Shanghai jumping into top global equestrian event

Shanghai for the first time will stage a five-star equestrian show-jumping event — the Global Champions Tour — from today to Sunday in the Chinese Year of the Horse.

The three-day event, to be held in front of the China Art Museum in the Pudong New Area, is the fourth stop of the 14-leg tour. It will also mark the first time a Chinese mainland city hosts a premier international equestrian competition.

The Global Champions Tour has grown from six events in 2006 to 14 events this year, and Shanghai is one of the three cities joining for the first time, along with Antwerp and Paris.

"The event held in Shanghai is of a completely different level compared to other equestrian competitions held on the mainland," said Marco Danese, sport director of GCT. "It's a new sport, maybe not very popular in China. However, fans can expect the best horses in the world."

Eighty world-class horses and more than 50 top riders will gather in Shanghai for the competition, all determined to get their hands on the Grand Prix winner's 40 Championship points and the major share of the record US$1.1 million in prize money. The horses will go over barriers set as high as 1.6 meters, organizers said. Only about 100 horses around the world can scale barriers of such height.

The competitors confirmed for the Shanghai leg include Olympic, world, regional and national champions from all over the globe.

Heading up the star-studded list is four-time Olympic gold medalist and world No. 3 Ludger Beerbaum of Germany. Beerbaum will be the likely favorite heading into the Shanghai event, though he might face a challenge from his compatriot Christian Ahlmann, last year's GCT runner-up, Olympic bronze medalist and five-time European medalist.

British show-jumping powerhouse Michael Whitaker, winner of 11 major championship medals and an Olympic silver medal, will be joined in Shanghai by his fellow countryman Sam Hutton.

Lying No. 9 in the GCT rankings after three stops, Italian rider Emanuele Gaudiano has been the rising star of the 2014 season. Meanwhile, female rider Edwina Tops-Alexander of Australia, now No. 1 in the GCT ranking, will take the overall lead if she continues her strong form through Shanghai.

French icon Kevin Staut, world and European silver medalist and former European champion, has been frequently knocking on the door of another big Tour win, as has Maikel van der Vleuten, 2014 Dutch champion, Olympic silver medalist and 2014 GCT Madrid winner.

Other big names competing include Luciana Diniz (Portugal), Harrie Smolders (Netherlands), Marco Kutscher (Germany), Marc Houtzager (Netherlands), Billy Twomey (Ireland), Luca Maria Moneta (Italy), Pius Schwizer (Switzerland), Abdullah Al Sharbatly (Saudi Arabia) and Constant van Paesschen (Belgium).

"The travel and safety of the horses is the biggest challenge we've been facing," Danese said. "The organization has been well under pace."

The arena, located at Xueye Road and Hongshan Road, can hold about 4,000 spectators. Ticket prices range from 590 yuan (US$95) to 2,880 yuan.

Equestrian is the only Olympic sport that has animals involved, and where men and women compete directly against each other.