News From BELGIUM

The Arabian Horse Racing Club of Belgium

2004 was the year of the 10th official race-season for AHRCB

It was indeed in 1994 that, after several years of pioneering labour by the former president Mrs. Nicole Carlin assisted by Mr. Bela Hardy-Dreher and Mr. Michel Puissant, the racing with Arab horses was finally fully recognised by the Jockey Club of Belgium. From there, the club was registered as a charity in the “Bulletin” and all races were run after Jockey Club rules , except for some peculiarities of the Arab breed. One option: the mixing of professional and amateur riders in the races was maintained. Also training by owner/trainers has always been favoured and proves to be highly efficient in some cases ( for ex.. Huub Otermans) . Most of our owners are very closely involved with their horses and some are as much as breeder, owner, trainer and morning-rider of their horses ( for ex. Johan Verstrepen), something that does not prevent them from having good international results. Personally I particularly appreciate this involvement with the horses, which we fortunately also find with our (few) professional trainers like Marjo Scholts. I think that is the main reason for the good atmosphere in our races and I congratulate and thank all our participants for it. The highlight of the AHRCB-2004-race-season was of course as in the previous years, the President of the UAE International race-day , held on the 15th of August in Ostend. As usual, the two Group III- races : the “President of the UAE Challenge Derby” ( won by SADJELLA Nl) and the “Abu Dhabi Championship” ( won by PRINCE AMIN F) attracted many foreign participants, with the Abu Dhabi Championship the record number of 17 starters. The “H.H. Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan International Stayers Handicap”, the only international handicap-race in Europe for Arab horses, also had an interesting field, although over the potentially frightening distance of 3700 m and was won by ALOES DE GHAZAL F. In 2005, the UAE-race-day is planned for the first time on the dynamic race-track of Wallonia (Ghlin), now equipped with a modern grandstand and a high quality fibre/sand track.. During the season we had 17 races with horses, owners, trainers or jockey’s from Belgium, England, France, Germany, Holland, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Uruguay and for the first time a trainer and jockey from Poland ! The total number of different countries ever participating in AHRCB-races thus reaches 14 . Such internationally well known trainers as Mr. Robert Litt, Mr. Bill Smith, Mr. Jan Pubben and Mr. Jean-Pierre Totain honoured us with their entries. A novelty this season was a race organised in Le Touquet in cooperation with the French ( big)-sister-organisation AFAC and France-Galop. As quite a couple of French owners ( among others Mr. D. Akel, Mr. A. Decroix, Mr. Ph. Meunier, Mr. Robert Grandière, Melle Sandrine Tarrou ), of Arab horses are located in the Northern half of France where few races are going on, they are happy to have their horses trained or enter the races in Belgium or Holland. So we opted for a good-neighbour service and responded to the request of Mr. Delloye, President of the Race Society of Le Touquet to organise an Arab race during one of the meetings at the Opal Coast. You will find the results of this race in this yearbook, although it is a France-Galop-race. In 2005, this race in Le Touquet will be reiterated on the 3rd of July. Another attempt for renewal was the Stayers Breed Challenge, a race opposing Arab horses and Thoroughbreds over a 4000m long distance. Unfortunately, partly due to the few starters for last-minute forfeits, the departure of the Arab horses ( ahead of the TB and without starting-gates) was a fiasco and the competition not representative despite two thoroughbreds were left behind by the Arab horses, but the idea was received with enthusiasm. The title of “AHRCB-Horse of the year 2004” went to our very popular Belgian-bred ONADO, with enough Arab type to win in the show-ring, enough speed to win sprint races as well as enough stamina to win over stayer distance ! A true Arab horse ! As we want to encourage the participation of our better horses in the international races of the neighbouring countries – our yearly program being limited to less than 20 races, most of them with modest prize-money – we installed the title: “AHRCB-Ambassador” for the Belgian-trained horse that has totalised the highest earned sum in races in Belgium and abroad. For this first year, the 4 year-old title went to the very successful BONJOUR EL SAMAWI, bred in Germany by the family Weissmeier, another regular foreign participant in the AHRCB-races since inception. The 3-year-old title went to AFAS DE NAVARRE, French bred and owned , but trained in Belgium. Congratulations to them all and let’s hope the 2005-race-season will see a continuing growth of the quality of the sport, the horses, the horsemanship and the sportsmanship ! A special thank to all our sponsors, big and small, for their ongoing support of AHRCB-races. Nelly Philippot. AHRCB-CHAMPIONS for the 2004 season. According to a decision by I.F.A.H.R. , Champions are selected among the horses trained in the country and on results of the races of that country only. AHRCB Horse of the Year 2004: ONADO ASS-KENDAL x ALISSAH ( Ibn Galchaadi ) bred, owned and trained by Johan Verstrepen AHRCB Best Belgian-Bred of the Year 2004: ONADO AHRCB Owner of the Year 2004: OTERMANS, Huub with SALAZAR KOSSACK Nl and BONJOUR EL SAMAWI D. AHRCB Owner-Trainer of the Year 2004: OTERMANS, Huub AHRCB PublicTrainer of the Year 2004: BRAEM, S. Mrs. with AU VOL DEL SOL F and WFA BENEDIKT GB AHRCB Jockey of the Year 2004: GOOSSENS, Joeri AHRCB Breeder of the Year 2004: DYCKHOEVE ARABIANS Mrs. & Mr. Johan Verstrepen ( ITEGEM) with : ONADO, KAHNA D.A., NOWARA D.A. IRCALAN D.A., NEBONA D.A. Among the Belgian-trained horses, taking account of the earnings abroad : JUNIOR AHRCB-Ambassador ‘04: AFAS de NAVARRE (Grandière R.) SENIOR AHRCB-Ambassador ‘04: BONJOUR el SAMAWI (Otermans H.)

- Nelly Philippot , Posted on 16 February 2005
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