Endurance Cup Race: It was shortly before 10 a.m. on the Baltinglass Road out of Blessington, Co Wicklow, and a small gathering was wondering what exactly to expect from the Al Maktoum Endurance Cup. The elite of the world's horsey set converged on Wicklow this week. The horses got mineral water and even the reporters got lunch, writes Tim O'Brien
We stood at the edge of the Poolaphuca lake, a motley crew of reporters, stewards, begrudgers, cameramen and gardaí, huddled against the drizzle.
"The horses is it? Well, look for the helicopters," began one begrudger: "They were out there in the dark on Monday night with the helicopters ... they lost a prince I heard ...".
Suddenly he was told to shut up, amid much excited pointing. There was a thunder of hooves and across the water we could see the horses coming out of the woods and speeding along the lake shore. These were the world's elite. The cream of the international horsey circuit, carefully bred, lithe, slim and supple, chestnut coloured and worth unimaginable millions.
And the horses looked very nice as well. We gawked as the riders strained and lurched across the wet field towards us, tan faces set in determination, impeccable blue vests and jodhpurs, one set of gold-topped boots testifying to the presence of His Highness Sheik Hamdan Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum - or at least his boots - astride his 12-year-old chestnut gelding, Jayel Delgado.
From a parked convoy of foreign-registered Mercedes, people-carriers and Range Rovers, ran a horde of helpers carrying two-litre bottles of Volvic mineral water. HH Sheik Hamdan, accompanied by Mr Ali Al Mahari and Mr Faisal Sediq Al Mutawa, to name-drop but a few, popped the tops of the bottles and, all the while riding on, emptied the mineral water over their horses. Bottles flung to the ground, they ducked into the forest again and were lost from sight.
And even the bedgrudgers picking up the bottles were forced to admit they had style.
The Maktoum family, sponsors of the Endurance festival, are a very stylish lot. The equestrian tented village that has sprung up in the fields behind O'Connor's pub in Valleymount is also impressive - not just because it might actually be bigger than Valleymount itself, which seems to consist of little more than the pub and an empty school.
In among the horse boxes, tack shops, veterinary inspection areas, offices, stables, and catering facilities, in a corner of a field, are a couple of helicopters. Well, you have to park.
"They changed the course. They can't manage the 200 kms," chirped our bedgrudger who had appeared as if by magic out of the local pub. "It is all a mess, sure they've closed one track."
With flagging spirits we went to Lacken, where we found the riders again, paused this time after a long canter up a hill and emptying bottles of mineral water over their horses, and, this time, each other. Included in the teams were owners from Ireland, the USA, and Australia, as well as, of course, the United Arab Emirates, home of the Maktoum dynasty.
Mr John Stanley, the event organiser, spoke in glowing terms of the sponsors, the gardaí and local workers, who all later had lunch in the tented village. The Irish Times couldn't stay, but on the way out we heard a familiar voice: "It was all mush better last year." There, ensconced with his lunch, was the bedgrudger. As my mother was wont to remark of her wedding: "It would have been a better day without that fella".
The annual Al Maktoum Endurance Cup continues today in Wicklow, starting at 8.30 a.m. Valleymount hosts an accompanying festival, which continues until Sunday; email: john@almaktoumcup.com
