What could be worse than tackling a doping issue in a sport where you’re the leader of governing body, when your own husband is tied to a doping scandal? 
That is the case for Princess Haya, the wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum of Dubai. President of the International Equestrian Federation since 2007, Haya found herself in a tough spot when her husband admitted last week that his racehorse failed a doping test set up by the FEI.
Princess Haya told The Associated Press she fears that a “few individuals” who oppose “the increase in democracy and the fight against corruption in the FEI” will draw on the the doping revelation to undermine her position.
“I have no doubt … that they will use this case in any way they can to injure and damage the reputations of myself and my family,” the princess wrote in an e-mail.
She did not specify which individuals she was referring to, but said she hoped the disciplinary case pending against Sheikh Mohammed may end up strengthening the her federation’s drive toward drug-free competitions.
She said the federation’s “image is only in jeopardy if it does not act in a clear, transparent and timely fashion.”
The princess will take no part in deciding her husband’s penalty, with a senior colleague assuming her presidential powers when the case is considered.
The 59-year-old sheikh rode his own horse, Tahhan, in 120-kilometer (74.5-mile) endurance races at Bahrain in January and Dubai in February when it failed doping tests performed by his own staff. Both times the hypertension drug guanabenz was present. After the Bahrain race, a metabolite of the anabolic steroid stanozolol was found.
In a statement issued on his behalf Monday, Sheik Mohammed — also one of the world’s foremost breeders and owners of thoroughbred race horses — accepted that he was legally responsible for the doping. He ordered an investigation of his stables and the findings shared with the FEI.
Princess Haya acknowledged that endurance race doping is a problem in the Middle East.
“The FEI has been struggling to deal with the number of doping cases,” she said in her e-mail, adding that her husband could help change attitudes. “The effect will be felt more surely and more quickly than the FEI has been able to achieve to date.”
Article contains parts of an Associated Press article
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