April 17, 2010

The US Equestrian Federation has hit out at last night's sensational disqualification of McLain Ward and Sapphire from the World Cup final in Geneva, with team vet Dr Tim Ober saying the decision was "incorrect, subjective and unsubstantiated." The combination was leading the rankings after two second placings in qualifying rounds.

McLain Ward

Dr Ober also said that Sapphire was in normal form and fit to compete and that her performance over the last two days "was not unusual in any way. In fact, she produced the same result - two clear rounds - in the last World Cup Final in 2009."

The Ground Jury of the World Cup Final in Geneva, Switzerland disqualified Sapphire in the early hours of April 17 after she placed second in the second leg of the competition, on the grounds that there was hypersensitivity in the horse's leg.

The USEF points out that the FEI had acknowledged Sapphire was fit to compete based on a hypersensitivity test before entering the ring. FEI Veterinarian Dr Paul Farrington informed Dr Ober and the two grooms that were present at the test that the horse was showing sensitivity in her near foreleg but "was fit to compete at that time."

After jumping to second place in the class and the overall lead, Sapphire was retested with both thermography and by clinical examination. Three veterinarians - Dr Farrington, Foreign Veterinary Delegate Dr Emile Welling (BEL) and Dr Markus Mueller (SUI)) - examined Sapphire and recommended to the Ground Jury the horse be disqualified "based on the fact that she was unfit to take any further part in the competition."

US team vet Dr Tim Ober said at a press conference last night that the decision to disqualify Sapphire had been "made in haste and in an irreversible way."

"The FEI produced no authenticated, objective, qualitative test substantiating their claim and declined to conduct a normal MCP control including swabbing despite McLain's request that they do so immediately," Dr Ober said.

"In fact, thermography testing on both occasions indicated no abnormality.

McLain Ward and Sapphire jump into second place in the first round in Geneva. © Kit Houghton/FEI

• Thermography testing of horses at the World Cup final began on Thursday and from then to last night 35 horses were tested, some twice. All the World Cup horses were retested this morning, an FEI spokesperson said.

• It is understood that Sapphire twitched when a specific point on the front of her pastern was touched, but only on the one leg. The US vet did 57 prods on the horse's legs, and there were seven responses in total, four on one leg and three on the other.

The FEI team reportedly claims there was slight mark on one leg, but the FEI's definition of hypersensitivity has not been revealed, nor the method of measurement.

It is also understood that there is no photographic evidence of the alleged sensitivity, and the video will not be made available for viewing.

It is understood that Dr Paul Farrington was concerned before the horse jumped but as the ground jury was already dealing with the class, the issue could not be dealt with, so Sapphire was allowed to jump. The horse was reportedly in the same condition before and after jumping two rounds at 1.60m. It is not known why the testing of Sapphire was undertaken when the ground jury was not available.

Questions are also being asked about a decision being made before the samples of hair and blood and skin swabs had been taken from the horse.

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Amended overall ranking after 2 rounds