Direction: Doha — Qatar Hosts World’s Best Riders in Luxurious Surroundings This Week

Taking place at a century-old battle site where Bedouins fought for Qatar’s independence, the Al Shaqab competition has over the past 5 years become a fixture on the international equestrian calendar, scheduled as it is after the final Show Jumping Western European League World Cup qualifier (last weekend in Gothenburg, Sweden) and before the Longines FEI World Cup Show Jumping and Dressage Finals themselves. Those Finals will be held March 27-April 2 in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States.

Doha can thus serve different purposes for different riders. For those who did not make the cut for the World Cup Final — like the illustrious Whitaker brothers and Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander, or even those on the bubble, such as Brash — it is a prestigious launching pad for the rest of the competition year to follow.

For others, like Italy’s high-flying Lorenzo de Luca, who will be coming to Qatar with Armitages Boy and Limestone Grey, the Al Shaqab CSI 5* will serve as a valuable warm-up for Nebraska. And ‘warm’ is an appropriate word in this context, as the weather forecast for the country calls for mixed sun and clouds and highs of 26°C and 25°C this Friday and Saturday. Joining De Luca from the Western European League will be World Cup Defending Champion Steve Guerdat from Switzerland with his fantastic mounts Albführen’s Happiness and Corbinian. Guerdat will be aiming to build toward a peak as he targets a World Cup three-peat at the end of this month. His compatriot Martin Fuchs, just ahead of Brash in the qualifier standings and just outside the top 20, is also scheduled to start in Doha.

Germany is also sending an imposing contingent to the sumptuous 980,000-square-metre, horse-shoe shaped equestrian centre. While neither obtained a ticket for Omaha, World Nos. 1 & 4 Daniel Deusser and Christian Ahlmann of Germany always have to be considered among the favourites for an event they compete in. And for his part, their experienced countryman Marcus Ehning — the ‘Centaur’ — does have a place locked up for the World Cup Final and be making the detour to this epicentre of Arabian horse breeding en route.

The list of big name riders in Al Shaqab goes on, including France’s Kevin Staut, who finished atop the standings of the Western European qualifying League— the biggest of all the leagues in the world. All of which is to say that this ‘prelude’ to the main act promises to be anything but.