SEA News
Equestrian Sport To Be Rewarded!
By Reporter
Oct 6, 2004

The 2004 equestrian season in Malaysia was brought to a close at Equestrian Promotions Sdn. Bhd’s annual Equestrian Gala Dinner in the beautiful setting of the East Garden Terrace of the Palace of the Golden Horses in Kuala Lumpur on the 4th October.

A truly magical evening had been planned and fortunately the rain that has been falling regularly on KL in the last two months did not materialise. The tables were beautifully laid out across the lawn and with evening’s theme being white, there were wonderful white lanterns and many flickering white candles to be seen along with lovely white floral arrangements.

Sponsors, riders and other regulars on the equestrian scene were all present at the dinner which was graced by the presence of Malaysia’s Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi. With the arrival of the Prime Minister in a horse drawn carriage, the evening was ready to begin, with the highlight of the evening being the presentation of the annual Equestrian Awards.

After a sumptuous meal and wonderful entertainment from Malaysia’s very own Three Tenors, Dato’ Seri Abdullah Badawi took to the stage along with EPSB’s Dato’ Haji Mahammad Fathil to present the trophies to the lucky winners.



There were prizes awarded for many different categories including Best Vet awarded to the ever popular Dr. Balakrishna Polanaidu who had had an extremely busy week officiating at the KL Grand Prix along with Best Farrier Kpl. Mohd. Zahir Zakaria.

Another popular winner was James Ravindra who had traveled down from Ipoh to accept the award for Best Coach. Abdul Razak Latif was given just reward for all his hard work in reviving the Premier Cup Series when he was named Best Equestrian Event Organiser. Equestrian.Com.My was named Best Media while Yayasan Kebajikan Perkasa Alam Terengganu received the award for Best Endurance Organiser with Best Endurance Individual Promoter going to Brig. Gen. Dato’ Abdul Ghani Rashid. A special Equestrian Award was given to that great character of Malaysian equestrian circles, Mr. Bob Blake.

Best Dressage Rider went to Quzandria Nur who will soon be traveling back to Europe to continue training with Olympic Gold Medallist Anky van Grunsven.

Another winner due to return to Europe was the Best Showjumper Syed Omar al Modzhar who will be continuing his training with Ludger Beerbaum in Germany.

Best Event Rider winner Husref Malik is returning to Australia after a long overdue visit home to continue working towards his goal of competing at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Husref was kept extremely busy whilst he was back as a rider, coach and local television personality!

The Most Promising Junior Rider award went to the lovely Nini Lee who has come on so well during this season under the tutelage of her coach Eva Frantzich whilst the Young Rider award deservedly went to Ikhwan Hafiz, whose sister Alia Jamaluddin collected the trophy, as Hafiz has just recently begun studying at Millfield School in England. Best Endurance Rider was awarded to Kpl. Zulkefli Saari.



All the prizewinners then jointly lit the first fireworks of the magnificent fireworks display that was thoroughly enjoyed by both the dinner guests and many of the hotel guests who all came out onto their balconies to watch! This brought to an end a great dinner and yet another wonderful season.

As one of the riders lucky enough to have competed, I would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to Dato’ Haji Mahammad Fathil, Quzier Ambak and all at EPSB for making this all possible and we look forward to another great season of competition next year!

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