The final major European horse trial event on the European calendar of 2021 took place at Avenches in Switzerland. The European Eventing Championships. At Newmarket, the first of the autumn juvenile Group 1 races were held as well as other Group 1s around the globe. The CCI 4 star European Eventing Championship event attracted riders
As the world marvels at the new tennis sensation Emma Raducanu from Great Britain, equine sporting competition was in full swing. After last week in Riesenbeck in Germany, for the showjumping European Championships, the dressage European Championships took place, again in Germany, this time in Hagen. There were several Group 1 races in Europe including
In a more normalised week for sport horse competition there was another Longines World Champion Tours round. In dressage, the holiday for the German Olympians has come to an end and racing saw a plethora of Group 1 races in the UK, France and the United States. Meanwhile the Paralympians continued to ready themselves for
With all the excitement of the Olympic Games over, there is a short respite before the Paralympics begin next week. In the meantime, there was the London leg of the Longines Championship Global Tour, a 5 star CSI. The best of the dressage competition was in Germany, a 3 star CDI in Donauschingen in southern
There are few times when a horse dies that it merits more than a passing comment, but last weekend the great Galileo was put down following an injury to his foot which did not respond to treatment. At 23 years old, Galileo may not have been the oldest horse around, but he was certainly one
The centre stage of world sport this weekend was quite definitely Great Britain. There were major dressage, showjumping and horse trials around the country. Oh and there was also a football match, the Euro finals and the final of the men’s championships at Wimbledon. The dressage international CDI was held at Hartpury in Gloucestershire and
The past week saw the ramping up of show jumping events across Europe as the Olympic Games comes ever closer, now only four weeks away. In Paris, another round of the Global Champions Tours took place At Hickstead, which should have hosted their famous Derby meeting, instead held a full national showjumping event together with
The final day at the Royal Meeting saw H.M. The Queen at the course for the first time this week. She had four runners today, one in the first race, two in the Jersey Stakes and one more in the fifth race. After some serious races during the week, the final Group 1 The Diamond
They said it would and it did, the rain came to Ascot for day four of the Royal meeting with vengeance. The rain was so persistent that there was some doubt that the races would even be run today. However, very late on, the stewards decided to let the races go ahead. For the first
The Princess Royal Princess Anne with her husband Admiral Tim Laurence were the Royals on duty today in place of H.M. The Queen who again was not present. After the blisteringly hot and humid day two at Ascot, day three dawned cloudy and with light rain at the course. Gold Cup day, the feature race
Many will argue that the best day’s racing at Royal Ascot is the first day. They may have a point in that there are three Group 1 races on the first day and only one on each of the following two days. However, this does not mean they are necessarily right, particularly as on the
Following the English classics at Epsom over the weekend, there were also other equestrian events of note on the European mainland. The first of note was the show jumping Longines World Champions Tour in Valkenswaard in the Netherlands and The Nations Cup in St Gallen in Switzerland. The second was the running of the French
The European classic merry go round continued this weekend with the running of the Irish one and two thousand Guineas at the Curragh. Sport horse activity also gingerly continues to open up with spectators allowed in the UK anyway, but there are still cases of EVA which both the authorities and the event organisers have
This weekend saw real excitement as the easing of Covid restrictions start to happen. The final of the FA football cup allowed some spectators into Wembley stadium and all outside sport can continue from today with limited crowds – something not seen now for over a year. The British Dressage big gun riders were out
We are lucky in the UK, along with a few other countries in the world in that it appears that we are rather successfully dealing with this hideous pandemic which has blighted our sport for so long now. Shows are beginning to open up and crowds are shortly going to be allowed back into watch
