TINA HENRIKSSON Fegentri World Champion of Lady Riders 2010

The most exciting Fegentri Final for Lady Riders ever

The final leg of the Fegentri World Championship series for Lady Riders 2010 with 24 races in 12 different countries took place at the racecourse Champ de Mars in Mauritius for the fourth time since The Mauritius Turf Club – as the oldest racing club of the Southern Hemisphere and the second oldest in the world – became a member of Fegentri in 1997. In 2012 Champ de Mars is celebrating its 200th Anniversary. The International Jockeys’ Weekend at the end of the season before the summer break is racing and party.

The visit of HRH The Princess Royal, who came to Champ the Mars for the first time, was a great honour to The Mauritius Turf Club. And it was an exceptional honour to Fegentri that the race was bearing the title “The Princess Royal Cup” and Her Royal Highness awarded the winning team of the Final Race of the Fegentri World Championship for Lady Riders. Cathrine Engebretsen was the lucky rider at the draw picking the winner “Tito Manolo” and received the trophy from HRH The Princess Royal.

The final race was exciting as hardly one has been before. Four lady riders still had chances to claim the title of Fegentri World Champion. Before the final Ruth Jefferson from Great Britain was leading with 7 points, second was Pauline Boisgontier from France, third Tina Henriksson from Sweden und fourth Nina Wagner, only 17 year old student, from Germany. As in the previous years the mounts were drawn and each rider picked out their horses during the evening at “Le Touessrok” with a presentation of the international riders and followed by a reception. Honorary guest of that evening were Henry Cecil and his wife, who visited Mauritius for the first time, as well as Louis Romanet, IFHA-President, and his wife Isabel. Star-Jockeys as Lanfranco Dettori, Stephane Pasquier and William Buick have not been to Champ de Mars for the first time and were happy to come back.

The Fegentri race was won by Cathrine Engebretsen, second was Tina Henrikssson and third Catherine Burri from Switzerland. The distance between the second and the third was just a nose and the judge had to take the photo for his decision. Due to her second place Tina had three points more than Ruth. The “little nose” made the decision and there was a lot of luck as well. Tina Henriksson from Sweden was the only lady rider who never was in the lead during the entire year. We want to congratulate the Fegentri World Champion of Lady Rider 2010: TINA HENRIKSSON from Sweden as well as the second Ruth Jefferson from Great Britain and the third Pauline Boisgontier from France. But all lady riders did their best and many of them won or have been placed during the year. Eight lady riders from eight different countries competed in the final Fegentri race in Mauritius: Tina Henriksson (Sweden), Ruth Jefferson (Great Britain), Pauline Boisgontier (France), Nina Wagner (Germany), Cathrine Engebretsen (Norway), Catherine Burri (Switzerland), Jessica Marcialis (Italy) and Jadey Pietrasiewicz (Netherlands) who has won already three years ago at the racecourse Champ de Mars.