The Malaysian Show Jumping Season Kicks off with the FEI CHALLENGE 2010. Ursula (Andika) wins and Forever Charming (Deborah) charms the crowds.
Early in the Equestrian Season Calendar the Malaysian FEI Show Jumping Challenge was held this weekend at Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort Club in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysian and Resident Riders took part in three different heights (A B C Grades) at this prestigious International Event that enables riders from different countries to compete against each other without having to travel with their horses.
With no restrictions set as to the level of riders participating, the Malaysian Leg of the event saw the same rider winning both the A Grade Class and the B Grade. Andika Jamaluddin a full time rider at one of the leading equestrian performance stables in the country rode Ursula owned by the top Malaysian champion World Cup rider Qabil Ambak. Andika also took First place on Penrose Witchity in the B Grade Class. Witchity is owned by Qabil’s sister Quazandria Nur, an accomplished rider herself.
Second in the A Grade class was Swiss rider Chris Meyer on one of his several imported show jumpers, Caipirinha II, his declared horse, he came 7th on his other mount Kodac du Roc.
Second in the B Grade to spectators delight, was Forever Charming, a Hong Kong Jockey Club re homed ex racehorse tactfully ridden by Deborah Bottreau, the owner. Attracting a lot of crowd support, the Thoroughbred Gelding fluttered over the fences like a butterfly with an unlucky distraction causing the horse to shift suddenly sideways over the upright planks on the second round of the first day.
The event was held on the grass field and the going was pretty heavy after an all night hailstorm downpour with some quite slippery areas. This caused a few horses to fumble over jumps and slide through some corners early in the morning resulting in more than the average refusals. There were three eliminations and one withdrawal out of eleven riders in the A Grade Class.
The C Grade had very few entries as most had decided to go for the Young athletes SUKMA (Malaysian interstate All Sports Event to include Equestrian) Qualifying round which took place over the same FEI C Grade Course at a lower height of 90cm. The SUKMA Equestrian will be held in Malacca in June 2010.
Questioned on his round, Young rider champion Andika replied, “ I know Ursula well, I exercise her regularly, and she gave me a lovely round. “ On the same question Deborah expressed “ I am delighted with the improvement of my horse Charming, he is very sensitive and has come a long way, I have to juggle with my work to find time to ride and train mainly on weekends and some evenings when I can get off work a bit earlier. I love him very much, he makes my day”.
