We’ve got a thrilling weekend of showjumping on Horse & Country, with live coverage of an exciting new competition and a 5* Grand Prix at Jumping Antwerpen in Belgium.
It’s a knock-out
The action kicks off on Friday with the JumpingClash Challenge. This brand new format was launched last year in Madrid, but this is the first time it has been held at a 5* show.
The JumpingClash Challenge is a knock-out competition, where four Seeded Riders (those with the highest FEI rankings) are paired up against four Challenger Riders. The winner of each ‘clash’ proceeds to the next round, while the loser is eliminated.
Race against time
The first round is a qualifying round to find the Challenger Riders, who will go on to compete in the quarter-finals. The top four ranking riders taking them on in Antwerp will be Daniel Deusser and Christian Ahlmann from Germany, Canada’s Eric Lamaze and Simon Deletre from France.
This is when the real action begins – which we will be streaming live on H&C’s website at 7pm on Friday 21 April.
The semi-final sees the riders whittled down to two pairs, and then the final has just two riders competing for the title.
What this makes this competition even more exciting is that the final rounds are against the clock – with two seconds added for each fence knocked down. So it really will be a race against time.
Big names
The JumpingClash Challenge is followed by the €155,000 Lebeau-Courally Grand Prix on Saturday, which you can also watch live on H&C’s website from 8.15pm onwards. We are showing highlights of round one, followed by the jump-off.
The competition will feature the biggest names in showjumping, which includes three of the Whitakers – John, Michael and William – and Ireland’s Billy Twomey. There will also be the top FEI ranking riders from the JumpingClash Challenge, as well as the likes of Marcus Ehning, Eric Lamaze and Penelope Leprevost.
You can catch all the action LIVE on the H&C website. The JumpingClash Challenge starts at 7pm on Friday 21 April, while the Lebeau-Courally Grand Prix starts at 8.15pm on Saturday 22 April.