FEI : 12 épreuves fictives aux UAE

FEI : 12 épreuves fictives aux UAE
Pippa Cuckson & Pierre Arnould
Les Woodward et Bernstein du Dubaigate
Ces deux-là ont pris tous les risques et ne se sont jamais découragés dans leur
lutte pour dénoncer les agissements frauduleux des pays du Groupe VII et des
Emirats en particulier.
On ne rappellera pas tous les rebondissements des multiples affaires – dopage,
fractures en course, euthanasies de chevaux durant et après les épreuves,
échange de chevaux durant des courses, organisation de fausses courses,
falsification de résultats, suspicion de tricherie sur des championnats,
avantages accordés aux Emirats sur les Championnats d'Europe et du Monde –
Internet et les moteurs de recherche sont les meilleurs témoins de la
malheureuse évolution de l’endurance internationale.
Le dernier en date, découvert par Pippa Cuckson après que des sources fiables
installées aux Emirats lui aient signalé que des courses fantômes avaient été
organisées. La première citée était une 120km précédant la President’s Cup
durant l’hiver 2015. ce qui attira d'abord l'attention fut le taux inhabituel de
réussite sur cette "épreuve". On ne sait pas qui et comment l’idée germa que
les résultats de cette course de 120km avaient simplement été pompés d’une
autre course – réelle celle-là – et les noms de chevaux et cavaliers simplement
changés. Les résultats falsifiés ont été transmis à la FEI et tout serait passé au
bleu
si…
Mais non, c’était sans compter sur la détermination et la ténacité de la petite
journaliste du Telegraph – aussi de Horse and Hound, de The Chronicle of the
Horse, Horse Canada – qui, une fois une première course de carton-pâte
détectée, se dit que cela n’avait pas pu se produire une seule fois et elle
continua à creuser. Douze courses ayant des résultats identiques à des courses
réelles furent ainsi découvertes. Et il y en a sûrement encore…
On ne peut que se dire que la stupidité et l’arrogance n’ont pas de limites.
Donnez cinq jours à un bon informaticien et il vous pondra un petit software qui changera intelligemment
les données d’une course pivot pour créer de toutes pièces une nouvelle course, fictive celle-là. Même un
tableur Excel bien programmé pourra aussi faire le job.
Et tout cela au nez et à la barbe de la FEI. Mais aussi des scrutateurs occidentaux, cavaliers d’endurance et
suiveurs, qui n’ont rien vu. En fait c’était tellement gros que personne n’y a pensé.
Et que l’on ne vienne pas nous dire que les acteurs de la filière aux Emirats, qu’ils soient entraîneurs,
cavaliers, vétérinaires, grooms, journalistes ou photographes ne savaient pas. Le secret fut simplement
bien gardé. Jusqu’au moment où quelqu’un, soit frustré, soit dégoûté, ne puisse plus tenir sa langue…
difficile la tromperie à grande échelle !
Voilà donc la FEI qui agit. Il est vrai que l’institution ne pouvait vraiment pas faire autrement, poussée
dans le dos par les réseaux sociaux, par diverses fédérations. Et aussi vraisemblablement par son Bureau
exécutif. Il eut été inconcevable que quelque chose ne se passe pas. Et la suspension pour une durée
indéterminée de la fédération UAE est la première décision préservatrice qui pouvait être prise. Une
enquête devra maintenant déterminer les responsabilités des divers acteurs ayant participé activement et
passivement à cette énorme supercherie. Les rumeurs venant des Emirats parlent déjà de l’éviction du
président de la fédération. Est-ce que Lord Stevens pourra faire un vrai travail d’enquête, indépendamment
de ses relations privilégiées avec l’Emir de Dubaï. On verra bien mais on peut se poser des questions.
Source : http://www.endurance-belgium.com/
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Equestrian corruption crisis:
Lord Stevens to lead investigation into 12 separate 'phantom' races
Endurance racing facing huge scandal as Telegraph finds evidence UAE-hosted events never
actually took place
Lord Stevens, the former Met Police chief, has
been hired to investigate allegations of rampant
corruption in UAE endurance racing
The global body governing equestrian sport has
ordered an independent investigation after
Telegraph Sport uncovered 12 separate allegedly
'bogus' UAE-hosted endurance races.
The International Equestrian Federation (FEI)
asked Quest, the integrity services agency run by
former Met police chief Lord Stevens, to examine
evidence compiled by the Telegraph that none of
the 12 races were ever run, even though detailed
results data from them appears on the FEI's
official website.
Telegraph Sport exposed last week that 'bogus' or 'phantom' races were the latest scandal to hit the crisistorn sport of endurance racing, detailing how two races purportedly staged on December 23 and January 21
appeared to exist only as sets of results, and were never actually staged.
The detailed results data, carried on the website of - and therefore verified by - the International Equestrian
Federation (FEI) was identical to data from previous races which did take place, suggesting the data had
simply been copied from authentic races.
The Telegraph can now disclose that a further 10 apparently bogus races have been found in the FEI
database. If these races are proven to be 'phantom', it will be the biggest scandal of its kind in any sport, and
a huge blow to an equestrian discipline still reeling from doping and horse cruelty scandals in the same Middle
East region.
Among the horses involved in the apparently bogus races are some trained in stables owned by the ruling
families of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Serious questions will be asked of the UAE equestrian federation, which is
responsible for inputting race data to the FEI database.
One motive for fabricating results is to ensure qualification for bigger races, and to give the impression horses
have successfully completed arduous rides and are therefore seasoned endurance horses.
In endurance, final results listings show average speeds and times over each “loop”(segment of the ride)
which, for a 80km ride, comprises 36 digits per horse. The odds against the data of 40 or so horses all being
replicated at a single different ride even once - as would have to have been the case for the 'bogus' races to
be genuine - are astronomical. The odds of it happening 12 separate times in a relatively short period are so
negligible as to effectively be impossible.
The alleged scam began to unravel when sources in the UAE first claimed to Telegraph Sport that the January
21 ride did not take place. The FEI said then that the race was a late addition to schedules, and offered
qualifying for last month’s 160km Presidents Cup, with all paperwork in order. At that point, the FEI declined
to respond further after being directed to the January 21 and December 23 duplicate data, but last night the
governing body told Telegraph Sport it had passed the allegations to Quest.
The FEI is already investigating welfare issues and other rule violations in the UAE, and earlier this month
disaffiliated the UAE’s last two rides of the 2014-2015 winter season.
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Tougher rules for endurance racing
were introduced on August 1 but have
resulted in no visible improvement. The
FEI, often criticised for its reactivity,
stepped up action following global
outrage over pictures of Splitters Creek
Bundy perched on two broken forelegs
at a 120km race ride in Abu Dhabi on
January 31.
The bogus race scandal follows global outrage at picture of
Splitters Creek Bundy with two broken legs
Most of the 11 apparently invented sets of results discovered so far are 80km qualifiers for longer distance
events.
Senior figures in Europe and the USA endurance racing last night told Telegraph Sport they were horrified by
the potential impact of bogus races.
French endurance rider Jean-Louis Tosque, founder of a Facebook group which has exposed several scandals,
said: “Falsifying a qualification ride allows a horse to proceed to the next level, longer distances and higher
speeds, for which it has not been prepared. This increases the risk of metabolic problems and stress fractures.
“Any vet can attest to that. Cheating as is alleged in this case puts the horse's health at great risk."
Belgian team coach Pierre Arnould was sacked from the FEI technical committee after speaking to the
Telegraph about abuses in Middle Eastern endurance in October 2013.
“The reality far exceeds what we knew 18 months ago,” he said. “Endurance in the UAE is nothing but an
industry of death and cheating. Will the scandal of these ‘ghost’ races finally have a response from the FEI?
Probably yes, because this scam undermines the basis of all international sports structure.”
All the alleged bogus races were late additions to the FEI calendar, show exceptionally high completion rates
of 90-100per cent - which is highly unusual in real races - and list the same small pool of officials, some of
whom work for the UAE federation. Foreign nationals flock to the UAE for the winter season, but competitors
in the suspicious races exclusively represent UAE and the Indian sub continent, the main source of work riders
for the big stables.
The American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC) staged its annual convention earlier this month and, even
before the new scandal broke, unanimously resolved to ask the FEI to remove the 2016 world championships
from Dubai.
Randy Eiland, a AERC board member who has been privately campaigning, told Telegraph Sport: "One must
question how the regulatory agency, the FEI, could allow this to happen - the entire concept of an alleged
fraud of this magnitude is so audacious as to be comical, if it weren't so seriously corrupt.”
Source http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
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