It is with extremely heavy hearts we let you know that both the Taupo Christmas Classic Pony Extravaganza and the Taupo Christmas Classic World Cup Show won’t be going ahead this year.

As we are sure you appreciate, uncertainty around alert levels and the requirements to run events in the current climate, make it very difficult to plan any shows right now. We know you will be hugely disappointed by this and, for many of you, it will be hard to understand. Please know, it was an incredibly hard decision to make and all avenues were considered in our efforts to make it work.

If the alert levels change and Waikato drops to Level Two, we will run a pop up show the same weekend as the show was scheduled. We are all ready to forge ahead with this at the last minute if we can.

Some of you will say: “There’s still over six weeks to go! Why can’t you wait until nearer the time before making the decision?” But waiting would make the decision even harder, cost money and we want to offer as much certainty as we can in these uncertain times.

To help you understand, and in anticipation of your questions, here are some of the issues we had to consider:

Over 50% of the riders last year came from Auckland or Waikato and it is looking unlikely that riders from either of those places will be able to attend.

We need to ensure that the show can follow all Covid guidelines and with no firm border around Waikato this would be difficult to manage particularly when Taupo is so close.

The show is a major fundraiser for the NEC and we need to ensure that it is financially viable both now and in the future.

 We looked at the impact this decision would have on all riders this season but particularly the World Cup riders.  Unfortunately we were unable to make this show work in the current environment to support them.

 

There is some good news though! We will be running A Mid-Winter Christmas Classic at the NEC on the 24th-26th June 2022.

 

So lovely people, we apologise and ask for your understanding and kindness at this time. Please know we are as gutted as you!

Taupo NEC Jumping Group

October 29th 2021