1. A racehorse loving his new career
The former Grade One-winning racehorse Lostintranslation, 11, is thriving in his new career. Four years to the day after winning the Grade One Betfair Chase at Haydock, Lostintranslation scored his first hunt ride victory with Roddy Stanning, cruising to victory in the annual Yeomanry Ride at Badminton in Gloucestershire (25 November), organised by the Duke of Beaufort’s Hunt. Roddy, for whom it was a first hunt race success, said: “I’m thrilled with him – he’s taken to a change of career and environment better than we could have hoped for. The plan was just a gentle lob round, but people kept disappearing in front of me and at the halfway point I found myself in the lead. Team chasing, hunt races and hunting are so easy for the quality racehorses, if they have the brain for it, because they are operating so far beneath their potential that they can just enjoy it and have fun.”
2. “I’m getting old, but I’m still here!”
Making the headlines in this week’s international showjumping news was a battle between two showjumping greats in the Longines FEI World Cup qualifier of Madrid, Spain. Just 0.25sec separated Marcus Ehning on new ride Coolio 42 and Ben Maher with Enjeu De Grisien, but it was the German master, a three-time winner of the World Cup Final, who took top honours with an exceptional performance against the clock. “Winning here for the third time means I am getting old, but I’m still here!” said the 49-year-old.
Read this week’s jumping highlights
3. Would you wee in a horse’s stable?
The FEI has created a video showing a strange man urinating in a family’s dining room as they eat – to warn of the dangers of contamination. H&H has reported on a number of cases of horses’ giving samples that test positive for banned medication, which have been traced back to people who were taking the drugs and had urinated in the stable or lorry. The FEI hopes its video will “astonish viewers, and challenge conventional expectations associated with the FEI”, adding: “There is a real lack of awareness in the community when it comes to the risks for contamination in the stables.”
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