CRUNCH TIME APPROACHES IN HSBC FEI WORLD CUP EVENTING™

Tension is mounting in the HSBC FEI World Cup™ Eventing with the eighth and ninth competitions, Kalispell (USA) and Minsk (BEL), in the 12-event series taking place this weekend.

Germany’s Michael Jung has set a tough target in this year’s HSBC FEI World Cup™. With riders’ best two placings counting, he heads the rankings following two wins – at Marbach (GER) and last month at Strzegom (POL) – from Megan Jones (AUS) who scored a first and second at the two Antipodean events.
 

However, one rider could equal Jung’s achievement: Mara Dean (USA), already a winner at the season’s opener, Tallahassee (USA), is one of the 28 entries at Rebecca Farm, Kalispell, Montana (21-25 July), with the same horse, the veteran High Patriot.
 

She is lying equal ninth in the rankings, and has most to gain from a good placing, but if double Olympic gold medallist Phillip Dutton (USA), equal 13th in the ranking with 67 points, manages to win on one of his three horses, he will shoot into equal second place with Jones.
 

Eastern European riders contesting the Belarusian event at Minsk (22-25July) have their first chance to get on the HSBC FEI World Cup™ rankings. And the highest placed riders among the 21 entries there may well carry on to Malmö in Sweden or Schenefeld in Germany to increase their points tally in this valuable series, in which the top 15 riders will share a US$180,000 prize pot.
 

Notes to editors
HSBC, the world's local bank, is a platinum partner of FEI and global sponsor of the eventing discipline.
 
As part of this partnership, HSBC is title sponsor of the HSBC FEI Classics and HSBC FEI World Cup™ Eventing.
 
At the centre of all HSBC’s sponsorships is a commitment to youth, education and community. The Pony Club and HSBC have teamed up to create the HSBC Pony Club Eventing Training Programme.