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DANI’S DELIGHT

May 23 - 29, 2012
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Gulf Weekly DANI’S DELIGHT


The Dilmun Stables riders put their skills to the test in a thrilling ‘Master Class Competition’ for the coveted annual GulfWeekly Too Hot to Trot Cup.

Despite Friday afternoon being hot and humid 10 contenders, five adults and five juniors, were in it to win it.

The competition was open to competitors successfully placed on and around the top of this season’s league championships, so all were excellent, determined and committed riders. 

The running order was a lottery, but once it was determined all riders prepared themselves by entering a warm-up round, to get themselves and their horses on track. Once completed the competition began.

The 10-fence course, designed by Basel Aldossari, started at a substantial 90cms. Riders could only be eliminated if they had two refusals in any one round, meaning that if they knocked the fences the faults were added to their final score of the afternoon.  

First into the fray was junior rider Hannah van der Eyken riding Billy. A brilliant round was only spoiled by an unfortunate knock down at the sixth fence.

Clear rounds followed for Dani Shaw riding Rangerino, Aimee Keen riding Sedona, Charlotte Gunby on Magnum, Ma’oof Rumaihi riding Kuwait and Fahad Aldossari on Tayar. 

Whilst all going clear, let’s be clear here this was no walk in the park, Basel had ensured that the course was extremely challenging.

Sami Mendis astride Tutu, Sharon Nickling riding Mia Vita and Mohammed Al Hassan who rode Tashan accumulated faults in the first round but stayed firmly in the fray. But an ill-fated encounter with two fences meant that Fran Downes was one of the casualties of the first round and was eliminated on Lollypoppman.

The second round commenced, with the fences being raised substantially, in some cases up to 110cms. 

Although Hannah had done exceptionally well with Billy in the first round, after some careful consideration she chose to retire.

The second round took several casualties with Aimee, Fahad, Sami and Ma’oof all having two refusals. 

Sharon Nicklin with the lovely Mia Vita went into the arena with determination to perform a nail biting, show-stopping round. The pair performed what could only be described as one of the most amazing rounds of the whole season. But what followed was a huge sigh of heartfelt sympathy when at fence eight, and almost home, they collected two refusals.

This left Dani astride the fantastically-talented Rangerino to battle it out with the only junior left in the competition, Charlotte. This is one brave young lady, fence number six was as tall as Magnum, her horse!

Dani went into the arena first, she knew she had to ride a clear round to win. However, she had her work cut out for her as Rangerino had become so very excited about it all. The horse simply loves to jump so poor Dani had no brakes whatsoever. It was going to be a challenge; the pair, though, were brilliant, performing a lovely clear round.

Charlotte and Magnum took to the arena, and fantastically cleared many challenges, including the intimidating number six. Unfortunately, it was the seventh fence of the course that Magnum took a dislike to, and put in such an inopportune stop. They did clear the fence at their next attempt and it was onwards and upwards to the finish line, a magnificent ride for this up-and-coming show jumping talent. 

Organiser and stable manager Melanie Spink felt that Charlotte deserved a reward too for her endeavours and she was presented with a runner-up trophy.

The season, now brought to a close, will wind up with a presentation evening at the Dilmun Club on June 21.







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