Olympic powerhouses line up for three-day test run of new facilities

A total of 40 riders, half of them from overseas, will take part in the first test run for the 2008 Olympics equestrian events - the Good Luck Beijing HKSAR 10th Anniversary Cup - at the newly built facilities in Sha Tin in August.

'We will only stage a test for eventing, and we are quite happy with the number of overseas applications, many of whom are from strong equestrian countries,' revealed Angela Chang, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Equestrian Company, yesterday.

It is understood 20 competitors from Britain, Germany, Australia and the US, among other countries, will take part in the three-day eventing discipline from August 11-13. The deadline for countries wishing to take part ended on Tuesday, but overseas federations have until May 20 to submit their list of horses.

'They will only have a test event for the eventing category as this includes cross-country, dressage and show-jumping and as such all the new facilities can be tested out,' said Edwin McAuley, vice-president of the Hong Kong Equestrian Federation.

The cross-country event will be held at a purpose-built course at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Sheung Shui and the Beas River Country Club, while the dressage and show-jumping will be held at the former Hong Kong Sports Institute and Penfold Park. New stables being built at the Sports Institute site will be ready by August 1, but organisers said anyone wishing to send horses early could do so after July 28. The quarantine period will be between seven to 10 days.

'The new stables will be opened on August 1 and all the overseas horses will be isolated from the local horses,' Chang said. '