Posted: 8th July 2014 | Back to news feed
Excitement is reaching fever pitch ahead of Hartpury’s Festival of Dressage with the world’s best dressage riders gearing up for five days of outstanding equestrian sport.
Great Britain’s London 2012 Olympic gold medal winners, Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin, are among the competitors entered, along with Michael Eilberg on Woodlander Farouche, as riders from 19 nations compete in more than 40 classes from July 9th to 13th.
Dujardin, who won the CDI3* Grand Prix freestyle last year, will be riding up and coming Barolo in this year’s Festival and Hartpury Elite Dressage Coach, Carl Hester, will be competing on Nip Tuck in the Big Tour with times for that class yet to be announced.
Michael Eilberg will ride Woodlander Farouche in the Premier League Prix St Georges (Intermediate II) on July 9th, while a highlight on July 10th will be graded Para-dressage rider, Sophie Wells, competing in an international able-bodied class in the Premier League.
On Saturday, July 12th, Sadie Smith will be looking to repeat last year’s success on Birdsong in the Shearwater Young Dressage Championships, having moved up from the four-year-old to the five-year-old category.
The pinnacle of the Festival will be the Gala Performance on Saturday evening, where spectators will be treated to a showcase of the best talent in national and international dressage riding.
The top class programme includes Superflex FEI CDI3* Grand Prix Freestyle, Baileys Horse Feeds Premier League Grand Prix Freestyle, the Shearwater Young Dressage Horse Championship and the BYRDS A squad Championship Final.
The Ermin Plant Hire and Services CPEDI3* competition, which runs from the 9th to the 11th, provides a unique opportunity to see some of the top Para-Dressage riders from around the world.
In this section, all riders are graded according to their physical impairment to provide meaningful competition, with the complexity of the tests varying accordingly. There are five grades in total, with Grade Ia being for the more severely impaired riders and Grade IV being for the least impaired.
The riders in Grades I and II are usually wheelchair users with Grade III and IV riders having a visual impairment or impairment of one or two limbs. Last year’s CPEDI3* was won by the Great Britain Para-Dressage team, featuring a number of Paralympic Games gold medallists.
There is no cost to see the top class competition at Hartpury arena from Wednesday, July 9th to Friday, July 11th and tickets for the Saturday daytime competition and the Sunday are priced at only £5 per person per day. Entry for Under-16s is free and there is no charge for parking.
Tickets for the gala evening cost £16.50 and must be bought in advance. For more information and for tickets, call 01452 702126 or visit www.hartpury.ac.uk/dressage where all entries are now up online.
You can keep up to date with the latest news, information on competition entries and results as the competition gets underway on this website and on the Hartpury Festival of Dressage Facebook and twitter pages.
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