Speaking at a media conference held in launching the Malaysian Open and Merdeka Masters events, En. Azar said that the EAM had appointed Mrs. Jennie Loriston-Clarke as Malaysia’s dressage trainer, and Jean-Marc Nicholas as their showjumping trainer.
Jean-Marc Nicholas was not in Malaysia, and while he is expected in Malaysia soon, the EAM could not give exact dates and to when he will be in Malaysia to train the team.
Dressage trainer Mrs. Jennie Loriston-Clarke was at the media conference. Jennie Loriston Clarke is one of Britain’s leading riders and trainers, and has represented Great Britain in four Olympic Games; Munich ’72 and Montreal ’76 with Kadett, Los Angeles ’84 with Prince Consort, Seoul ’88 with Dutch Gold, she also rode in the alternative Olympics in ’80 finishing 6th with Dutch Courage. She won a bronze medal with this horse at the World Equestrian Games.
Jennie’s comments at the media conference were forthright to the point of being blunt. She commented that she thought the showjumping team was being decided very late and she said that she hoped that “they weren’t jumping the horses to death just before the main objective.”
Her dressage team may have four riders – Qabil Ambak, Quzandria Nur of 3Q Equestrian, Alia Soraya and Abdul Salim, but one of those riders, Abdul Salim, does not have a dressage horse.
When asked her views of Malaysia’s dressage chances at the Asian Games, she said, “We have to have four riders and four horses. I think the horses that we have at 3Q Equestrian are very good horses and have competed in Europe well, and at a higher level than they’ll be doing in Busan. The horses are good and it just depends on the competition.
We have some very good riders coming from Korea and Japan. They are perhaps the most dangerous nations. So, we have to go all out to get a medal. It won’t be quite so easy as at the South East Asian Games.”
The plan is that Jennie will return to England next week and will return to Kuala Lumpur from 8th to13th August, which coincides with the SP&RC Centenary Horse Show. The next time she would link up with the team after that would be in Busan.
Jennie told Equestrian.Com.My’s Peter Abisheganaden that she was generally happy with the standard of horses that Qabil Ambak and Quzandria Nur have.
She said that Pizzaz Gironde currently lacked a bit of fitness as he had not been worked much while Qabil was in Europe. She said this was a minor problem now that Qabil was back in Malaysia.
Qabil has another possible ride, a 12 y.o. British-bred stallion called Catherston Decipher, which is by her own stallion Dutch Courage, out of a part Arab/Thoroughbred mare. She said it is the only partbred Arab that is competing in elite competitions in the United Kingdom at Prix St George and Intermediare levels. The plan is to take Catherston Decipher direct to the Asian Games from the U.K.
In elaborating on Quzandria Nur’s chances, Jenny said that Quzandria (Janni) had been riding well. She recounted how Janni beat a field of seasoned professionals in the U.K. in a dressage to music competition at Prix St George level. She was riding her Asian Games horse, Grey Cottage.
Jennie was careful not to discuss Alia Soraya's horse Chagall Jr. as she said she had not seen that horse since last year's SEA Games.
Jenny went on to say there was some flexibility in the team, stating that Qabil could ride either Catherston Decipher or Pizzaz Gironde, while Janni could ride Grey Cottage or Pizzaz if Qabil chose not to ride him. This could free up a fourth horse for the final team member, but Jenny stressed that she did not own those horses, and it would be up to the owner, Qabil and Janni’s father, Datuk Mahammad Fathil if a horse was to be lent to any other riders.
Jennie said her target was a team bronze medal. “To get a medal we have to get 66% to 70% from all our riders.”
