Qatar 2019

Q atar is a hereditary constitutional monarchy and its Head of State is Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, a man with a strong personality and great charisma. He is described as friendly, confident, and open by those who know him. But, he is also described as savvy, careful, and smart. In addition, he is considered to be a pragmatist, and to have excellent relations with the West including the United States and France. Sheikh Tamim has always promoted sport as part of Qatar’s bid to raise its international profile. In 2005 he founded Qatar Sport Investments, which owns Paris Saint-Germain F.C. among other investments. Tamim is a member of the International Olympic Committee and the National Olympic Committee chairman. He headed Doha’s bid for the 2020 Olympics. The country will host the football World Cup in 2022. A great horse rider himself, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has also founded the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club that today is a major source of pride of everyone in the country. Its facilities represent a unique architectural masterpiece that is in continuous and accelerated development through the efforts and guidance of the visionary leadership of Tamim and, more recently, of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Faleh Al Thani. Both have spared no effort in bringing Qatar on equal footing with the world’s leading countries in terms of equestrian sport. The country hosts numerous regional and international equestrian events such as the ‘Qatar International Horse Festival’. The latter combines the Qatar International Show and the Qatar Egyptian Event and, this year, has been held around half of February. Governed by the Constitution and Rules of the European Conference of Arab Horse Organizations (ECAHO), this much-awaited Event is an International (Ca- tegory A) Show organized and supervised by Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) and chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Faleh Al Thani. For the 28th edition, the Organizing Committee was composed by: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Faleh Al Thani; Mr. Nasser Sherida Al Kaabi, Chairman of Show Organizing Committee; Mr. Fahad Ali Al Sulaiti, Show Director and General Co-coordinator of Horse Show Festivals; Mr. Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Al Subaie, Show Committee Officer; Mr. Salem Fadgham Amer Al Hajri Security and Safety Committee Officer; Mr. Saleh Ghanim Al Ghanim, Public Relations Committee Officer; Mr. Jaber Ali Saleh Al Marri General Services Committee Officer; Ms. Latifa Ahmed Al Amri, Financial Committee Officer; Ms. Jawaher Sultan Al Suwaidi Media, Committee Officer. A total of seven referees oversaw this year’s competition. They came from various countries around the world such as Poland, (Mrs. Stojanowska Anna); Germany, (Mr. Ismer Mark); Morocco, (Mr. Machmoum Mohamed); Sweden, (Mrs. Norden Ann); Italy, (Mrs. Annatore Ferraroni Maria); Holland, (Mr. Hulshof Ton); Iran, (Mr. Sanati Soheil). The Disciplinary Committee’s member were from Italy, Denmark, and the UK. The Organising Committee of the championship awarded top prizes. First place got QR40,000, second place got QR30,000, third place got QR25,000. A large number of horse studs took part in this year’s competition. Some of the participants were Al Shaqab, Al Nasser, Al Nayef, Alsraiya Stud, Al Safwa Stud, Al Shahania Stud, Al Hazm Stud, in addition to many other individual owners as well.