All eyes move to the prestigious CHIO Aachen in Germany this week where New Zealand’s eventers are looking to notch back-to-back wins in the Nations’ Cup.

The official equestrian show of Germany is recognised as one of the world’s best, and fittingly attracts the super stars of the sport. New Zealand’s victory in the Nations’ Cup last year was one for the history books and just the second time Germany has been beaten in the competition.

This year the hosts will again face formidable challenges from the likes of the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Australian, Japan and Ireland as well as the Kiwis.

Riding in the team for New Zealand will be Jesse Campbell aboard Cleveland, Dan Jocelyn on Blackthorn Cruise, Jonelle Price with Faerie Dianimo, and world no.1 Tim Price aboard Wesko. James Avery will compete as an individual on Mr Sneezy.

The Australians will be chasing a second win at Aachen with their smart looking team, as the only other country other than the Germans and Kiwis to have triumphed in the Nations Cup at the event.

Lining up for Australia are Chris Burton, Isabel English, Andrew Hoy and Kevin McNab. The Brits also look formidable with Laura Collett, Piggy French, Imogen Murray and Gemma Tattersall. The French have Jean Lou Bigot, Alexis Goury, Christopher Six and Nicolas Touzaint on the card; the Irish have Sarah Ennis, Susannah Berry, Cathal Daniels and Joseph Murphy; while the Americans have just three in Philip Dutton, Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp and Caroline Martin. The hosts look as strong as ever with Andreas Dibowski, Michael Jung, Ingrid Klimke and Julia Krajewski.

The World Equestrian Festival runs over 10 days with the eventing running July 18-20. The world no. 1 ranked competitors across showjumping, dressage, eventing, driving and vaulting will all compete at the event. In all, there will be 958 horses competing over 98 hours of sport – 30 of which will be broadcast – in 42 competitions, vying for 2.8 million Euros before 350,000 spectators.

The first horse inspection for the eventing is on Thursday afternoon followed by the dressage on Friday, the Frank Rothenberger-designed showjumping Friday evening and the Rüdiger Schwarz-designed cross country on Saturday.

Up for grabs is 50,000 Euros for the team competition and 125,000 Euros in the individual. All of the team riders are also contesting individual honours.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE AACHEN NATIONS CUP ENTRIES

WHAT: World Equestrian Festival CHIO Aachen – CCIO4*-S
WHEN: July 12-21 – eventing July 18-20, 2019
WHERE: Aachen, Germany
MORE INFO: www.chioaachen.de

The horse details:
Mr Sneezy – owned by Tiny Clapham, and Ian and Heidi Woodhead
Cleveland – owned by Kent Gardner and Jesse Campbell
Blackthorn Cruise – owned by Panda Christie and Dan Jocelyn
Faerie Dianimo – owned by Trisha Rickards, Jacky Green and Jonelle Price
Wesko – owned by the Windrush Equestrian Foundation

By Diana Dobson
Photos by Libby Law/ESNZ