Tomorrow the Longines FEI World Cup Show Jumping Final kicks off in Omaha, Neb., and we’ve compiled all that you could need to know before the first horse jumps.
Important Links: Omaha World Cup website ⁄ Orders of go and results / Live-streaming / COTH’s live blog of Round 1, the speed leg
When: The jumping kicks off with a training session on Wednesday, March 29 at 2 p.m. Central Time (Omaha is 1 hour behind East Coast time). Then the competition runs over three days, and you can find details about how it’s scored below:
Thursday, March 30, 7 p.m. – Round 1—the speed format
Friday, March 31, 7 p.m. – Round 2—the grand prix format
Saturday, April 1, 7 p.m. – International Omaha Grand Prix (not part of the World Cup Final)
Sunday, April 2, 2 p.m. – Round 3—two-round format
How To Follow Along: The Chronicle will have live blogs of competition sessions, Twitter updates, photo galleries, stories about each day’s competition, and so much more on www.coth.com. Don’t miss a thing—we’ll have everything you need to know. Also make sure to follow along on the Chronicle’s social media outlets: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
How To Watch: The Longines FEI World Cup Final will be live-streaming on FEI TV. FEI TV is subscription only—$79.99 for the year or $14.99 for a month.
Who’s Hot To Win?: The U.S. contingent for the Final is headlined by McLain Ward and his new superstar HH Azur. Ward is gunning for this win; it’s a line he’s anxious to add to his resume. And in her predictions for the Chronicle’s World Cup Preview issue, Lauren Hough named Ward as a definite contender. (Don’t have a copy? Subscribe now, or go to The Chronicle of the Horse mobile app to purchase a single copy of the World Cup Preview issue)
McLain Ward and HH Azur. Photo by Lindsay Berreth
The top U.S. qualifier, Kent Farrington, declined to travel to Omaha for the Final, but Olympic team gold medalist Laura Kraut is on the starting order with the green jumping machine Zeremonie. Todd Minikus is another U.S. veteran on the list, with a roster of riders with somewhat less international experience filling out the U.S. squad. You can find the complete U.S. entry list here.
A veritable who’s who of European riders—both veterans and up-and-comers—have flown to the Midwest to duke it out with U.S. riders and others for this year’s World Cup Final. Hough’s other picks for the top three were young Italian star Lorenzo de Luca, who is jumping in his first World Cup Final but finished second in the very competitive Western European League, and Kevin Staut of France.
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Steve Guerdat of Switzerland won the World Cup Final in 2015 and 2016, and he’ll be in Omaha looking for a third title. He’s bringing a younger horse in Bianca, but Hough said, “I think she’s getting ready to peak now.”
The Germans have the legendary Ludger Beerbaum and three-time World Cup winner Marcus Ehning along with younger talents Guido Klatte Jr. and Markus Brinkmann. U.S. fans will recognize German rider Christian Heineking, who lives in Texas and shows in the States.
In total, there are 44 riders from 18 different countries. Find a complete list of the entries here.
Where?
In Omaha, Neb.! More specifically, at the Century Link Arena in downtown Omaha.
World Cup horses grazing outside the CenturyLink arena.
How Does The World Cup Scoring Work?
The riders compete in the first leg on March 29, a speed class run over a 1.50-meter course. The World Cup Final rules read: “It is not intended that this course should have the character of a Table C “Speed and Handiness,” but rather a type Table A course with bigger fences. The sole purpose for using Table C scoring is to give a skillful athlete with an unlucky knockdown an opportunity to obtain a reasonable placing.”
Many riders have won the Final without winning the speed leg, but if they’re well down the rankings after this round, it’s hard to battle back up to the top. Riders aim for a top-five placing in the first leg if they’re eager to win.
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The second leg, which will be on March 30, is a Table A jump-off class set at 1.50 to 1.60 meters. It’s run like a typical grand prix class, with all the riders jumping clear over the first round returning for the jump-off.
After the first two legs of competition, the scoring gets interesting. The riders are assigned points depending on their placings in each class. For each leg, the winner gets 1 more point than the number of starters in that leg. Second place gets 2 points less than that, and each placing down the line gets 1 less.
The scoring system then gets creative, with the points being converted to faults. The scoring adds up the points for each rider from Rounds 1 and 2, and the rider with the highest points is assigned 0 faults. For all other riders the number of penalties will be assigned by giving them half the difference of their World Cup points and that of the leading rider. So, if the leading rider had 64 points and Beezie Madden has 42, the leading rider will have 0 faults going into the final day, while Madden would have 11 faults.
After a rest day on April 1, the riders and horses return for the final day on April 2, in which they jump two rounds. These rounds are over 1.50- to 1.60-meter courses, and “approximately equal in the number of obstacles and length of the course, with the second round having an increased level of difficulty,” according to the FEI rules.
Any faults in these two rounds are added to the rider’s total, and the rider with the least amount of faults at the end of the day wins! In rare instances, there have been ties for first place, which are broken with a jump-off. Rich Fellers’ historic 2012 Rolex FEI World Cup Final win with Flexible ended in a jump-off against Steve Guerdat and Nino des Buissonnets. Beezie Madden repeated this accomplishment the following year aboard Simon, once again speeding ahead of Guerdat and “Nino.” Ties further down the placing remain as ties.
