Ireland’s Jessica Kurten and Quibell won the Grand Prix at the first running of the Al Maktoum Memorial Challenge in Dubai, Jan. 11-13–despite Kurten nursing a shoulder injury that doctors had warned should be given six weeks to heal.

Kurten was walking on air after the win. She’d also jumped five rounds the previous night to claim $37,000 in the Masters, so she thought that, statistically, it was Nick Skelton’s turn to triumph in the big class. Yet, incredibly, K�rten won, not only from first draw but from a 13-horse jump-off.

“The miracles just keep happening,” said Kurten, ranked fifth in the world. “After I’d ridden, I watched from the stands with family and friends. All we seemed to be saying was, ‘And another one’s had 4 faults and he’s slower than me.’ Lady Georgina [Quibell’s owner] was following it on the Internet, but eventually I just gave her a running commentary over the phone!”

Thirty of the world’s best had been invited to this sensational three-day show at the Emirates Riding Club, next to Nad Al Sheba, home of racing’s Dubai World Cup. Its president is the very “hands-on” Princess Haya of Jordan, an Olympic rider in her own right, now married to Sheikh Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, and candidate for the FEI presidency.

Despite the sudden death the previous week of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Maktoum, the family decided the show should proceed, and it was renamed as a tribute to His Highness’ interest in all things equine.

No expense was spared, ranging from transporting the European horses in the Sheikh’s own airplane to sending a jet to England to pick up a horse ambulance as there was no time to build one.

Course designer in the international classes, Germany’s Olaf Petersen, had certainly looked perturbed in the first round of the grand prix, for the first three all went clear: Quibell, Nick Skelton on Arko III, and British wild card Tim Gredley on Omelli. There was a short respite when, among others, Ludger Beerbaum had one down on Gladdys S, saved for this competition, and he was lucky not to lower another after his stirrup iron broke through the combination.

Shutterfly and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum looked good until getting too deep into the final fence over a water tray and lowering the front rail.

Beezie Madden and Desilvio had one down, as did Britain’s Michael Whitaker–now riding for Calfornia-based sponsor InsulTech–with Mozart des Hayettes. A further cluster of clears included eventual runner-up Marcus Ehning on Gitania 8 for Germany and Rodrigo Pessoa on Baloubet du Rouet, also saved for Friday and trying to compensate for his abortive win at the cash-strapped Las Vegas Invitational (Nev.) last year. Schuyler Riley also posted a clear round on Opus Sept.

The sheer length of the jump-off list seemed unlikely to produce a tantalizing finale, yet Kurten forced an electrifying jump-off. She got a potentially troublesome double out of the way before accelerating round the capacious floodlit arena for a clear round in 38.20 seconds.

Trying to improve, Arko caught the parallel and was still 0.53 seconds adrift for an eventual third spot. Sixth to go, Gitania beat the time, in 38.18 seconds, but with 4 faults, and by halfway some were resigned to competing for second place. Riley appeared to try this tactic, but, as second-last to go, had two down in 43.45 seconds.

As the class ended, the crowd hoped that Khalid Al Eid, Sydney bronze medallist for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, might just be a lucky 13th for the Middle East. But although Al Riyadh had the pace, he lowered two fences in 38.85 seconds.

Said Kurten: “By the time I’d secured fifth [$40,000] I was shaking. I couldn’t help but jump up in the air when Khalid made a mistake.

“And I’ve also no worries about not getting the check,” she added, in a scarcely veiled reference to the Las Vegas show where she’d finished fifth.

A Boost For Show Jumping
Sadly, the Al Maktoum Memorial Challenge was not a money spinner for the American visitors. Madden’s horses in particular had come from a freezing climate and had a nine-hour interstate drive before the long outbound flight. Their best results were in the Palm Speed Stakes, where Riley was sixth (Opus Sept) and Madden 10th (Play On).

But riders from every nation were enthused by this superlative show. “This has been fabulous for the sport,” said Madden. “It has been fascinating to watch Arabian riders rise to the occasion and stretch themselves in the company of the world’s best, which is what I believe Princess Haya set out to do.

“We have to be universal. The more you ‘grow’ show jumping in new countries, the more you build up show jumping’s global profile. The point about this show is that people who are not here will reap the benefits in years to come.”

Skelton insisted: “We would have come even without the money. It’s important to support shows in new parts of the world, and we all respect Princess Haya, because she’s ridden at this level and really knows the job.”

Everyone hoped that the late Sheikh Maktoum would have enjoyed seeing his riders raise their game in this company. Rasha Hareb, 23, and the scopey gray Coup de Coeur showed star potential in the Dubai Classic on the first night and were virtually lifted over the last two fences by the roar of their crowd, clear with just 1 time fault.

The operational side was run by Britain’s Horsepower International–another Las Vegas creditor–and the team behind the London International at Olympia, Royal Windsor (England) and the Pavarotti International (Italy).

Even if budget was no object, it was a major logistical challenge. Horsepower’s Simon Brooks-Ward seemed to have shipped out just about everyone who has ever helped at a major British show, but with Dubai thrown into 40 days of mourning, many suppliers of goods and services shut down, and all advertising was banned in the run-up to the event.

With the main arena 120 x 80 meters and the warm-up more than half that size, Martin Collins shipped in 140 container loads of Geltrack from Great Britain to provide his best performance surface yet, according to European riders. Collins is the inventor of Polytrack, the all-weather racing surface that is fast making an impact in the United States from its manufacturing base at Keeneland (Ky.). The arenas will stay in place, and Collins will be closely monitoring the tolerance of Geltrack’s all-important wax coatings in the extreme heat of a Gulf summer.

FEI steward Justin Llewelyn–whose father, Desmond, played “Q” in the James Bond franchise for 20 years–commented: “If Dubai can build a real snow ski-slope in the desert, they will find a way around that one.”

There was also minute attention to detail with the Dubai-themed fences. Princess Haya wanted them to reflect Dubai new and old, including camels, sand dunes, Dubai’s Manhattan-esque skyline and the famous sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel.

Olaf Petersen had only from November to conceive, design and manufacture them in Germany. The last one sailed into Port Rashid the morning of the show.

Trials And Triumphs
On that first night, many visiting horses struggled to adjust to the open space and ringside distractions after a couple of months indoors. It was a shock when first to go, Shutterfly, stopped at fence one. Desilvio clipped the first fence and exasperatingly jumped flawlessly thereafter, while Opus Sept had 12 faults.

Skelton, who won aboard Arko, said he wasn’t even trying in anticipation of the big class 48 hours later. In a five-horse jump-off, he was nearly a second quicker than Gerco Schr�der and Eurocommerce Milano for the Netherlands.

Wednesday’s Ride and Drive was won by Ludo Philippaerts of Belgium on Tauber VH Kapelhof, (who took the qualifier too), with Michael Whitaker third.

His brother, John, has won 83 cars but, sadly, was not familiar with the left-hand drive Range Rover Vogue. Mistaking the brake for the gas pedal, John lost some 17 seconds in “park” when up on the clock.

The following night’s Masters was con-tested by eight riders, based on their earlier performances. In each of a maximum first four rounds, those who went clear could nominate a fence to be raised and add $2,000 to the prize pot. Three–K�rten on Castle Forbes Libertina, Schr�der on Eurocommerce Acapulco and Ehning on Noble Savage–jumped off. Despite this being only her second full day on a horse after three weeks off due to injury, Kurten set another impossible target, an omen of things to come.

Afternoon classes were confined to Middle Eastern riders and were swept by Egypt’s Mohammed Osama El Borai with the former U.S. horse Nirvana, acquired via Johan Heins last October.

Nirvana was bought for this 27-year-old communications engineer by Egypt’s Ministry of Defense. Winners of the World Cup Arabian league qualifier in Alexandria, Egypt, they captured the Dubai leg over a track built by the Great Britain’s Bob Ellis, trouncing Khalid Al Eid (Lucky Star 42) by nearly three seconds. Mohammed has Aachen in his sights and will campaign on the European circuit.

Princess Haya, a candidate for the FEI presidency, has a prominent husband with well-publicized ambitions for endurance riding. Her Highness is firm about speculation it might become an Olympic sport.

“The IOC has a list of evaluation criteria, one of which is history,” she said. “Endurance is only 20 years old. Anyone who thinks it should be an Olympic discipline has a case to prove. The idea of getting rid of eventing or dressage to include endurance or reining is absolutely unacceptable. Any sport that aspires to join the Olympic family has many, many steps to take before meeting even one of the IOC’s 33 requirements.”