Several riders confirmed today that they plan to bring their Olympic horses to the new Express Eventing competition at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on 30 November.
At a press conference in London Clayton (Ben Along Time) and Lucinda Fredericks (Headley Britannia, pictured right), Mary King (Call Again Cavalier) and Caroline Powell (Lenamore) said they would be riding their Hong Kong horses in the new condensed format event. Lucy Wiegersma plans to ride Shaabrak, who was second at Badminton this year.
“It’s a really exciting concept and will hopefully bring new people into the sport,” said Mary King, who is taking Call Again Cavalier to the four-star at Pau before this event. “It’ll be interesting to see if it develops into a tour of events and whether a specific type of horse will be suited to this competition.”
Britain’s Olympic double bronze medallist Tina Cook is the latest person to sign up for Express Eventing — she will bring either her Hong Kong ride Miners Frolic or her older advanced horse First Flight II to Cardiff.
China’s Alex Hua Tian will bring his Olympic ride FBW Chico to the Express Eventing. The 18-year-old has come back to earth with a bump since Hong Kong — he is now back at Eton studying for his A levels. He is keeping FBW Chico and one other horse, Magenta, and selling the others he acquired in the course of his Olympic bid.
Organiser Stuart Buntine, who has been working on the idea behind Express Eventing for nearly a decade, also revealed more today about how the event will work and the theory behind it.
