Equestrian Sport Productions (ESP) has announced that the Trump Invitational, due to be held on January 3, 2016, at The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, has been cancelled.
Due to a series of recent heavy, unprecedented rain events occurring over the past few weeks during which cars were parked on the lawn, the grass turf footing for the jumping arena on the back lawn of The Mar-a-Lago Club was deemed unfit for competition. With the event weeks away, there was not enough time to repair the turf to a level necessary for a world-class event.
ESP CEO Mark Bellissimo stated, “We are extremely disappointed to announce this cancellation. We discussed the situation with the Trump Organization, and we agreed that we have to put the safety and welfare of the horses and riders first and foremost. The footing is not up to the excellent standards of the past two years of the event, and we would not want to risk anyone having any issues. It is our desire to maintain a high standard for quality.”
Mr. Donald Trump added, “Last year we had perfect weather and footing for the Trump Invitational, and it was a great success. It has been one of the great events on the U.S. equestrian schedule. With the amount of rainfall that we have had recently, the turf is just not fit to the high standards we set for all of our events. Our team will get the turf back into world-class shape so that we can host another fantastic event in 2017.”
South Florida has seen a number of cancellations of other sporting events due to the recent weather.
“We look forward to the Central Park Horse Show in late September of 2016 and planning the 2017 Trump Invitational at The Mar-a-Lago Club. I know that it will be back better than ever next year,” Bellissimo said.
The Trump Invitational is a unique event that features the $130,000 Trump Invitational Grand Prix CSI 2* and a $10,000 Junior/Amateur Jumper class, which will be back on the schedule for 2017.
Revised ESP New Year’s Horse Show Schedule
ESP further announced that the schedule for the ESP New Year’s Horse Show has been revised. The show, which is held at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center and will run on December 30, 2015, through January 3, 2016, features a full schedule of hunter, jumper, and equitation competition.
The biggest move will be the $30,000 Nutrena Grand Prix. Originally scheduled on the evening of Saturday, January 2, it has been moved to the afternoon of Sunday, January 3.
In addition, some of the jumper classics originally scheduled for Saturday have been moved to Sunday morning. These include:
$2,500 Equiline High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classics
$2,500 NAL Low Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classics
$1,500 Tackeria NAL Children’s/Adult Jumper Classic
The new schedule for the ESP New Year’s show will follow the same basic schedule as the ESP Holiday Finale show. The prize list that includes this schedule can be found HERE.
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