AFTER spending four weeks at home in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath to recover from an injury, Dubai-based endurance rider Amy McAuley was back at the top this week during the Dubai Crown Prince Endurance Festival, held at the purpose built endurance facility in the Dubai desert.

The 26-year-old, who is a member of Leinster-based Endurance Riding Eireann, sustained injuries from two separate racing falls in January but was back to her best when two top 10 placings saw her crowned the leading female rider.

The four-day festival kicked off with the CEN 119km Ladies Race when McAuley partnered Khaleem De-Rothbury, a recent recruit to F3 endurance team, to seventh place, eight minutes behind the eventual winner.

She then partnered Tamia Du Durzon (F3) in the very hotly contested CEN 119km Yamamah Cup for Mares, with a total of 163 starters. After passing the compulsory vet examination (with A1 rating) before the final loop of 18km and trailing the lead combination by four minutes and four seconds, and the second-placed combination by 28 seconds, McAuley and F3 Team decided tactics were not to chase hard, but to hold third position. They had 1.07 minutes lead over fourth-placed horse.

Early in the final loop they caught the second placed combination and so continued up-sides for most of the loop. These tactics paid great rewards and when the first pass the post was eliminated when they failed the final vet check for gait, McAuley was elevated to second place, completing a great one-two for F3 Team.