The eventing World Championships cross-country course at Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy, for this week’s event (15-18 September) has been designed by Giuseppe della Chiesa.
It is 5,600m long with an optimum time of 9min 50sec. We’ve asked some of the world’s top riders what they make of the track that they will tackle on Saturday.
Ireland’s Sam Watson says that he thinks it is designed to “catch a few people out”.
“It reminds me of a little bit of the World Equestrian Games track in Tryon in 2018 in the sense it’s not over-big. I think with the way the ground is, the going is always to be good here, so I think the hills are very manageable.”
Sam, who is riding SAP Talisman, believes that although Giuseppe has put in “a good quantity of questions, they’re all jumpable by themselves”.
“I think it’ll be a low-scoring competition. I think we’ll be surprised by how many make the time – there could be over 15, up towards 20, that will make the time, which will make it a very competitive, cutting-edge competition, and that might force more mistakes later on in the competition when people see that actually you’ve got to go out there and perform.”
There are a number of angled questions on the course, which Sam is a fan of.
“There’s a lot of ‘shoulder’ fences for a glance-offs, which I think is the right way to ask questions these days. We want run outs rather than anything else going wrong, so I think Giuseppe has done a good job.”
One of the ‘shoulder’ fences
Britain’s Ros Canter says that there are lots of places to “have a whoopsie”.
“It’s definitely a championship course and there’s definitely plenty of questions out there – lots of challenges and I think it’ll be all to play for,” she says.
Ros, who is riding the talented 10-year-old Lordships Graffalo this week points out the KEP Italia Slide at fence 7abc on the eventing World Championships cross-country course as an early question.
“I think it’ll be a relief for everyone to get that Slide out of the way – it comes early on, so I think although we have a lovely uphill pull at the beginning, we could have quite fresh horses coming back down the hill,” she explains.
“And I think there are a couple of clever questions; one at the end as well, where the warm-up is just to the right-hand side, so it’s really about trying to get their focus on the job and not thinking that it is a little cross-country school and that we’re going back to the stables again. There’s lots to think about.”
Fellow British rider Yasmin Ingham agrees with Ros about fence seven.
“The Slide comes up pretty quick, so you might be shocked with that,” explains the 25-year-old, who is riding Banzai du Loir this week. “But it all looks jumpable and it’s over really undulating terrain, with plenty to look at and the waters are difficult too. Then there’s a couple of tricky ones up in the top of the hills too.”
Laura Collett, who went into the dressage lead on Thursday with a score of 19.3, said that it will be a good test on Saturday.
“It’s a proper championship track. I came here in 2005 for the pony Europeans, so I kind of knew roughly what to expect – sadly it’s not going to be a dressage competition,” she explained. “I think it’s full on from start to finish and there’s a lot of head scratching about what the direct route actually is. There’s so many options, so that’s taking a lot of thought to figure it out.”
Eventing World Championships cross-country course: the terrain
Australia’s Shane Rose, who is taking part with the 17-year-old Vigil, says that the course looks “challenging” with its terrain.
“There’s a lot of options and a lot of ways to get in and out of combinations, but I think it’s quite hilly early on with some awful camber that we’ve got to gallop on that I think will knock the horses about a bit,” he explains. “If you take a risk at the end of the course and your horse is tired, then you could have a glance off here and there, right to the second last.”
Shane states that the track is definitely a four-star, as it should be for the eventing World Championship cross-country.
“It’s certainly not five-star level, but I think Giuseppe has also given those less experienced combinations in the field an opportunity to get round with the long routes.”
You may also be interested in…
Would you take this leap into thin air? View the World Championships cross-country course
‘Lordships Graffalo is an absolute clown’: Sarah Charnley on 10 years grooming for Ros Canter – and juggling it with a full-time job
Meet Yasmin Ingham’s groom Alison Bell: ‘I never thought I would be in this position’
How to watch the eventing World Championships: your essential guide
Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round
Keep up with all of the breaking news, behind the scenes insight and the best of the action throughout the World Eventing Championships with no limit on how much you can read from as little as £1 per week with a Horse & Hound unlimited website subscription. Sign up now. Plus enjoy our full 20-page magazine report (on sale 22 September) including opinion from Mark Phillips and ground jury president Christina Klingspor.
