Experienced rider Jessica Waldon won the Dressage (Medium – Level 1) event on the opening day of HH the Amir Sword Festival for Showjumping and Dressage at the indoor arena of Qatar Equestrian & Modern Pentathlon Federation (QE&MPF) yesterday.
Qatar’s Maryam Al Boinin came up with impressive performance to finish second, while Saoud Ahmed Al Boinin was third. Waldon rode her trusted mount bay stud San Francisco logging a score of 68.659 points to finish ahead of Maryam.
“I’m really happy with my performance with San Fransisco, and I’m pleased with the win. I thank the organisers for a show that was well put together. Now, we have just one week to prepare for the next round of the Qatar Equestrian Tour — Longines Hathab which will be at Al Shaqab. After that, one more round and that’ll be the end of our season. I’m looking forward to a strong finish,” she said.
Maryam, who scored 64.696 points riding bay gelding Silvan, said: “I chose a music that stood very close to Qatari culture and a very difficult test to show off my horse. It worked to our advantage. I’m happy with the result.”
The Prelim (Level 2) Freestyle to Music event was topped by Khalid Sanad Al Nuaimi on Gop Stop with the best score of 66.500 points. Khalid Sanad Al Nuaimi and Jassim Mohamed Al Fahd Al Kuwari finished second and third respectively.
The feature event – the Big Tour – for the prestigious Amir Sword will be held tomorrow with last’s year’s winner Hamad Nasser Al Qadi seeking an encore.
The Big Tour champion will be awarded the Amir Sword, QR65,000 and a luxury car tomorrow.
The Medium Tour has a total prize of QR75,000 and the Small Tour QR50,000. Hamad Nasser Al Qadi will be challenged for the title by Nasser Al Ghazali and his brother Saeed Nasser Al Qadi, whose been in good form recently.
