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A worthy Thai welcome to the “Son of The Wind”

Beer, beer and more beer at the Amari Oktoberfest

A worthy Thai welcome to the “Son of The Wind”

A gala premier called “Dances with Horses” was presented by the Horseshoe Point Resort and Country Club recently, for Thailand’s official debut of the talents of the famous Portuguese Stallions, celebrated throughout history as “The Son of The Wind”, along with the official opening of the 170 room hotel within the lavish facilities and surrounds of the resort grounds.

However, this night was not anything like the traditional opening functions you may find here in Thailand, as here the debutant took a back seat to its equestrian stars and their riders. A buffet dinner was provided for guests at poolside, which resides at the far end of the hotel complex overlooking the main arena. Yes, the unique design that is the Horseshoe Point Resort and Country Club presents a huge indoor riding arena in the centre of the complex to which most of the hotel surrounds and overlooks.

Korn Dabbansri and Porthep Dejapaiboon cut the ribbon to officially open the gala evening

Shortly after dinner the formalities came first, courtesy of the governor of Chonburi Jadej Insavang, assisted by General Khanit, and his excellency the Portuguese Ambassador Jose Soaref amongst other dignitaries, to present the appropriate tributes to the founding brothers Chaikiri & Chainarin, and declare the Horseshoe Point Resort open. Then it was on with the show. Princess Ongpaah was one of the many distinguished guests to be present for this event, and guests came from all over Thailand, as well as the UK, USA, Australia, the Philippines, and a contingent of horses and riders from Portugal.

The two emcees for the evening were former jockey David Smith and Kook, who was previously one of the resort’s assistant managers. The two kept the crowd informed both in English and Thai, of the journey throughout history aboard Lusitanian horseback.

For the first feature Cherry Srifungfueng, who recently participated in Thailand’s silver medal winning dressage team at the SEA Games, partnered an imposing grey Lusitano Stallion named Hexagano, and they dazzled the crowd with a solo performance of exercises from the Grand Prix Freestyle Competition. I’m no expert in such things, but if their performance was a window on Thailand’s equestrian competitive future, then there is sure to be an abundance of success and more medals in the not too distant future, in my humble opinion.

The Capriole

One of the many ‘firsts’ for Thailand was a performance called “Sound Light and Movement” and for this the lights were extinguished until pitch blackness engulfed the stadium. Then in strode a horse and rider with small battery-powered lights strung through the top of its mane and banded around its fetlocks and hind quarters for a dance in the dark. The spectacular array of lights danced their way through some contemporary tunes, in the very first time such performance had been seen in South East Asia. There is no wonder such shows are booked out for almost a year in advance in Europe.

A duet presentation of the Pas De Deux (a Dance for Two) from the twin brothers Chaikiri and Chainarin aboard Dragao & Incauto respectively, displayed the impressive extents that these riders, trainers and even horses had gone to, in achieving performances such as this, which choreographed their horses in a dance of mirrored symbiosis.

The Portuguese riding traditions of, “Lightness and balance, combined with brilliance” were to the fore all evening long, as were the horsemanship skills of Federico Cardoza who had flown in from Portugal for this event to give a display of exercises with the long rein’s along with a superb solo performance where his stallion Guaopo bowed to her royal highness and the crowd, as well as assuming a seated position, and many other impressive horsemanship feats.

Another Thailand ‘first’ was the demonstration from Mario Miguelle, one of the world’s leading bullfighters. The La Corrida, or bullfight, is a time honoured tradition that dates back some 1,000 years, and Mario entertained the crowd with some light relief from a ‘man-made’ bull called Somchai, and a cute cameo appearance from young Louis Valenca jnr who at almost 4 years of age I imagine, would be one of the youngest matador’s assistants ever.

The commentary explained that the Lusitano is the master of the bullring, as his skill and light-footedness is barely a match for ‘el-torro’. However, the Lusitano’s characteristics were not exploited so that he could escape the bull, rather that he could tease it, break it, master it and hail it. This was the quarteio on horseback.

Further performances featured the whole Valenca family: Filipa, Louisa & Federico in the Pas De Trois, followed by Mario and Federico in a display of the Portuguese equestrian classic the Capriole, where the stallion launches itself from a crouched position and kicks out mid-air in a ballet like exhibition.

The finale witnessed all the riders and horses back in the arena for a beautifully choreographed performance called Carrousel, and then 25 year old dream that motivated the evening’s creation and the magnificent surrounds that is the Horseshoe Point Resort and Country Club, was explained, as the trio of the Srifungfung twins and their long time friend and teacher Mrs Mitos Sison strode proudly through the standing ovation to honour humbly, the realization that was once just their dream.

The whole evening was a splendid genesis for Thailand’s Equestrian renaissance, and surely a worthy Thai welcome to the ‘Son of The Wind’.

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Beer, beer and more beer at the Amari Oktoberfest

The annual Oktoberfest in Munich is an event of international proportions. Any venue that can sell 6,000,000 litres of beer and 600,000 roasted chickens is no small town fair. The Bavarian people are justifiably proud of their Oktoberfest, which dates back to the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig in 1810, and has been held annually since then.

Pattaya Mail’s Peter Malhotra broached the ceremonial keg while muttering the immortal words “Ozapft is” (the keg is tapped).

Whilst not consuming 6 million litres locally, the German speaking people in Pattaya turned out in force for our Oktoberfest, held at the Amari Orchid Resort and conducted by GM Michael Vogt, complete with ‘tailor-made’ lederhosen. Backing him up was the Royal Thai Navy ooom-pah-pah band who only paused for a refreshing beer every 30 minutes while toasting the revellers.

The ‘official’ opening ceremony was carried out by managing director of the Pattaya Mail, Peter Malhotra, who broached the ceremonial keg while muttering the immortal words “Ozapft is” (the keg is tapped). With the beer keg now open, the partygoers downed some schnapps and attacked the beer.

“I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK...”

And there were plenty of revellers too, including the ‘bosomy’ Erika Keller complete in Swiss German dirndl outfit accompanied by husband Bruno, who proved to all that he had a strong right arm by holding a full beer stein outstretched, while keeping his left hand in his pocket. There is no truth in the rumour that he won because his stein was full of ‘light’ beer!

Bruno Keller (2nd right) won the beer holding contest. There is no truth in the rumour that he won because his stein was full of ‘light’ beer!

Over from Germany for the event was Marion Vogt’s father Heinz, who had brought with him his ‘Schnupfmaschine’, an infernal contraption that shoots snuff up both nostrils simultaneously. Following his successful tour of the Amari Beer Hall people were seen sniffing, or perhaps ‘snuffing’ for the rest of the evening.

Since eating and drinking is the name of the Oktoberfest game, Amari executive chef Stefan Heller was on hand to oversee the cooking of 60 kilograms of suckling pig, countless Bavarian sausages and several acres of sauerkraut (though most of them seemed happy that night)! The new F&B manager and trainee were also on hand to supervise the pouring of several different brands of German beers.

Marion Vogt’s father Heinz (right) came all the way from Germany and brought with him his ‘Schnupfmaschine’, an infernal contraption that shoots snuff up both nostrils simultaneously, which here he shows to Amari GM Michael Vogt.

For the German contingent, it was a most enjoyable reminder of some of Germany’s proud heritage, and for the non-German community it was a reminder that the German community have not forgotten how to enjoy themselves.

If you missed it and want to see this event, watch the Pattaya Mail Channel’s Nite Beat show with Dr. Iain this Friday and repeated again on Sunday.

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