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FEI suspend United Arab Emirates from equestrianism following spate of scandals
Concerns over horse welfare, doping, the use of 'ringers’ and phantom races in the Middle East country lead to shock decision
World equestrianism’s governing body (FEI) took the dramatic step on Thursday of suspending the United Arab Emirates from the sport following scandals over horse welfare, doping, the use of 'ringers’ and phantom races.
The full ramifications of the FEI’s shock decision to exile the UAE federation and all its athletes in the discipline of endurance racing may not emerge for weeks, but Ingmar de Vos, FEI president, said that “indeterminate suspension“ was “the only option left” after UAE riders – many from stables owned by the ruling families of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the Maktoums and the Nayhans – failed to reduce catastrophic horse injuries or adhere to FEI rules during their current winter season.
Attempts to address the crisis through diplomacy have failed, and the FEI is understood to have been considering suspension even before Telegraph Sport’s revelation on Thursday that 12 races staged in the UAE since 2012 carried duplicated results data, which suggests they never took place.
Lord Stevens, the former Met Police chief who investigated allegations of a conspiracy behind the death of Princess Diana, has been asked to lead an investigation in to these allegedly bogus races via his integrity agency Quest.
The FEI has previously been criticised for its passive stance over doping, horse fatalities and the use of 'ringers’ in the UAE. But it appears to have grown some teeth following the end of the eight-year FEI presidency of Sheikh Mohammed’s wife Princess Haya last December and the global outcry over Splitters Creek Bundy, the horse photographed with two broken forelegs while a motorcade drove past.
UAE riders from other disciplines may still compete internationally, but only under the neutral FEI flag. All UAE endurance riders – including the Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan, current world champion – are grounded, apart from national competitions, while the UAE federation may not organise FEI competitions or attend FEI-related meetings.
De Vos said any potential reinstatement depended on the UAE agreeing to protect the welfare of horses and comply fully with FEI regulations.
The bogus race scandal follows global outrage at picture of Splitters Creek Bundy with two broken legs
“We were confident that strict enforcement of the new rules implemented on Aug 1, 2014 would be effective, but regretfully this has not been the case,” said De Vos. “There have also been other major non-compliance issues, so we had no other choice than taking this drastic measure to deal with an unacceptable situation.” The FEI’s immediate concern is finding a replacement venue for the 2016 world championships, awarded to Dubai as sole bidder.
The FEI has previously received extensive funding from Sheikh Mohammed but is understood to be less reliant on his patronage following new investment from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In any event, the public relations disaster of an equine regulatory body that cannot look after its horses is beyond price.
The FEI will have weighed up the impact of legal redress from powerful Sheikhs who have been publicly shamed, albeit by default. Sheikh Mohammed’s initial interest in endurance racing 20 years ago was enthusiastically received in Europe and North America, who had developed “classical” endurance, over varying terrain with the aim of finishing with a horse still fit to go another 20 miles. But the Middle East’s preferred “desert racing,” using high-speed, prepared pistes, has run out of control.
Sheikh Mohammed served a six-month FEI ban in 2009 when a horse he rode in an endurance race failed a drug test. He harboured dreams, long since dashed, of endurance joining the Olympic programme, developed lavish permanent venues and spent hundreds of millions purchasing ready-trained horses from abroad.
Welfare agencies will have serious concerns about the fate of so many potentially redundant horses, though they are already afforded little protection by the UAE’s remaining national calendar, to which many former FEI rides had been switched, with the practical effect of less rigorous vet checks.
The UAE has 30 days to appeal.