The field for the inaugural Longines League of Nations to be held in Ocala, Florida, includes eight of the top 10, and 15 of the top 20, riders in the latest world rankings.

With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games looming ever larger on the horizon, this leg looks set to be a serious test of horse-and-rider combinations vying for selection, with the top-10 ranked countries in the world providing a field filled with Olympic, world and regional champions, including World No. 1 Henrick von Eckermann (Sweden), World No. 2 Ben Maher (Great Britain) and World No. 3 Steve Guerdat (Switzerland). 

U.S. Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland is fielding a heavyweight crew for this leg on home soil. Laura Kraut, McLain Ward and Kent Farrington have collected numerous Olympic medals between them during their careers, and Aaron Vale, who has been enjoying a sensational run of form in Ocala over the last month and who was impressive in Abu Dhabi, where a younger U.S. squad finished sixth, rounds up the host-nation selection. 

Germany, which took the early lead in the series with their first-leg victory in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) last month, will see two riders return from that winning team in Ocala, Christian Kukuk and David Will. They will be joined by 2021 European individual gold and team silver medalist Andre Thieme along with the very much on-form Richard Vogel who, partnering with United Touch S, just won the Lugano Diamonds CSI5* Grand Prix at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida, 10 days ago. Team Germany will be hoping to make it two-in-a-row this time out and could prove difficult to beat.

Ireland, which was ranked first when the League of Nations series began based on points accumulated by their top six athletes prior to the start of the series, dropped to second in the final stages in Abu Dhabi when the League of Nations’ three-rider format for the second round came into play. 

Ready for a rematch in Ocala, Ireland is on form coming off a Nations Cup win in Wellington last Sunday, and Chef d’Equipe Michael Blake has selected two members of that winning side, Olympic bronze medalist Cian O’Connor and World No. 16, Darragh Kenny. Joining them will be Bertram Allen and World No. 14 Daniel Coyle, who has been blazing a trail in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup circuit. 

World No. 1 von Eckermann and his teammate Peder Fredricson, a four-time Olympian and former European champion, will make the trip to the U.S. to represent Sweden. Both were on the Swedish squad that finished third in Abu Dhabi. They will be joined by Amanda Landeblad, who with For Killy finished third in the King George V Gold Cup at Hickstead (Great Britain) last summer and most recently took fifth at the last qualifier of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Western European League on home ground in Gothenburg (Sweden), and young horse specialist Petronella Andersson.

For Brazil, Yuri Mansur and Marlon Zanotelli, who competed in Abu Dhabi, will be joined by 2004 Olympic champion and three-time FEI World Cup title-holder Rodrigo Pessoa and double-Olympian Cassio Rivetti. 

The Swiss are sending out their big guns. Reigning European champion Guerdat who has individual Olympic gold and three FEI World Cup victories under his belt, and world No. 6 and former European and World Cup title-holder Martin Fuchs will be supported by Janika Sprunger, who produced one of just four double-clear performances in the first leg in Abu Dhabi, and  double-Olympian Pius Schwizer.

The British too are stacking up their odds, with reigning Olympic champion Maher called into action along with World No. 13 and Tokyo Olympian Harry Charles. The team will also include Tim Gredley and Jessica Mendoza as they attempt to improve on a seventh-place finish in leg one.

Maher showed he’s on form during Week 8 of the Winter Equestrian Festival, winning the $200,000 JTWG, Inc. CSIO4* Grand Prix aboard Point Break, owned by Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright, on March 3. Watch their winning jump-off round, courtesy of ShowGroundsLive.com:

Jur Vrieling is the only remaining member of the Dutch side that lined out in the first leg. He will be joined by Harrie Smolders, Willem Greve and Maikel van der Vleuten in Ocala. The Netherlands didn’t make it into the top eight teams going through to the second round in Abu Dhabi. They will definitely want to rectify that situation this time around.

The French side also missed out but will send Olivier Perreau, Olivier Robert and Kevin Staut once again, while Simon Delestre is also called up for the American fixture. Four months ahead of the Olympic Games on their home turf, they will surely be hoping for a better result when they travel across the Atlantic.

Meanwhile the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games bronze medalists from Belgium will be determined do better than finishing in last place. Hampered by elimination for their team pathfinder, they finished with 16 first-round faults in Abu Dhabi as did the French who, however, had quicker combined times to nudge Belgium to the bottom of the scoreboard. Chef d’Equipe Peter Weinberg has called up Niels Bruynseels, Pieter Devos and Nicola Philippaerts to join Gregory Wathelet in Ocala as they attempt to challenge more successfully this time out.

What You Need To Know

Dates: The Longines League of Nations Ocala takes place March 19-23 at World Equestrian Center—Ocala in Florida

Schedule: The $330,000 Lugano Diamonds Grand Prix CSIO5* will start at 7 p.m. Eastern Time March 21, and the Longines League of Nations team competition is taking place March 23, with the first round starting at 4:30 p.m. and the second round at 7:30 p.m. Click here for a complete schedule of classes and events.

How to watch: The competition will be livestreamed on FEI.tv.