the bares respond we see the dust being kicked up by the bines as they push on to keep with the Uruguayan we know that

Lisa can we know that DL Maori can we really do and the Gap is now closing it might be that the baron send their stronger horse on and keep a reserve as a safe bet let’s wait and see but Loa de jalima with last year’s winning Rider Muhammad abdulhamid Al

Hashimi for Bahrain is hot on the heels of the Uruguayan Rider and they are speeding up as they approach the second crew point which is very close now after that water point less than a kilometer back under the bridge and then it’s straight back to the Finish

Line This is where you will see the crews of work this is where they really really earn their money the final crew point is all important to get as much water and they’re only allowed four crew to crew the horse wearing the correct bibs there’s stewards out there there’s

Grand jury members out there they’re only allowed to wear the correct bid per horse and they’re only allowed four of them so you see that freder Rico has been the Gap has closed he’s done this a few times today he’s kept them on the heels on the toes

Sorry uh you know he’s pushed on and then let them catch up he plays a good game for them but as we saw yesterday Harry with Faris and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fine finished up ended up in the second classification up on the podium but but dropped right back 3 kilm

From home yeah and you know he trotted in because he didn’t think he was going to get on the podium but the horses that were kind of neck and neck for the line just didn’t get the the heart rate down to that magic 65 uh 64 beats per minute

And were removed from the competition at the end Lola deala just traveling I think there’s a bit more underneath there Harry I’m not going to tempt fate but I think there’s a bit more so what did you say final water point I said they’d go 3K from home okay

You said 3K Brian said from the last from the last turn he said when they got to the Village okay and Harry what did you do being a true endurance athlete you sat on a horse and sat on the fence I said they’d get incrementally faster so oh who’s

Right well well done Harry after 12 hours oh dear right they are now let’s have a little look at the GPS they’ve eased a little bit 20 3 km an hour look I I just look at the two paces here there’s not a lot between them but to my uneducated

Eye VES are tracking tracking nicer okay maybe maybe they prefer to follow and then go yeah you know psychologically this is easier for the traines at this point because they are not having to do all the work that the leading Rider is having to pick the going the horse is

Having to pick its way the rider the horse rider behind just took in but what I can tell you with what s 7 and a half km to go is that this today has been an exhibition in endurance it really has all the riders that accomplished 160

Km are worthy of stardom in my opinion I mean it’s just the ultimate test of endurance and the preparation that goes into this I think that’s what makes it different is the years and years of qualifying working up the distances and the amount of people the support teams

The trainers the Vets the farers the physios the nutritionalist the saddlers ETC it just the list goes on there are so many people who feed into the performance of these individual combinations on the day You’ forgotten one aspect Harry the owners genuinely and for sure this is being

Watched in Alain and for sure this is being watched in uh manima already they’re congregating on the Finish Line 25 km an hour is the speed they are now doing 25 is it yeah and they’ve turned they’re just very close to the road crossing I believe let’s wait and

See is another crew point and see here comes the last crew point of the alasan cup with the three leaders in front of us with nine on course in the final loop at the moment there is the leaderboard Frederica fber Muhammad Al hashimi and hammed Al janahi those are the one two

Three and Omar Blanco and Maria ponton that is the classification at the moment but there’s so many twists and turns in this sport of endurance now here go the crews first bottle second bottle you look at the rid try put bottle he’s going to try and put a bottle on himself

He they’ve got two bottles there the bahrainis grab two bottles and they’re under the highway and they are away very very soon and the Baines are just getting a little in front and the baries are away final bottle for the bar they’re going to throw one can he catch

It and they’re off into the village now look look at this frto Rico says come on now you’re going to catch me if you can and look at the speed look at the speed of Muhammad Al hashimi and look at the speed of hammed Al janahi and Des lamaar

So Des lari behind then Lola deala in second and HC yaa in Pole Position it does not get closer than this after 160 km Harry wow and now they ease the handbrake off and ask for that little bit more for these Arabian horses to dig deep they’re now cruising at 28 km an

Hour according to the GPS stats are they as we heard as we heard from Jean Luca earlier the Arabian horse is a generous horse these horses have been generous to a tea all the way through here today it’s been tremendous the organization the organizing committee led by the event president Dr Anis

Hassan the general sport director janca lissia and the event director Brian Dunn and all the team here at the Royal Commission of Al they have put on the ultimate of endurance sporting spectacle and many many congratulations to the moall now it’s down to this they’re heading towards the

Village Harry and are they going to go Brian D said 1.8 and look at the horse on the outside dies majeri on the outside Lola jela is the gray chasing H hcer they look at the GPS there that’ll be giving them the speed the average the

Time it’s taking on the loop the outside horse asking for a little bit more now the uruan horse HC yaa just leans forward Frederico F Fara just leans forward squeezes forward to ask for just a little bit more but my money is on the outside horse it’s looking strong isn’t

It looking very he’s almost having to hold it back a little bit there’s no loose rain there we have the final row crossing and then it really is a Sprint finish here between Bahrain and this ride from Alain Stables ugu Rider Frederico Ferber and it comes down to this it comes down to

This to years of training years of preparation on an untested course at 160 km this is the first 160 km the world championship distance that will be here back in 2026 and The bahini Crew looking at their phone watching where are the Riders nervous times they

Look Lola deala in second yaa in pole position lamari in third just dropping off the pace a bit there Harry I really thought that they were coming traveling well on the outside HCA is an interesting horse it’s it’s like we were saying this morning it’s it’s never been a head turner it’s

Not the most impressive horse but it’s been so consistent all day and it’s here leading again final water point then 2 km they didn’t stop there did they they didn’t six length first to last first to third but as we must must remind ourselves it’s down to the vetting it is

And we saw yesterday it wasn’t the first across the line that was ultimately crowned the winner because they have to pass that veter inspection and the winner just overcooked it on that last Loop and didn’t get the heart rate down to that magical number 64 beats per

Minute don’t know whether you saw that uh there Harry but Muhammad al-hashimi just leans back and says come on hammed come on travel with me travel with me you can do it and there goes the there it goes there goes the squeeze is this the uh this is the

Move can hcer respond neck and neck now 3K out Harry just warning it it’s a long way to go it is but we know that Muhammad Abdul Hamed alashi has the experience and so does Lola deala a favorite from early on the world young horse Champion

From 2022 you look at the the marathon great of H gabri salasi you look at Mo Farah they knew when to push they knew when to squeeze and so did all these three but the one in third it is hammed Al janahi just really asking for it and

Have they got enough in there to close the gap and have they got enough to settle a heart rate down within 20 minutes that is the question have to wait and see we’re almost there we’re in the closing stages now neck and neck the rider there just

Lapping a rider from the previous Loops that gives you a good sense of the speed that these Riders now traveling at and D LA maeri on the outside coming now yeah Rider asking the Riders In Front they’re not asking they’re not asking they’re just cruising yes fascinating isn’t it it is it has

Been a game of cat and mouse all day long another Rider on the course from the previous Loops approaching and they go either side sort of get out the way coming through isn’t it it’s being on formula one isn’t it another one another two another three this will give these horses that

Are charging Liney just coming up on the inside and the Uruguay took a cursory glance to his right there just to see where they were and looking again now he’s checking if they’re pushing or not exhibition riding so far Harry I’m not you me down there he’s looking he’s over looking

Over his shoulder Frederico Ferber the rider of the leading horse has led a lot of today the bines closing in though Mam’s just taking a little pull of Lola there because he just tucked in in the slipstream is this team tactics is this team tactics on the outside pushing the

Uruan and on the inside pushing the uruan and saying cling in on it we’re going to get you we’re going to get you they did that at the water point this is team riding here they come neck and neck it is nose and nose now Lala the gray on

The inside just taking the lead ever so slightly coming up on the outside but freder Rico full of experience that jockey in the middle I mean it couldn’t be closer now it couldn’t be after 160 100 Mil 160 km we’re down to the final kilometer really they’ve got across the road any minute

Now there they are oh team Bahrain this is a nervous moment there’s Dr HED just uh walking there’s tur the team trainer now they come through the village we’ve picked them up from the static cameras we are really close to the end now Frederico furber leaning forward but L

Jala mounts the challenge won the 8-year-old World Championship two years ago in vicking Spain he asks and he gets he’s about three leads uh three length ahead now but now it’s on the heart rate don’t put your hand in the air just yet you haven’t won it yet you’ve got a long

Long way to go and the other bar daderi coming past HCA towards the Finish Line they still have to turn the corner there still a long way to go they have Harry they have now we just watch and wait the Gap is now where maybe 15 lengths it’s

Bahrain two it is Bahrain two and it is Uruguay 3 there are the flags coming out but and we say but heart rate Trot metabolics they have to pass the veter inspection they’ve rid they’ve all ridden and a huge credit to all these three athletes in fact every single

Athlete and their horses uh this weekend and especially here today they’ve ridden quite brilliantly but it now comes down to this it comes down to the next 15 20 minutes doesn’t it exceptional last loop from the bahrainis they’ve played it so cool and saved it until that very last

Moment Rico can’t touch them he just can’t get up that hill in time can he no there’s that gradual climb now as they come to the Finish Line an early favorite 317 you can hear the noise in the background you can hear the noise in the background they’ll be given the

Flags shik nassa will be watching on at home are they going to hold hands they cannot be a dead heat so it now will become down to the judges they must know these new rules PR here pride of Bahrain 160 km Smiles are out three horses Areo and many many congratulations we’ll

Wait for the final judges result hammed Al janahi and Des lari and Muhammad al-hashimi and Lola laima they go first cross the line the grey goes first the World Championship horse of two years ago Muhammad Al hashimi and Lola talima cross the line in first place what an

Incredible competition the final Loop so thrilling and there’s HC in third place and well done to feder Rico well done to Federico Ferber and HC yaer oh my word Harry Ingram we have been treated to something magnificent now we have to wait yeah we can’t now we bring it back

Down again these horses have got to pass the veter inspection they’re giving the horses a little bit of fructose glucose at this point now just to give them a pickme up 20 minutes it’s 20 minutes that they have now to present now so those three horses are across the line

They’ve now got to go into their 11th fetting of the competition they’ve got to do exactly the same the heart rate must be down below 64 or 64 or below then they’ve got to do the Trot 40 m up 40 m back then they’ve got to go through the

Metabolics and it’s the panel judges as well and the The Motto fit to continue it applies all the way through and at the end this is interesting final weigh in so Rider sorry Rider and their tack must be 75 Kg and these Riders have been pulled and spot checked at the finish

So that should be fine Riders should be on top of their wage at this point but they’ve got to meet that minimum they certainly have now there’s our one of the leaders okay that’s okay that’s perfect and the crew get to work while the Riders are being weighed in there’s Dr

Khaled khed Hassan Dr K as uh many of us know him man who’s been part of the Victorious team has driven the Victorious team in Bahrain for 20 years plus been on the endurance technical committee for the FBI he’s done so much for the sport and uh now he he knows he

Knows the rules he knows what’s going on he just has to wait and see but my word Harry all I can say from the bottom of my heart is how fabulous those three horses real great competition today been a pleasure to sit here how they look absolutely and Dr CARiD he has been

Coaching he was saying to us earlier he’s been coaching Shake NASA since he was a child and now shik NASA’s children the future of endurance in bah actually Harry what he said to me not to you he said Nick oh my my word we are getting very very

Old so 20 minutes they have 20 minutes the clock has stopped now but they have 20 minutes they cannot exceed that time within that 20 minutes the heart rate needs to be below 64 beats per minute so we wait it’s not against the clock now Harry it’s not against the clock but as

We were explaining yesterday the trick of this is that they don’t want their horses to get too tired and too tense they want them to stay relaxed so the metabolics are fine stay relaxed so the trots fine they don’t want them seizing up they’ve got to keep them really

Supple really moving and happy in their work haven’t they that’s totally right and you know they’re letting uh HD just have a little little nibble just to keep those good sounds moving and everything just so the metabolics are good when they go in to check but they’re going to

Cool them down now it’s been a lovely cool day here with a nice breeze 20 absolutely what I would call the most perfect endurance conditions absolutely yeah and they are perfect conditions there’s been no humidity there’s been a breeze and it’s been 20 to 21° so it

Hasn’t been too hot hasn’t been too cold there’s been a breeze and there’s no humidity don’t know about you Harry but it’s been um it’s been a a long but very enjoyable day so still on the horses there’s the second place TOS at the moment second classified now let’s we

Look back we look out and the Brazilians are going out and there is a the moment we’ve got two for Spain out one for Italy out two for Brazil out and uh the reinspection there’s a start of 17 49 for Abra Abul and a start of

1750 for the Chilean and a start of 1753 for Camille Kum for France that’s what we think it is at the moment so three in four out no five out and awaiting the departure of some more what uh so at the moment Harry at the moment with some still out

On on luk five and Luke 4 there have uh been 39 37 eliminations out of 61 to me that seems okay y pretty in line with what we’d expect for 160 km the Vets not taking any risks taking preemptive steps to avoid issues confirm the final Loop speed of

Of the trio there it was 23.7 which was still a good deal slower than the winers from yesterday in goes the hay there’s frto Rico the uruan the Allan team trainer here are the Spanish Maria and Omar and as they have been yesterday today Championship after Championship after Championship ride after ride after

Ride riding together yeah very consistent they’ve known the game blam from the beginning and nothing has got in the way nice and relaxed they’ve kept a consistent Tempo they’ve kept their lead on constanza and the Brazilians behind them and they’re in fourth and fifth place so these two are just about

To come back back on the pink Loop control point eight these two and it’s not over yet is it because we’ve still got three in the vet they’ve got what 12 14 minutes to go to present a maximum of 12 or 14 minutes these two who knows at that pace you just don’t

Know do you I do not know that what are they going at Harry 17 18 something like that give me a minute and I’ll let you know just open the uh GPS trackers so Spanish team going about 19 km an hour possibly 20 so you know they’re moving on at a decent pace

Faster than they have for the rest of the day just slowing up for the deep sand they’re just about to turn back along the straight bit of the pink Loop and possibly here approaching a crew Point although it’s hard quite to tell from that point let’s

See yeah so that’s the pink Loop just joining the rest of the course heading back towards the venue we saw the other flags there the green the yellow the white and here’s the water point and the crew point this is what we were expecting so they’re about to

Go under the bridge perhaps or is that just a water point I think that’s just a water just a water Point Harry there’s no crew there yeah that’s the uh every water Point here has been staffed by the organizing committee fantastic infrastructure that’s been put out there

Cannot fault the or the OC and the Royal Commission in any shape or form here you cannot fault them they have left no stone unturned and that comes from an organizer of a championship it really does and I will say hats off to them and well done to the whole

Team here we are getting some more good alaa hay in there and when are they going to go who’s going to go first Harry where’d you reckon who’s going to go first that is the question that is the question still working on these horses five horses out on course and

Just about to go out is Saudi Arabia Abra abada with roko and then it is Bonnie VI Deo for chile and J and Camille Kum for France and S SW flinker they’re all getting themselves ready to go out on the 20K but meanwhile we await we watch and we wait with baited breath

They came in what time did they cross the line Harry they came in at 737 so they’ve got 10 minutes exactly so they’ve got another 10 minutes before they say we’ve got to y or out they go Omar Blanco Rodrigo and Maria Alvarez ponton for Spain now out

On course they’ve just passed through the final water point they probably have half a kilometer to go before they pass under the bridge and the final crew point and then it is just a few kilometers before they too cross the finish line for the alpha San inj

C the lights are on it’s uh starting to dim here not quite I mean we’ve got another at least 55 minutes daylight sun is getting lower and lower and lower freder Rico and it started in the dark this morning at 5:30 these horses have been doing different phases

Of competition coming back for a rest period and then going again practice Trot there yeah just checking on the hard and that’s the road in the uh in the crewing area that they cannot put a drop of water on I think they’re happy with the heart rates Harry you don’t see the monitors

Going on do you what do you think I think these horses are looking good I think you know compared to what we saw yesterday where the horses you know we could see the anxiety of the crew oh this is a great shot let’s watch oh come on start to work 65 they

Have 10 minutes that mean that should be fine that’ll be fine won’t it yeah Dr K it there the team manager and team vet for the Victorious Stables just walk a little more little bit more water right let’s see HC it’s almost like a thriller movie how

It is though isn’t it it’s a tense moment you tell me look at them all looking at that W you tell me what other sport the winner isn’t necessarily the winner no but has this amount of tension after 12 hours Cricket no but it do you I can’t name a single sport

No so there’s the uh second of the bar horses that was the horse that crossed the line in second spot was we saw on the monitor they registered 65 they’ve got to be 64 or below and they keep them moving it because you know as they push the tempo

There they just go into their anerobic threshold which means the the body can’t remove the lactic acid from the muscles quickly enough and they produce carbon dioxide and you know that’s okay for this last uh push to the line but they’ve got to walk the the muscles out

To get rid of that lactic acid just rid it of any lactic acid and it looks Nick that hcer Fredo Rico F third place is now presenting to the veteranary commission and I believe that is Fredo F leading it it is and yes it is the trainer closely

Behind all eyes now on the digital heart rate display they’ve not used the full 20 minutes minutes and there’s no rushing necessarily for these guys that doesn’t need to rush n they could go in at 1959 yep but they then have the risk of the horse perhaps getting a little bit more

You know the adrenaline stopping yeah cuz they’ve got a trot with some gumption yes they have uh fit to continue yep they look up up to the sky and the heart rate looks fine now they have to wait for Three Vets oh we’ve got Three Vets so we Trot

Oh there we go so it’s Three Vets make the decision on the Trot they write on a piece of paper and they pass it to the ground jury who then deliver the message to very good trotting back looks fine from the side Harry yeah it looks fine from the

Side and you can hear the crowd think the same but we can’t tell from the front that’s the only way to tell a really proper way freder Rico the rider’s watching the trots and he’s smiling so let’s see and now they complete the metabolic check have you ridden that horse within its

Limits you wait and see but if even though he’s first to vet and he passes but doesn’t change his position unless the others around so here are the two of the Spanish horses it is Omar and Maria coming up to the crew point now they pushed on through the

Final water point you see them coming uh from the right hand side the crew cars are are awaiting and this will be I would imagine a lot of water will go on these horses at this point yeah look they’re slowing right down yeah will they stop no they’re going to

Have a drink they will y they’re just going to walk you know look they’re drinking and walking drink and walk walk backwards one St two steps 67 67 still not down Harry and where are we going to we got two or three minutes four minutes oh

Dear it’s a tense moment you see the quarters just quivering there yeah it’s you know the sunlight the direct sunlight’s gone so that’s a pass it looks like for freder fur handshake with the ground jewelry a kiss on the nose from the team V and that is richly

Deserved because they’ve ridden a great ride yeah and the alfha San cup now he just has to wait and see 69 it’s going back up so the bines can’t get this is the second this is the other bar Ries can’t get their two horses done there’s khed desperately trying to get the horse

The heart rates down and look and could endend up with a Spanish we could end up with Spain two Spain three we really could because yet again the Spanish have written exactly the same tactics all the way through the ride everything can change is that going down khid is

Holding he’s not he’s not he’s not letting us see yeah of course he’s not 71 going up again the tension Rises they’ put a rug on its quarters three minutes to go before they must must go into the Vets so they’re getting towards the ladder stages Harry

And these there it is there is the one for certain that we have seen complete we could be looking at our winner we could be looking at the alal San Champion 20 24 65 they’ll walk it round they’ll keep it walking they’ve got two minutes to go

Are they’re going to go in are they looks like it have they just decided enough’s enough we’re going for it y they’ve got another two minutes but as we said yesterday you know with the adrenaline running as Riders and crew and everything else going on it’s quite hard to keep track

Of exactly when you came in across that line so you know they don’t want to take any risk they’re going in now but that horse you know it’s rubbing it’s not totally settled is it let’s see this is a tense moment for team at Park R they’re both in 317 both In one or lost here it’s one or lost that’s a nervous look on the man leading D slager heart rate monitor off there Harry come on come on come on 59 whoa right okay so this is the horse this is the combination that cross the line in Pole

Position they have vetted and they have had low heart rates all the way through the inspections oh he’s he’s nervous he’s worried we don’t know yet whether this they’ they’ve got to do the Trot and they’ve got to do the metabolics on a loose rain Lola deala there’s

Hared they look up at the screens oh that’s a nervous look that is a nervous look are they looking across to Lola and’s clapping for that horse it’s not going to help them with their heart rate Trot looks fine Trot looks good with lalima so they come back in I think they

Might ask this horse to trot again because he swaps sides and the new rules says You must Trot on the left hand side with a loose rain few questionable strides there as the horse left that’s all right to me that’s fine but I’m not a vet thankfully so I don’t

Know are they going to present what’ you reckon so I’m not sure Harry I think theyve they’ve passed I think their heart rate yeah and they now wait for Three Vets to do the Trot I I’m a little bit concerned about the right four of this gray L Jala they drop back

Wow 64 for 315 Nick they couldn’t have called it any closer he breathes a very short side relief but it’s not over yet so the the walk into the Vet gate does does settle the heart rate doesn’t it so they know because they’re trained for this yeah and you know it

Just that time 5964 oh my word khed is looking anxious here are the metabolics Christian will be given the vet slips to say pass or fell on the Trot now it’s on these three there is the horse that crossed the line in second place that looks like a very good

Truck does doesn’t it yeah they cross second yep very good remember we’ve got one definitely passed that is HC yaa so they Bobby goes around the other side to have a look look at the metabolics uhoh oh dear the shake of the head how disappointing is that so

Irregular Gates that means the Spanish move into Podium contention it’s been a a long day for Lola de Jala no and she’s dug deep on there you know what a shame what a shame what a real real shame and uh what a real shame for Muhammad al-hashimi so Harry that means that it’s

All on the next one to decide who the champion is of the alpha sand cup 2024 is it hammed Al janahi and D liri or is it Federico Ferra and HC yaa HC yaa is in the clubhouse done yeah he’s passed his horse is in the rest area now having

Passed the inspection we wait news now for 315 and whether they pass so the vet slips are going to Christian Lozano the the man with the clipboard the president of the grand jury the two vets Carlos and Antonio the foreign veteranary delegate and the president of the veter commission are there some of

The most experienced vets in the world lme vet is there for the metabolics Maria or Omar are looking towards a Podium for the second year Well we wait the ground jury decision oh yes it they’ve done it bahin with it Muhammad Abdul Hamid al-hashimi and the Victorious teams

The hammed Al janahi and des de la maeri they crossed the line in second they got in in the heart rate of 64 they win the alpha sand cup the first ever running of the 160 and many many congratul ulations absolutely fabulous a tremendous achievement Harry you cannot ask for

More I mean you couldn’t have got it closer at the end there I mean heart and mouth at that 64 beats per minute and I’m sure they’re on the phone His Highest Shake NASA now telling him the news I’m sure His Highness is wrong wrong and uh our hearts go out to

Muhammad alimi and Lola that’s a little bit of irregularity there regularity yeah after all that all the horses are now going to the doping control but we will go down to speak with the Riders and Maria and Omar now in Podium contention yeah they are or constanza so

Nick I’ll leave you here and I will go and try and grab uh our leading riders for a quick chat there is the champion absolutely brilliant there is the champion there there’s the Vets team trainers well done to hammed Second feder Rico and now we’re waiting for the third horse now we look

Down the classification out on course out on course is are the two from Spain Maria alvares ponton and Omar Rodrigo and then Rodrigo Blanco then con constan lissia so they have now all shifted up a place they’re the filling the top five at the moment then the two Brazilians

Who’ve been riding together all day long since halfast 5 this morning Renard Salvador and Monica Graziano Pinto classification is in definitely confirmed by the grand jury it is confirmed it’s classified congratulations to hammed ISA Abdullah YF Al janahi and the Victorious teams des lari and in second place also

Classified for Uruguay riding the all endurance Is HC yaa Federico Ferber so those definitely classified then we go to those that are out on course we’ve discussed constanza we’ve discussed Omar and we’ve discussed Maria the two Brazilians then we go to the highest place for the Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia we heard from her earlier on wanting to qualify for the FI endurance World Championships here in alola that is AB Abul and kowan roko they have got another 6 and2 kilm to go then the two from Chile and from France and then we are looking towards Sabrina Arnold and

We look at now at the alula Riding Academy and we are hearing that bad luck there for Omar alawi and zagara Dasia they they rode quite brilliantly 23 years of age based here at the alula endurance Academy sadly there was an irregular gate lame after the uh fifth

Phase so they don’t go through so it’s all changing out there the first two are confirmed we’re waiting now for the two from Spain and they are only about three and a half kilomet away and in picture in picture there was our champion today hammed Alan and D lari

So Harry I do believe has got our Alphas San Champion 2024 I’m here with the winner of the first ever 160 km competition to be held here in alula hammed Abdullah YF Al Janay congratulations on winning thank you thank you so much I’m so happy you

Kept us all on the edge of our seat there the heart rate 6 64 beats per minute I mean you couldn’t have called it any closer yeah it’s so difficult race actually and so hard and thank God that I become the first place what does

It mean for you and for the country of Bahrain and His Highness SE NASA it’s mean a lot of us actually and uh all the wi to will to will give for Sheik nasar actually he’s our big supporter and what was that last Loop like it looked extremely thrilling to

Watch yeah my Mercy was lazy actually she’s very lazy and I keep up with them until uh until the last C less kilos then we tried to open so hard and alhamdulillah hammed congratulations namus well done I told you that we’ll be in the podium with my riter I’m very

Proud of hammed hammed is first time he’s right here and he is now qualified with this horse hopefully for 2026 and thank you very much this is the as I told you this is a a part of the sport that you’ll be win and it could be eliminated unlikely unfortunately we

Lost the winner but we have the second who is now winner of the Ala yeah such a shame for your other Rider but you rode such a clever race hats off to you congratulations very much very we had a fight since the morning I came the second he came the first so I

Want to congratulate congratulations Nam namah and bah and is one team be honest with you and is we’re family outside and inside we are fighter together but outside family and friend and and you’re the owner of uh HCA there yes sir so since the morning we were putting the

Plant together and we were together until the last few kilometers I was sitting with him inside and we were going to see our hor he tried to he tried to beat me but he can’t do it it was a very exciting finish we were watching I tried we make it excited for

Everyone this is a part of it that’s we make Al all the time very excited finished excited ride and it is really it is very tough track very tactical track and uh the rider is very professional to bonus the thank you very much I enjoyed it today I enjoyed it congratulations

Congratulations congratulations indeed now here they come here they come who’s going to get the third we’ve got first we’ve got second now who’s going to get the third is it going to be Maria is it going to be Omar we just don’t know we don’t know if they’re going to ride

Against each other they don’t normally they really don’t they are Omar on the left works for Maria and Zuma in Zuma’s team and uh I wonder I wonder I wonder if he said uh boss can I go and Maria’s European double European Champion former world number one one uh she knows what

It is to be on top of the podium and this is for third in the alpha sand cup and third is the small matter of 400,000 s up they come they they have ridden quite brilliantly they really have ridden quite brilliantly all day nothing has changed them the plan has not

Changed they’ve been together since halfast 5 this morning just like the Brazilians coming up behind them and uh here they come after 160 you wouldn’t believe it that these horses traveling across the ground and they are traveling at a speed of about 20K there’s husband

Juma Maria on the left on the right and Juma is there ready and waiting but his job now begins his job begins because it’s all about the next 20 minutes or so Harry some very happy Bahrain is Dr khid uh certainly very excitable this afternoon

As he always is and uh well done indeed it’s first ever 160 and that makes a great story well done to hammed Al Janai he fabulous story so now look at this look at this in they come do they have any idea no but look at the sunset

Behind them look at the scenery behind them today has been a day of Champions today has been a day of emotions and today has been a day of unbelievable sport who’s going to be third and who’s going to be fourth what you reckon I don’t think Omar dare cross that line I

Just let’s see let’s see what do you reckon Juma get back get back jum needs to tell Juma needs to tell them Trot walk so did you see there that the owner of H Ali Naser Al Yuni here we here we go stri for stride for third place now

Let’s just have a look there cannot be a dead heat they’ll hold hands I think and the Martin girls are undone Maria’s going to go for it Maria just squeezes in front or does Omar squeeze in front what a textbook ride that is poetry and motion

Omar is going to cross the line in third I believe that Teamwork Makes dream workor is the sport of urance my friend y as they come to the line and they lean forward and a massive pat down well done gives the third place to Omar there Omar has done

So much for the Stables of Zuma and Maria over the years they will be absolutely thrilled with about 90,000 if they pass the vet Harry that and uh 60,000 for fourth unbelievable so 90 plus what they got yesterday €150,000 yeah yeah now the work begins my friend as we look

Fantastic absolutely fantastic just water a picture yeah let’s hope they don’t keep us on the edge of the seat quite to the degree that the bahin Did Now and this is what they’ve done all day long Juma just having a look at the Trot first of all that’s the first time we’ve seen that immediately after they’ve been presented 303 that that’s Omar’s horse Juma team El sabrino world champion Elite athlete Elite Rider and in they go here comes the Water out there on the course 5 km 4 and 1/2 km actually for constan Alicia uh for Renata Salvador from Brazil and for Monica Pinto Graziano for Brazil they’ve got 5 kilm to go and about uh 14 13 and 1 12 kilm for Abra abukar and traveling just behind it’s

Bonnie VI Deo for chile and also Camille Kum and SW flinker for France so they’re they’re out on course Sabrina Arnold will be going out for Germany the double European Champion represented 1817 so they’ve got three minutes before their representation Qatar are in the mix Belgium are in the mix and the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also have got two in the top 20 as it starts initial classifications let’s remind ourselves K Bak win Uruguay in second and now we look at those horses that may be in third and fourth Omar cross the line in third Maria cross the line in fourth we

Have to wait and see who passes the first vetting and then we will have the one two three the podium finishers in the alpha Sun cup 2024 here’s constanza coming up the hill and she’s ridden another brilliant race another brilliant ride rode so well in the 120s yesterday and has ridden so

Well in the 160 and he’s doing so much for endurance in this part of the world there’s jumer there’s 64 that’s on Maria’s horse that’s uh Omar there’s Juma look at that bright as a button 65 now they probably should be walking it around because it’s getting a little bit

Tense Jal now slow walking around the uh crewing area there we go and here comes constanza up the hill she comes she could finish in fifth spot she could climb higher it will depend on the other two the two Spanish horses there’s up so we have the first two now we

Await third fourth and fifth and this lady is lying in fifth spot at the moment what an ambassador for endurance just waking waking that horse up because uh it’s been a long time far deas there’s the heart rate monitor 61 that’s getting better now Zuma will be happy with that

And Zuma knows everything there is to know about horses will he present soon it’s up to him he’ll know he’ll know the horse he’s bred the horse he’ll know exactly what to do with it think we might be heading in toward towards the vetting so this there they

Go in they go and look at that they’ve only been off what four five minutes and this is the master tactician at work as he crossed the line here comes constanza this for fifth place this for another tremendous ride from this former European Champion fifth place and the amb Ambassador for alula

And the Ambassador for endurance squeezes forward get some more out of it and that just proves how brilliant exhibition riding we have seen here at the alpha Sun Cup today we wait two classified to going into the Vet now here’s team Lisha Grand jury out there the stewards out

There and here are the crews 303 that is the horse that could go third Omar Rodrigo Blanco and jml sobrino takes the turn for the Trot heart rate seems fine I would say or there’s far debas 20 minutes they have now there there the heart

Rate good heart rate of 56 and a good heart rate of 55 jumer yet again perfect training perfect ambassadors for endur endurance Inc comes constanza just don’t know how they can walk after that 120 yesterday 160 today now the Trot now the Trot for El sabrino and Omar leading the horse up

Himself lovely loose rain typical jumer style as Harry said they trop them every single day takes the turn and off we go now the [Applause] metabolics looks sound to me but I’m not a vet and we’re not seeing as we’ve said all day long we’re not seeing it head

On constanza with the heart rate the sevens I think 301 302 there’s jumer they’re all home now the metabolics let’s wait and see is this going to be the third place horse in the alpha San cup we’ve only got a minute to wait BR D in the background the whole organizing

Committee amazed us with their logistical skills their hosting and their friendliness here in alula nothing is too much trouble nothing they could have done anymore they learn from this for the Championships giving the metabolics is Omar going to take the win is he going to be third it is very

Tense yes they’ve done it they’re in third Spain get on to the podium and that is the final classification JM El sabrino and Omar Rodrigo Blanco are third in the alpha sand cup so it is a win congratulations to the kingdom of bahin the Victorious endurance team of hammed Isa Abdullah YF

Aljan and Des lari in second the two that have been neck and neck all day long since Hast 5 this morning Federico Ferber and HC yaa and in third congratulations of we see and shot with Omar R Blanco and JM L saino absolutely incredible endurance riding congratulations to them

All look at that Spain now here are the Brazilians top 10 finishers and they have been just like the Spanish riding side by side by side all day long so we’ve got 1 2 3 4 already classified with Maria now classified in fourth with cinetic deel so that’s the top four Zuma

Massive smile he gets a Podium he gets third he gets fourth Harry’s with him sure we’ll try and hear from him and then in aakam there’s Juma big smiles all around just look what it means just look what it means there’s the vet there’s the vet now the Brazilians in they come

Stride for stride and coming over the line first it’s ronado Salvador and uz US Trio and Monica Pinto graciano pinto and pra de Bon Vivia the Brazilians get home so now we’ve got to wait for constanza going into the Vets look at that there Harry here we go the two Brazilian

Horses the two Grays going in constanza still on the heart rat they’ve still got plenty of time they cross the line at uh 1817 so they can go until 1837 they got at least 11 minutes as the countdown clock counts down could she finish fifth in the alpha sand cup

Meanwhile meanwhile coming very close to the venue it is Abra Al Alaba Abul for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so could they get top 10 finish could they have their dream could they qualify for the World Championships here in alula in 20126 very soon Abra will be

In the hold area in the crewing area in we go in we go for Italy all the finishes that complete of which there are four now all going to medication control what’s called medication control testing for substances and that is a another precaution just like you would see in any tournament anywhere around

The world and very soon we’ll know about constanza and that is the horse that’s placed fifth at the moment and farro debas now Harry is uh in the vet gate as we’re looking at far deas of constanza Lisa and let’s see who Harry’s got down there now so I’m here with Omar Blanco

Rodrigo third place and the trainer Zuma puny Dax Zuma you’ve done it again for the second year yeah we had a a hope that could happen this and uh we went as slow we get a little bit disappointed because one horse was too fresh or too

Anyway was unhappy to be together with a friend and uh it was too excited and we’ve been eliminated for him and after that we changed a little bit and we said okay we go a little bit more conservative and uh anyway we finish very nice and easy and the horse are so

Happy then is very good and such a clever competition just taking your time and not really getting worried what the leaders are doing at all was that the game plan all along yeah it was was the plan we we are the first ones that we came from Europe and uh our weather

Conditions there are the same as here the other horses what wear in front are the horses that they came from Middle East then they have a different experience with the Sun a different experience with the weather then uh for us it was a a really good performance to

To finish uh with a course as they finish PR and jumer would you mind just asking Omar what it means for him to be on a Podium at such a enormous competition one of the biggest in the [Applause] world He for him he never expected that because we came in from Europe and the last year was 120 kilom that was good for him but we came from Dubai and this year it was 160 and we came from Europe that was a big challenge for us well it

Stands you in good stead for the 2026 World Endurance championships jumer you must be so pleased we must let you go to the prize giving now congratulations to both of you and also to Maria thank you very much sorry thank you everyone thank you and look at the joy ofation I think

Constanza has just been confirmed of fifth spot in the alpha sand Cup World under constan Alicia far duas there so the European Champions are a light and they’re away they have finished in fifth the smiles said it said it all but let’s recap exactly where we are right here right now with a

Prize giving ceremony coming up very very shortly congratulations to the Kingdom of Bahrain it is hammed aan and Des lari they take the win in second the very first running of the alpha San cup here in alula the very first CI 160 Bahrain win it in second and they’ve

Been toet to- toe all day long it is riding the allain endurance team it is Federico Ferber and HC yaer in third and it was dramatic wasn’t it coming into the final vetting in third congratulations we’ve just heard from them Omar Rodrigo Blanco and JM sabrino for Spain fourth is Maria Alvarez ponton

And cinetic duel for Spain and there in the pink helmet with her mom next door it is congratulations to constanza lishia in fifth spot with faha dibatas for Italy so it is Bahrain Uruguay Spain Spain Italy that is the top five to me this has been the epitome of endurance

Riding this has been the race of all Races this has been sport at its very highest and many many congratulations to them all the top five are classified and yet they’re still coming Harry what a day ah absolutely incredible I mean I go down there and I come back with a buzz

Just is electrifying absolutely electrifying certainly is electrifying it you know one word wow yeah constant in fifth wow yes classified fifth just literally just now you can see what it means to her by the expression on her face and dard and Nar but but look at this

Harry I do believe that we’ve got we know that we’ve got the two Brazilians in ronato Salvador and Monica Graziano Pinto they’re in but just come in I think is Abra AB for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia what an incredible day that she has had

And a game pan all along to ride at 1617 some highlights then from that very exciting final Loop Spe for So it is the uh Riders and the crews and the teams assembling for the pr is giving ceremony of the very first running of the alpha sand cup here in ALA what a day of sport what a day of endurance and what a venue hats off indeed to the incredible organizing

Committee the Royal Commission of alula for having the faith to put this on for delivering those incredible pictures that really have shown really have shown the sport of endurance at its highest so the prize giving ceremony comes up Harry to sum it up I would say brilliant horsemanship brilliant riding and

Brilliant teamwork we’ve seen it all day long from the very beginning and absolutely hats off to them it’s been a fabulous day of sport and there is our winning horse looking healthy and happy at the end of 160 km and that is all we can ask for in the sport of endurance

That’s all you can ask for in any horse sport isn’t it it is not just in endurance in any horse sport so the dignitaries are gathering for the podium and at the top of the line it is Bahrain and second Uruguay in third Spain fourth Spain and fifth Italy ladies and

Gentlemen welcome to the pring for the AL C it’s great that the horse is attending the prize giving too and there’s Brian D event director director a proud moment for him a proud moment for the whole of the organizing committee Harry a very proud moment because hats off to them they

Delivered 260 horses from from uh far and wide around all five continents they’ve delivered them here they’ve then put on the very best facilities they then put on the very best course that you could ever wish for in this uh region and anywhere around the world unrivaled unparalleled and now we’ve got horses

That look healthy and happy and that’s all you want congratulations there in third Omar Rodrigo Blanco for Spain J team El sabrino fber from in second wow oh wow all day long since 5:30 congratulations to federo fber and HC Yer but let’s raise the rof and there

Will be cheers as they deserve to be congratulations to ham Isa abdf Al and for the Victorious team and the kingdom of Bak he had some lovely words to say this morning his horses his horse ran well yesterday and very well done indeed Dr Anis Hassan the event President he still got his hat on Nick he’s going to go do another loop by the looks of it I don’t know what he does I mean he doesn’t know what he’s done does he because it is huge but what a polite and humble lovely young man 100%

And there’s Z AL Shabani on the right there Chief Sports officer for the Royal Commission of alula the medals are presented congratulations to [Applause] Omar my careful Omar and now these fabulous trophies reted by Z Z AL suani the chief Sports officer for the Royal Commission of alula and their vision is fascinating

[Applause] and it is going to revolutionize the sports all horse Sports here in Saudi Arabia in second place what a ride for federo Ferber and HC yaa receiving their silver medal and their silver bronze and winner and now the champion the gold medalist the winner of

The 2024 first ever running of the CI three star Alpha sand cup well done hammed Isa Abdullah YF Al Jan and Des B so richly deserved humble happy Heroic once again round of appuse for our winners congratulations to all our Champions it’s been an electrifying day of sport Harry of the highest order it’s been incredible for the sport of endurance to have a platform like this and a team of media professionals to air it to the

World there he is Dr Khaled Dr Khaled Hassan the Royal flag of the kingdom of Bakin he’s ridden in the colors of Bahrain all day and now where look at that the horse oh look i W Please join this next year congratulations to everybody for bringing the sport of endurance to alula and to sending it around the world and to highlighting exactly what this sport means these athletes and their horses they started at 530 this morning they’ve ridden for 160 km the officials have done their job the

OC has done their job but it is the horses and the riders that have done their job Harry your highlights of the weekend it’s been an absolute Testament to the sport Nick to see these horses and Riders tackle such a challenging and Technical course they have done an

Incredible job and it’s been a proud moment to be sat here watching this for a sport that I hold very close to my heart certainly has and what has happened here in alula is history in the making beautiful scenery amazing coures amazing organization but above all amazing Riders Crews and their horses

And Riders congratulations to them all but particularly congratulations to Bakin and Des Lerie Yeah oh

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Endurance Cup, taking place on 10th February, is this ultimate test of man and horse against time and the elements, witnessing riders navigating 120 km of AlUla’s unique and rugged desert terrain. On 11th February, a 160 km ride will take place, and this special event will lead up to the 2026 FEI world championship that will be hosted in AlUla.

The fifth edition of the Al Fursan Endurance cup, of which the centrepiece is the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Endurance Cup, will set a new benchmark for the sport, with high-profile competitiors all vying for a share of the world’s highest prize pot. Among the participants will be the top 20 endurance riders in the FEI world rankings, as well as royal family members and other elite performers from the GCC and further afield. In total, fans can expect to see 300 horses accompanied by 1,500 riders and crew. On 10th February, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Endurance Cup presents a formidable challenge as riders and their horses face a gruelling 120 km journey through AlUla’s distinct and rugged desert landscape. This event is not just a race but a testament to endurance, skill, and the deep bond between rider and horse, all played out against the dramatic backdrop of AlUla’s terrain. The excitement continues on 11th February with an even more demanding 160 km ride. This significant event serves as a prelude to the prestigious 2026 FEI World Championship, set to be hosted in the captivating setting of AlUla, marking a milestone in the world of equestrian sports.