It is said that a good start is half of success, from the earliest development of the design program, Chengdu Golden Horse Lake Sports City Investment Co. According to Long Zhimin introduction: "in the design of the racecourse, we invited the international top design company, prepared a set of perfect design program, reference to a number of international high-level racecourse, and strive to achieve first-class in all aspects of hardware, software. Due to the reasons on the construction cycle, as of the current Equestrian Festival, our racecourse has not been fully formed."
While not yet finalized, Long Zhimin admitted that in terms of scale alone, the Chengdu Golden Horse International Racecourse is now considered the largest in the country. Indeed, 2000 meters long, 25 meters wide grass track, can accommodate 16 horses on the same field; the initial grandstand will be able to provide 50,000 indoor and outdoor seats for the audience; three up and down the two-story stables with reference to the construction of Hong Kong's professional equestrian venues, with a total area of 6,389 square meters, which can accommodate 240 horses at the same time. This series of data, none of which indicates the large-scale and high standard of the racecourse. Long Zhimin said that in the future the various supporting facilities of the racecourse will continue to improve, "For example, we will also build a theme of equestrian sports, entertainment, accommodation, food and beverage in one of the complex," said Long Zhimin, "in terms of track facilities, we will also install monitoring and timers. In addition, we plan to realize a camera-following track around the entire speedway track, just like what people see at track and field events." At this year's China Equestrian Festival, in addition to the FEI World Cup of Show Jumping on the first two days, there was no more popular race than the Speed Horse Racing. In the audience's loud shouts, riders driving a racehorse galloped past, full of thrills and excitement. The riders and horses were able to show their valor thanks to the perfect track at the Chengdu Golden Horse International Racecourse. The 2,000-meter-long, 25-meter-wide international standard grass track and the bright green color of the track give you the urge to get on your horse and run.
According to the Chengdu Evening News, only Wuhan Oriental Horse City and Nanjing International Racecourse are comparable in scale to Chengdu Golden Horse International Racecourse. However, Wuhan Oriental Horse City only has a sand track, no grass track, while Nanjing International Racecourse has become a large parking lot due to losses. As a result, grass tracks of the size of the Golden Horse Racecourse are not common throughout the country. According to Long Zhimin, the racecourse will improve the sand track in the future, "You may have noticed that there is a small sand track on the inside of the grass track. This is just a prototype, in the future we will widen it and build it into a standard sand track of 1600 meters long and 25 meters wide." In this way, the Golden Horse Racecourse has both a grass track and a sand track, Long Zhimin said: "In fact, there is no strict international regulation on whether speed racing should be conducted on a grass track or a sand track, and it is up to the organizing committee to set up its own. There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of tracks, such as the high maintenance costs of grass tracks and the tendency of sand tracks to become waterlogged, which are all things we need to consider. However, having both types of tracks at the same time greatly improves our ability to take over competitions, and we can even realize that the grass track and sand track can be run together." After this year's China Equestrian Festival, there will be more races held at Chengdu Golden Horse International Racecourse. Long Zhimin introduced: "After this year's China Equestrian Festival, some provincial and municipal competitions will be held here. For example, the Sichuan Equestrian Rodeo Barrel Racing to be held tomorrow, this is only the first edition, and it will definitely be held at Golden Horse in the future." In addition to this, Long Zhimin also said that in order to be in line with international equestrian competitions, a series of competition-related activities will be arranged at the Golden Horse Racecourse, "such as lower-height obstacle course practice, skills training and so on, so that the riders of Chengdu's equestrian clubs can gradually move closer to the standards of international competition events."
This year's festival saw a record number of horses competing, not only the most ever at the festival, with more than 200, but also the highest total value. This horse is more expensive than people, how to ensure the health of the horse? Chengdu Evening News reporter yesterday interviewed the veterinarian of this year's competition, with 13 years of experience in the field of Xie Taishen, "as a veterinarian, we are sure to ensure the health of each horse, but to make the horse healthier, domestic drugs and medical facilities must be in line with international standards." When I met Xie Taishen, he was in the preparation area of the field obstacle course. When it comes to the profession of horse veterinarian, he has long had his own experience, "I have to go on horse patrol every day to observe any abnormalities in them, and I can usually observe some clues from their demeanor and expression. In addition to pay attention to the horse that would have been injured or sick, the work seems very simple, but it is also very tedious."
According to Xie Taishen, there are two main types of common diseases in horses, namely abdominal pain and lameness, which in layman's terms are stomach ache and lameness, "Generally lameness is very good to judge, but abdominal pain is a bit complicated. Because of abdominal pain caused by a variety of situations, how to judge depends on experience, sometimes from the horse's expression can be seen whether the horse's body is healthy." As for how to see, Xie Taishen said with a smile, "Horses also have happiness, anger, sadness and joy, when they are happy, the whole face is bright, when they are not in a good mood, it is another kind of expression. Usually I can tell from their expressions if there is something abnormal about them." Years of experience as a veterinarian has made Xie Taishen and the horses good friends, "I usually bring them candy to eat, and horses love sweets the most. Now those horses I take care of can recognize me, sometimes they will run to me when I whistle." Although domestic equestrian competitions are equipped with equine veterinarians, in Xie Taishen's opinion, domestic medicines and equipment for treating horse injuries and illnesses need to be upgraded another notch. "In foreign countries, general equestrian competitions will set up veterinary committees, and if there are horses that are sick and injured, they must get the consent of the veterinary committee before proceeding, and they must make sure that the horses get the best treatment and care." Xie Taishen said. In comparison, the domestic in this regard appears to have no advantage, Xie Taishen said, for example: "In foreign countries, ultrasound and X-ray medical equipment are necessities, through high-tech medical equipment, can provide more accurate treatment program for the horse. Moreover, horses have specialized operating rooms. But in China, we do not have these things, usually we can only rely on personal experience to judge, if the judgment is right, of course, the horse's treatment will be more certain, if the judgment is wrong, the consequences may be unimaginable. Even if the judgment is right, there may be errors in the recovery time, and all of these bring adverse effects to the horse's recovery."
In addition to the equipment is not as good as abroad, the horse's medication is also scarce, it is understood that there are only very few manufacturers in China to produce horse-specific medication, and there are times when the horse is sick and simply do not know where to look for the medicine, all of which are problems that make Xie Taishen distressed. "To ensure that the horse's body is healthier, drugs and medical equipment must be in line with foreign countries, which may take some time for Chinese equestrianism." Xie Taishen said. Yesterday afternoon, the qualifying round of the China Equestrian Festival's Grand Prix of Show Jumping kicked off, which is another eye-catching show jumping competition at the China Equestrian Festival after the World Cup. It is understood that this competition is the China Equestrian Festival this year, the creation of their own events, the level of the event belongs to the country's highest, and only set up a Grand Prix competition in Chengdu each year.
The Grand Prix is almost a replica of the World Cup two days ago, in addition to foreign players did not participate, China's top 25 domestic points rankings of the top show jumping riders, including the mainland's first Olympic-qualified equestrian athlete Li Zhenqiang, now representing China in Europe to participate in the FEI CSI competitions in Zhao Zhiwen, 19-year-old returnee female rider Zhu Meimei and the German The "Father of Equestrianism" Rudiger's disciple, Huang Zuping. The event is set to make the China Equestrian Festival more of its own. "By creating our own characteristic events, we can attract more people to pay attention to our equestrian festival and our events." The relevant person in charge of the organizing committee of the event said. Yesterday afternoon, the 2012 China Equestrian Festival Ground Handicap Grand Prix officially started. China's mainland first Olympic-qualified equestrian Li Zhenqiang, debuted in the first round of 140cm level, won the first. As the old saying goes, "father and son in battle", Li Zhenqiang's son, Li Yaofeng, had just taken the second place for Kimber in the first round of the 120cm class. Off the course, Li Zhenqiang and Li Yaofeng are inseparable, both as father and son, and as rider partners who can communicate with each other and summarize the competition's achievements and losses. It can be said that Li Yaofeng has inherited Li Zhenqiang's talent in equestrianism. From learning to ride in 2008 to winning the Guangdong Equestrian Championships, Li Yaofeng's performance has been steadily improving, and last year he won the Equestrian World Cup in the 105cm class. At this year's China Equestrian Festival, in addition to competition, Li Zhenqiang is most concerned about his son. Talking about his son, Li Zhenqiang said: "On the field I am professional requirements for him, under the field I still hope that he is mainly academic." That said, Li Zhenqiang also hope that his son to win good results, "I hope he can be better than good, he won the championship than I won the championship more happy me." Li Yaofeng did not disappoint his father's expectations, his excellent performance in the competition, but also let people see the Chinese equestrian world a rising star of hope.