Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi triumphs in FEI Zangersheide Sires of the World

After the second qualifier for the 7-year-old horses, the Ratina Z Arena was this afternoon the setting for the famous FEI Zangersheide Sires of the World! Under a beaming sun and in front of well-filled stands, some of the world's best stallions gathered for this prestigious class, which has been one of the highlights for a long time during the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championship for Young Horses.

After an opening class yesterday, 50 combinations came to the start today, ready to compete on the tough course designed by course designer Bernard Mathy and his team. The 1.50m high first round proved to be quite a challenge, as only six combinations managed to qualify for the jump-off after a clear round.

In a particularly exciting jump-off, victory eventually went to Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi from the United Arab Emirates. Together with the Al Shira'aa stables owned 10-year-old SF stallion Enjoy de la Mure, a son of Vigo Cece and Sable Rose, he appeared in the ring as the fourth combination and with a rapid finishing time of 41.07 seconds, he managed to beat the competition and secure victory. Al Marzooqi who has been in HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Hazza Al Nahyan's stable and training program since a Junior rider was over the moon with his victory. “This was only his first show after the Olympics in Paris, but he feels better than ever! We bought him about a year ago with the plan to go to the Olympics and, thanks also to the help of William Funnell who is the team trainer for the UAE Olympic team and Al Shira'aa stables, he has developed well over the past year. So I would like to thank firstly HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Hazza Al Nahyan and all of the Al Shira'aa team even going back to Devon Bessette who I started my career with 10 years ago in Al Shira'aa. Without them this would not have been possible.”

It was a great victory since the Al Shira'aa team is a partner of the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championship for Young Horses and great supporters of the Quality Foal Auctions.

Al Marzooqi's round was just fast enough to keep Christian Ahlmann from victory. The German home rider had set the tone as the first starter with a clear round in 41.16 seconds with his 10-year-old stallion Otterongo Alpha Z, a son of Darco and Hedjaz who was bred by Jozef Poets, but in the end he had to settle for second place. “I am very happy with this 2nd place today. Otterongo has already had a good season and has only been jumping at this level for just over a year now. He is very careful and therefore always needs a few jumps to feel comfortable in the ring. You could clearly see that in the course, where I had some work in the beginning. In the jump-off it went a lot easier (laughs).”

Third place was claimed by German rider Philip Rüping with the 13-year-old Oldenburg stallion Baloutaire PS, a son of Balou du Rouet and Chacco Blue who was bred by Paul Schockemöhle. Rüping, who already achieved a handsome 6th place in the Sires of the World last year with the same stallion, entered the ring as the very last combination and clocked in 41.33 seconds after another flawless round. “This was a pretty tough class for my feeling because there were a lot of fences and also the time allowed was tight enough”, Rüping reveals. “I had my sights set a bit on victory because I know Baloutaire is a fast horse, but I didn't get the first distance both from fence 2 to 3 and from fence 3 to 4. As a result, I lost at least 1.5 seconds and so the victory was gone.”

Click here for the results.