What an exciting show the UK leg of the Longines Global Champions Tour was and how amazing to have held it in the Olympic Park in London!
Although we couldn’t make it down to the show, the coverage courtesy of the Red Button on the BBC meant that we got a front row seat, (However it was such a shame to see so many empty seats during the final class) This closely contested class with world class riders battling it out in the jump off against the clock showcased world talent and it was brilliant to see lots of great British riders in the class and fantastic to see our very own Ben Maher placed second behind Germany’s Marco Kutscher.
Now in its eight series, as well as London being a debut venue for the tour this year, Madrid and Shanghai also get a look in this year and we really hope it does return to London, especially after such a rocky start, when planning permission was rejected on it’s initial chosen site at Kensington Gardens.
In the past, the UK has often been viewed on by some of our European friends as a bit of a joke, when it comes to offering world class facilities and whilst good weather might be out of our control, we really think this view is changing slowly, as the UK equestrian community work hard to create top level competitions.
With venues such as Hickstead continuing to improve facilities and as the Olympics and now the Global Champions Tour has shown, the opportunity to hold high profile and prestigious events is there and proves that we are more than capable of delivering on the world stage – lets hope we see more and more of these big events cropping up on the equestrian calendar in the future.
