Global Champions Tour: On September 29th, GCT sent out a promotional video of Scott Brash and Ludger Beerbaum effusing about a new GCT teams concept set to “revolutionize” their sport. I have to say I felt they were busking it a bit, the absence of detail leaving the rumour-mill to hypothesize that riders can be “owned, bought or sold” by commercial sponsors or private patrons for their four-man teams, similar to soccer or polo. €2m is the speculated entry point. There was to be a special class during each GCT show on top of the existing jumping programme, with GCT prize-money escalating to €20 million next year.
We’ve heard zero since, even though the new GCT season is only four months away. Now I learn from the FEI that a decision on the concept has been postponed, due a lot more work being needed on the rules. I suspect its proving difficult to get it rubber-stamped, bearing in mind the extent to which the GCT has already impacted on the FEI Nations Cup series.
I do not disagree with everything the FEI decides just for the sake it. I am sure careful thought is rightly being given to the further demands GCT teams could make on horsepower, and the extent to which the inflated prize-money in these pay-card and invitation-type events ought to count towards official rider rankings.
If it goes ahead, we can guess that more than one team will be backed by Qatar, for whom the GCT seems increasingly self-serving. Jan Tops is GCT promoter, plus coach and long-time horse-broker for the official Qatar championship team (of the type still made up by Qatari nationals). Even the Saudis now seem outbid by Qatar when buying up “made” Grand Prix jumpers. Indeed, the Saudi effort seems to have wilted since their London 2012 bronze. Apart from Abdullah Al Sharbatly, their riders mostly seem to be jobbing around the 2* and 3* circuit, on privately-owned horses no longer provided by the Saudi Equestrian Team that invested so heavily in their Olympic bid. They weren’t at WEG or even the Furusiyya final at Barcelona, despite being the sponsor. Has Saudi Arabia lost interest? With only a couple of years left until the FEI needs to look at renegotiating the Furusiyya Nations Cup contract, you can see where all of this could be heading…
Fewer foals: I was surprised more people haven’t picked up the line in Ulf Helgstrand’s FEI presidential campaign missive: “90% of the horses in the Olympic disciplines are bred in Europe. The number of foals born in Europe has over the last five years decreased 40-50% compared to the numbers born 2008. As we know, it will take 8-10 years from foal to get an educated horse. You do not have to be a professor of mathematics to realize that the lack of horses will soon be a reality if we just sit back and wait for better times to come.”
Read that in tandem with the above item, consider the number of one-way trips of so many jumping horses to the East – by which I mean countries of the former soviet bloc, not just those in the gulf of Arabia. Then imagine what will happen if China and other developing countries in the far East acquire an even larger appetite for show jumping and there really is a mega supply-and-demand problem on the horizon.
Olympic future: Equestrianism is not, as an entity, at direct threat of ejection from the Olympic Games, but tough decisions need to be made to simplify formats and make them more appealing, now that the future Olympic program is likely to be “events” based. This was a priority shared by all the FEI presidential candidates. I can see an end, in due course, to conventional team competitions, especially as they are not a co-operative effort in the same way as basketball, hockey etc. Neither does each competitive effort necessarily end with a medal presentation (though that can hardly be claimed by the likes of decathlon, either!) If Olympic equestrian events were entirely for individual riders, substantially more nationalities could be represented, too.
Eventing has already reinvented itself for Olympic purposes and could well take a big hit again. At the FEI General Assembly in Baku, an external audit of eventing was announced. Could some fresh pairs of eyes conclude it is time for just the one format – CIC or CCI, but not both? Such a recommendation could well coincide with what the IOC wants to hear.
The pride of Britain: Some general sports media have opined that Olympic dressage could be for the chop, because it is a “skill,” not an athletic effort. Those are clearly the words of people who have never attempted to work a horse for five minutes, never mind complete a Grand Prix test! Luckily, some are starting to realize that is a load of drivel.
Yesterday at Olympia I was thrilled to meet Jonathan “Aggers” Agnew, an icon in our national sport of cricket. He has just taken up riding as he’s been told he is covering some of the equestrianism at Rio 2016 for the BBC. He has landed on his butt twice already and expresses deep respect for those who ride.
It’s also ironic this misplaced notion has been floated at the very moment Charlotte Dujardin has become the pride of Britain, winning two general sports awards in the past three weeks as well as finishing fourth in the most prestigious of all, the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year (affectionately known as SPOTY). Princess Anne and Zara Phillips have won it before, as has our legendary show jumper David Broome, but this is the first time a dressage rider has been shortlisted. An inspired film during SPOTY’s live broadcast last Sunday night juxtaposed moving imagery of Valegro’s feet with those of prima ballerina Darcey Bussell. There is nothing non-athletic about any of that!
Selective memories: I was surprised Ingmar De Vos told his first press conference as FEI president that his election bid was not conditional on being remunerated. He seemed to think the media has confused the issue. On October 31st, he sent an email to national federations explaining he no longer aimed to be secretary general and president concurrently. Instead, if elected he would resign as secretary general, and call an EGA during the FEI forum in April 2015 to ask for a change of statute allowing the president to be paid. After hearing about this, I contacted him direct to ask what would happen if the EGA said no to remuneration. Ingmar said he would be disappointed, because “is part of my candidacy.” Nothing confusing about that. The post-election downplaying of the salary proposal could suggest something else has come along to ensure he will have no personal financial worries for the next few months, till the EGA agrees. I don’t disagree that the principle of a salaried president is probably the right way to go in the modern era. But that was not the question I had asked.
Meanwhile, the excellent Neil Clarkson got a long interview in Baku with outgoing president, Princess Haya. Again, very surprised to read Haya saying that she had decided to re-stand for a third term immediately after the April EGA in 2014 (the one where the statutes were changed to undo something she had enacted in the first place). This means she was already thinking about her new campaign as she strolled over to meet the media, to whom she repeatedly denied intending to run again. Two reminders, as if they were needed, that when politicians move their lips, what comes out is not what is going on in their heads.
Seasons greetings and see you next year!
