The Top Competitions of 2023 & Who Won Them
Strong competitors make for strong competitions. These are the competitions riders brought their best horses to.
Before the 2024 season is in full swing, we want to cast one last glance at the 2023 showjumping season. Which competitions were the toughest based on field strength of the competing horses and who managed to claim a win in the year’s toughest competitions?
Geneva 2023 | Rolex Top Ten Final
Venard de Cerisy & Steve Guerdat
The IJRC Rolex Top Ten Final unsurprisingly features at the top of the list, as the competition is only open to the Top 10 riders on the FEI ranking. As only the elite get a chance to compete in this class, the prestige paired with the prize money awarded for winning serves as motivation to ensure riders save their best horses to peak for this event. With four of the Top 10 highest-rated horses in the field at the time, this was bound to be one of the top competitions of 2023.
It wasn’t, however, the highest-rated horse that took the win. Venard de Cerisy entered the competition as one of the lower rated of the field, 8th in a field of 10, on an Elo of 748.
Geneva 2023 | Rolex Major Grand Prix
United Touch S & Richard Vogel
As highlighted in the aforementioned paragraph, the jumping world’s most elite horses and riders gathered in Geneva in December. This was once again proven by Sunday’s Rolex Grand Prix field.
With an average field strength of 747, the Rolex Grand Prix of Geneva had the highest field strength of all Grand Prix in 2023. Despite that, it was more of an underdog win. United Touch S entered the competition on an Elo of 737, the 16th highest rating of the field.
‘S Hertogenbosch 2023 | Rolex Major Grand Prix
HH Azur & McLain Ward
It was an exciting weekend for McLain Ward and HH Azur at the Dutch Masters, as the 17-year-old mare broke the record for oldest horse to win a Rolex Major Grand Prix. Not only that. As they had won the previous Major in Geneva, the pair was up for a bonus of €500,000 as per the Rolex Grand Slam of Showjumping.
Beating a strong field with a field strength of 739 proved no problem for HH Azur, who entered the competition as the third-highest rated horse in the field on an Elo of 776.
Aachen 2023 | Major Rolex Grand Prix
Stargold & Marcus Ehning
While McLain Ward & HH Azur entered the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen as favourites to win and with an eye on winning the Rolex Grand Slam of Showjumping and claiming a bonus of one million euros, the reality saw them retire their round early on. This left the field wide open for others to shoot their shot.
It was a marginally smaller field strength than in ‘s Hertogenbosch, as the average Elo of the Top 25 highest-rated combinations came in at 739. Stargold entered the competition on 765, in the same position as HH Azur entered the ‘s Hertogenbosch Grand Prix with the third-highest Elo in the field.