WELLINGTON, Fla.--Looking forward to the show jumping World Championships in Herning, Denmark, Aug. 6-14, top riders are just beginning to bring out their best horses, aiming to have them peak this summer.

McLain Ward on Contsgious (Photo ny Sportfot)Up until now, those riders have been content to allow European riders to dominate the Winter Equestrian Festival classes, but with WEF beginning its five-star series, four riders began to show their muscle, with McLain Ward winning the Grand Prix on his Olympic mount Contagious in the final four-star, and then in the first five-star, Olympian Kent Farrington winning a 1.50m class on a new mount, Easy Girl, Adrienne Sternlicht, a World Championship team gold medalist winning the Challenge Cup on Benny's Legacy. and Brian Moggre, a hugely talented young rider, placing third on Balou du Reventon in the Grand Prix.

"The heavy hitters have been resting their horses and are just beginning to come out now," said team chef d'equipe Robert Ridland.

Ridland said that he is constantly reminding these top riders to keep their eyes on the ultimate prize, this year's World Championships, and not get sucked into over-using their best mounts in pursuing the big prize money available at WEF.

But, in fact, despite the fact that the top riders are just re-emerging, even if the 10 drawn to compete in Europe were named off today''s Riders' and Horses' Ranking lists, it would be a very strong group.

 

THE SELECTION CRITERIA for the four-man team to represent the United States at the World Championships is the same as it was for last summer's Olympic Games, and that resulted in a thrilling jump-off for the gold medal between Sweden and the U.S., won by Sweden, reversing the results from the 2018 World Championships in Tryon where the U.S.  beat Sweden for the gold, also in a nail-biting jump-off.

This summer's World Championship will pit the U.S. against Sweden again, along with teams from every top show jumping country.

The team selection begins by taking the top four riders and the top three horses from their respective ranking lists, one rider from the World Cup top 10 and two discretionary choices (if the rider from the top 10 in the World Cup is already on the list, that becomes a third discretionary choice) and naming those 10 riders along with one or two horses to compete in four Nations Cups in Europe, after which the team will be named.

Even today, that criteria would result in a strong team.

Currently leading the Riders' Ranking are Ward, Farrington, Margie Engle and Laura Kraut.

One the Horses' Ranking list, Ward already has two horses, Contagious and Kasper van het Hellhof, Kraut has her Olympic mount Baloutinue and Farrington has Gazelle, so those names are discarded, the resulting automatic choices would be Bliss Heers with Antidote de Mars, Kristen Vanderveen with Bull Run's Risen and Sternlicht with Benny's Legacy.

And then Moggre with Balou du Reventon, next on the Horses' list, and Jessie Springsteen, high on the Riders' list, would be the next highest and could be used for discretionary choices.

Ridland, assisted by a selection committee, makes the discretionary choices.

The actual 10 riders will be named after the World Cup in April, and they will compete in four Nations Cup classes in Europe, and, although those classes haven't been announced yet, Ridland said it would probably included Rome and Aachen.

That list of ranking riders and horses will certainly change before the date to name the riders going to Europe, but even off today's list it's certainly a strong beginning.

One big name not on the list is Beezie Madden.

At now 55 years old, Madden said before the last Olympics that it would be her last Olympics, and then she agreed to stay on to try out for the postponed Olympics, although she withdrew from consideration before the team was named.

The team for the World Championships will be named at the conclusion of the final European Nations Cup.

The first big international event this year is the World Cup, April 6 - 10 in Leipzig, Germany.

Ridland said that, despite many Nations Cups in Europe having been cancelled due to Covid, the World Cup is still scheduled as of now,

The riders qualified for that haven't been named yet as the qualifying classes are on-going.

Before that, there are the Nations Cup at WEF and the Nations Cup in Mexico, one of the qualifying Nations Cups for the Finals in Barcelona next fall.

Ridland said to expect young up-and-coming riders to fill out those teams, although he might use a veteran rider on an up-and-coming horse.