Equestrian: Sheikh Mohammed gets six-month doping ban
Wednesday August 05 2009
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makhtoum has been handed down a six-month ban and his horse trainer, Abdullah Saeed bin Huzaim, has been suspended for a year by the International Equestrian Federation, the FEI, following two positive dope tests on his endurance racing horses.
The Sheikh, who is ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, is a major player in the world of horse racing and a keen competitor in endurance racing in which horses cover distances up to 160 kms at a time. He is married to FEI president Princess Haya, who has been campaigning long and hard to clean up equestrian sport.
The hyper-tension drug Guanabenz and the steroid Stanozolol were found in Sheikh Mohammed's horse, Tahhan, following races in Bahrain and Dubai earlier this year.
"Consistent with the FEI's strict liability approach to anti-doping rule violations, the panel has found Sheikh Mohammed responsible for the doping of his horse," said the FEI's legal arm, when the decision was confirmed on its website.
It was the Sheikh who informed the FEI of the failed dope tests last April following "routine post-competition testing" at one of his own stables, and he subsequently ruled himself out of further competition.
In his submission to the FEI Tribunal, he explained that he is an amateur rider who owns 700 endurance horses and "cannot be involved in the medication protocols of each horse." That job was left to his horse manager, who admitted that he administered the substances without Sheikh Mohammed's knowledge, but miscalculated the withdrawal times.
Bin Huzaim is quoted as saying that he "wanted His Highness to do well with the horse" but the three-man Tribunal panel, which included Ireland's Philip O'Connor, pointed out that "this behaviour is not acceptable and needs to be sanctioned severely."
The FEI Tribunal is still considering the case in relation to Sheikh Mohammed's son, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, whose horse also tested positive to a banned substance during the endurance fixture in Bahrain in January.
- Louise Parkes
