Farewell to Fegentri
02-02-2015
This coming weekend sees the Fegentri General Assembly 2015 hosted by the Norwegian Amateur Club in Oslo on Saturday 7th February, a country which provided Alice Mills with a winning ride at Ovrevoll in June. The AJA are no longer members of Fegentri following our decision to leave the Federation at the end of 2014 which leaves us now ineligible to attend the 2015 GA as dictated by Fegentri rules. We believe that Fegentri cannot serve our best needs whilst current rules restrict representation of amateur riders to just 2 individual jockeys per country, especially considering the large costs incurred. Unfortunately our repeated request for a “Team GB” in order to fully share out race riding opportunities was dismissed, as was our request to become “sleeping members” for 2015 whilst we have grave reservations regarding seemingly idiosyncratic rules currently in place. The AJA CEO Sarah Oliver has therefore resigned from the Fegentri Board. Her Royal Highness Princess Haya of Jordan has also resigned recently as Fegentri’s Patron.
A successful 2014 was enjoyed by Alice Mills and Freddy Tett, our 2014 GB representatives, and many congratulations to them both on achieving second place on points won throughout the season, reaching the runner-up slot in both the Lady and Gentleman World Championships respectively. However, as Freddy’s sole win during the season was on home ground (Nottingham), unfortunately due to Fegentri ruling he is not allowed to enjoy this position and is disqualified altogether from the ranking. His Corta Testa (short head) defeat in Rome makes this ruling even more bitterly disappointing.
Alice enjoyed winning rides in not only Ovrevoll, Norway but also The Curragh, Ireland as well as both Baden-Baden and Cologne in Germany. Sadly Alice is unable to attend the Gala Dinner in Oslo to collect her prize, with a weekend of rides booked point-to-pointing on home turf, but Freddy is travelling to Norway where he will collect a consolation prize for his achievements.
Great Britain have also won the 2014 Fegentri World Cup of Nations Series (and as far as we know there is no ruling to take this victory away from us!). Many congratulations to those jockeys who helped us win this: Steven Fox (Pisa, Italy) (Wayne Hogg non-runner), (Page Fuller (WON in Maisons Laffitte, France, Tom Hamilton unplaced), Freddy Tett (3rd Deauville, France), Megan Nicholls (3rd Royal Windsor) and Harry Bannister (2nd Delaware Park, USA and WON Parx, USA with his horse having its first ever run!)