Top riders taking part
Plenty of superstar riders are taking part in the CSI5* level show jumping. 46 riders, 94 horses, from 16 nations will compete this year. Britain’s Ben Maher and Laura Renwick will take to the stage. Ben Maher comes to Madrid off the back of his victories in the 2018 Longines Global Champions Tour and Global Champions League. Four Irish Riders also join Maher and Renwick – Michael G Duffy, Denis Lynch, Mark McCauley and Michael Pender.
Close rankings in FEI World Cup
Around 40 points has historically been enough to earn one of the 18 qualifying spots available to regional riders for the World Cup Final. The 2018 Final was won by the United States’ Beezie Madden on her stallion Breitling LS. The seven best results will count for riders in the standings, and there are 13 qualifying possibilities in total. Therefore the rankings can be shaken up quite quickly, as first place in a World Cup qualifying stage is worth 20 points, second place 17, third 15 and so on.
Current FEI World Cup standings leader Steve Guerdat, and second ranked Pieter Devos will also make a bid to climb up the table. They are part of a select group who are already on the verge of securing a ticket to the Final. For its part, host nation Spain will have seven riders on home soil. These include Eduardo Alvarez Aznar, while France’s Kevin Staut, Germany’s Daniel Deusser, the Netherlands’ Maikel Van Der Vleuten, Sweden’s Peder Fredricson and the United States’ Jessica Springsteen are just a few of the other riders in the strong field.
You can watch classes from Madrid Horse Week LIVE here:
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