The organizer committee of last January\’s World Endurance Championships in the United Arab Emirates and French rider Barbara Lissarague, to whom they awarded the individual gold medal, filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on May 30. They\’re contesting the FEI Judicial Committee\’s decision, announced in early May, to close the illegal substance case against Sheikh Hazza bin Sultan al Nahyan, who finished first in the World Championships but whose horse, Hachim, tested positive for methylprednisone, an anti-inflammatory drug.

The FEI judicial Committee closed the case because FEI staff had neglected to inform Sheikh Hazza when they would test Hachim\’s B sample. The four-member Judicial Committee reasoned that any penalty they imposed on Sheikh Hazza would be reversed by the CAS because he hadn\’t been present for the testing, despite a documented request to be present.

The UAE organizers conducted their own drug test immediately after the finish, which also found methylprednisone. So they refused during the award ceremony to award the gold medal to Sheikh Hazza, contradicting FEI policy (because it was not an official FEI drug test and because no legal procedure had taken place), and instead presented it to Lissarague, who\’d finished second.

The FEI Judicial Committee is conducting a separate investigation into the organizing committee\’s unilateral decision. Sheikh Hazza is from the UAE, but he\’s not from the same emirate as Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the man who hosted and bankrolled the championships at his specially built endurance village in Dubai and who was the third rider to finish in the World Championships.