For the first time in 26 years, the Grand Slam of Eventing will not take place. The decision was announced Monday by the U.S. Equestrian Federation, which administers the series. The series is currently without a sponsor, after longtime sponsor Rolex elected not to renew its contract last September.

“I think the organizers and myself are just talking about what the Grand Slam looks like going forward,” said Jim Wolf, who came up with the concept of the Grand Slam when he was the USEF chief of sport. “The sport has evolved a lot since we first developed the Grand Slam in 1999 [when] it was still the long format. And so the sport’s changed quite a bit, and we feel like that the series should evolve with it.”

The Grand Slam was awarded when a rider won the Kentucky, Badminton (England) and Burghley (England) five-stars consecutively, though not necessarily in the same calendar year. The most recent cash prize for winning the Grand Slam was $350,000. Though many riders have won two of the three legs consecutively, only two have successfully completed the Grand Slam.

Great Britain’s Pippa Funnell was the first to do so in 2003 with Primmore’s Pride and Supreme Rock, and Germany’s Michael Jung completed his Grand Slam with La Biosthetique-Sam FBW and fischerRocana FST by winning Badminton in 2016. Great Britain’s Oliver Townend was the most recent rider to win two in a row, topping Burghley in 2023 with Ballaghmor Class and Kentucky in 2024 with Cooley Rosalent, but he then withdrew before the start of Badminton due to a concern with Ballaghmor Class’ fitness.

Rolex was also a longtime title sponsor of the Kentucky Three-Day Event, beginning in 1981 and was synonymous with the event prior to the end of its sponsorship following the 2017 event, at which point Land Rover, and now Defender, took over the title sponsorship. Rolex began sponsoring the Grand Slam in 2001 and did so for 23 years.

“We’re grateful for Rolex for sponsoring it for so long, and it was an important series,” said Wolf. “I think it’s important to tie those three majors together. Now there are other five-stars, but those three are kind of the three majors—I think that’s how the sport looks at that—so I think it’s still important. We want to make sure that it’s still relevant.”

Initially organizers of the Grand Slam had hoped to secure a new sponsor prior to Kentucky this April but were unsuccessful. Wolf said several people contacted him expressing interest on Monday, but he noted that it is important the organizers find the right sponsor and right structure—which might look different depending on the sponsor.

Wolf is looking at this as an opportunity to evaluate the series and make sure it enhances the competitions that are part of it, and he said that may mean expanding it to include other events.

“I think everything’s on the table, but we’re just reevaluating the whole series,” he said, noting there’s no specific timeline for re-starting it. “It’s kind of a good opportunity to hit a reset button on it and just see what makes sense for the sport, [and] I think this important thing to understand is where we can create the value for a sponsor. And depending on the sponsor, there may be different approaches to it, but all of that has to be part of the conversation.”