BREVES 1
jeudi 6 mai 2004 - 15:00
WHO IS THE MYSTERY SAUDI ARABIAN
Kamal Bahamdan is the only representative of Saudi Arabia (KSA);
unknown in France, he has however taken part in two Olympic Games
(Atlanta and Sydney). This rider/businessman who works in the
field of the banking and finance continuously takes the shuttle
between London and the United States for business, and the Netherlands
and the stable of Jan Tops where he has been based for one year
with his best horses. Kamal is aiming of course at selection to
the Olympic Games in Athens (having come to La Baule to earn qualification
points) and his best asset in order to achieve his goal is the
grey Campus 8, who is said to be a star. His coach, Jan Tops (present
with VDL-GROEP Grande Dame, deprived of his excellent VDL-GROEP
Roofs who was injured just before their departure) thinks that
he has every chance of hoping to take one of the two individual
places available under Saudi Arabian colours.
SHOES ON THEIR FEET
Grégory Chartier, the CSIO farrier, had a lot to do when
the horses arrived on Wednesday. In particular, for the horses
of the Irish team who nearly all had to be reshod because their
old aluminium shoes (in terms of the size of fittings) did not
correspond to the ground. Of these Irish Independant Annabella
26, a German mare, recently entered the string of Cian O' Connor
to support his number one horse, Waterford Crystal.
VETERINARIAN WITHOUT FRONTIERS
Philippe Benoit, former veterinary surgeon for the French team,
has become the appointed veterinarian for the United States team
for all stages of the Samsung Super League. He has fallen short
of being officially designated, as only Mark Leone fulfills this
function. There is nothing astonishing about this because Philippe
Benoit works a great deal in the USA. He is the personal ‘doctor’
to the horses of Leslie Howard (ex Leslie Burr) and Katie Monahan-Prudent,
who will join the Samsung Super League circuit for the Rome leg
(27–30 May) as the coach of Normal Dello Joio.