PRESIDENT of the Ground Jury at last week’s Morocco Royal Tour in Rabat, Susanne Macken is no stranger to Morocco. Macken was brought up as a child in the city and became a great supporter of the Royal Moroccan Federation over the years, encouraging every aspect of the sport.

Susanne has seen the Royal Morocco Tour evolve into a leading world venue and follows the success of each rider on the global stage. “I have the added advantage of speaking fluent French having been brought up in Rabat where my parents were based, although I was born in Ireland.

“I can’t praise the organisers of the Morocco Royal Tour enough. When the lorries of horses arrive from Europe into Tangier, all the paperwork is taken care of and there is a police escort from venue to venue. Everything is organised professionally and the hospitality and facilities at Tetouan, Rabat and El Jadida are five star,” commented Susanne.

“Show jumpers love the fact they can bring their one star horses and four star horses to Morocco which boasts no less than 18 CSI1* events and 20 CSI4* events, including 13 counting towards Longines FEI rankings. The three CSI4* Grand Prix events are qualifiers for the Longines FEI World cup Arab North African League.”

Susanne followed a clockwork timetable at Rabat where international starter Pedro Cebulka ensured each horse was in the arena to schedule suiting the live TV coverage.

“Each show in each city has its own style. Here in Rabat, like Tetouan and El Jadida the stables, the arenas, the hospitality is second to none. Germany winning the Nations Cup and El Ghali Boukaa winning the World Cup made fantastic spectator sport. Riders who come here in their droves love it.”

German winners

Dietmar Gugler, chef d’equipe of the winning German team in Rabat, said it was the first time Germany travelled to the venue as a team. He praised Rabat for its high standard and hopes they make it a five star show next year. “We were very happy how everything went, how the horses were taken care of the facilities, the ground which is very important for us, the organisation made it a very pleasant stay here. It has a high European standard.

“Our horses were here to get experience for the bigger stuff and winning a four star Nations Cup is for sure a door opener. I would like to come again and I hope these guys take me again as chef d’equipe. These guys never give up they really want to win, they said there is a chance and they came through and won.”

The Moroccan riders were a force to be reckoned with at all levels in Rabat taking fourth from 10 teams in the Nations Cup with chef d’equipe Philippe Le Jeune. Finishing on a total score of 24 they had a team of really well-bred horses.

El Ghali Boukaa from Casablanca was man of the moment when he partnered the Diamont de Semilly x Cabdulla du Tilard mare A Kyss to win the World Cup Grand Prix Sar La Princess Lalla Amina from 40 starters.