World’s top Show Jumpers arrive in China

The 2018 Longines Global Champions Tour touches down in the huge Chinese city this weekend for the easternmost stop of the CSI 5* Show Jumping series.

Taking place at the China Art Palace in the the Shanghai Expo Garden, the third stage of the Tour and parallel team-based Global Champions League was made possible starting in 2014 after an international agreement on horse transport rules.

“It took many years to plan and to get the correct permission to overcome the quarantine rules on mainland China,” LGCT Founder Jan Tops told CNN last year. “We were basically the pioneers in bringing the international horses here for the first time.”

Indeed, in 2008 the equestrian competitions at the Beijing Olympic Games were held in Hong Kong due to the rules at the time. Now, however, a quarantine zone around the visiting horses’ stables, exercise arenas and competition venue prevent contact with the local horse population. 

As for the travel to China for the elite sport mounts, as Tim Dutta of Dutta Corp. described in a tongue-in-cheek way to the FEI in 2017, each animal reacts differently.

“Horses are just like human beings,” Dutta said. “Some get jittery, some read the rosary, some like some gin and tonic, some go to sleep before the plane leaves the gate, and the rest are worried about life two days afterward. Everybody’s an individual, and we are ready for each and every situation.” To facilitate the long voyage for the horses, a pro groom is joined by numerous shipper gooms and a veterinarian, with the animals travelling in enclosed stable stalls onboard.

Among the riders who have made the trip to Asia are Great Britain’s Scott Brash, who leads the rankings after the first two competitions with 67 points, and Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander, in third behind Pieter Devos with 54. The two have both won two Tour titles, and have also claimed victories in the first two stages in Mexico and Florida, respectively. Also returning to China is Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca, who won the Grand Prix in the city last year with Ensor de Litrange LXII (pictured above in China in 2017). The horses and riders will also be teaming up for the third competition of the 2018 Global Champions League season, which features a Shanghai Swans squad. See the current GCL rankings here.