This week, organizers of the Longines Masters series – which now takes place in Paris, Hong Kong, and New York City – announced the formation of a new team competition: The Riders Masters Cup. The event will pit two extraordinary teams of readers against one another, with one team being composed of any combination of European riders, and the other team entirely American riders.
The Paris Leg of the Masters, which takes place November 30 – December 3 has already named two shortlists for the two teams:
European Shortlist:
Kevin Staut (France)
Gregory Wathelet (Belgium)
Lorenzo de Luca (Italy)
Maikel van der Vleuten (Netherlands)
Steve Guerdat (Switzerland)
Scott Brash (Great Britain)
Niels Bruynseels (Belgium)
Sergio Alvarez Moya (Spain)
Jos Verlooy (Belgium)
Edward Levy (France)
Laura Klaphake (France)
American Shortlist:
Kent Farrington
Lauren Hough
Reed Kessler
Laura Kraut
Andy Kocher
Chloe Reid
Devin Ryan
Spencer Smith
Ansgar Holtgers, Jr.
Robert Ridland and Philippe Guerdat are serving as American and European Chefs d’Equipe, respectively. According to the Riders Masters Cup website, the format of competition is as follows:
“The Riders Masters Cup will pit five American riders against five European riders in ten duels of a two-round class.
The first round is played as table table A of a Grand Prix course. The starting order and the composition of the duels are drawn at random. Each duel won in this round brings one point to the winning team.
The second round is against the clock where the strategy and choices of team leaders are paramount. During this round, riders are allowed to switch from a Grand Prix horse to a horse that may be more prepared for speed. The coach of the losing team in the first round designates his first rider to go and the winning team has the advantage of choosing his first direct opponent. It then switches for the next round. Each duel that is won accumulates two points for the winning team.”
We’ll keep you posted on final team compositions as the event gets closer, and we also anticipate that a livestream will be available for us stateside kids. We’ll get you all those details as the event gets closer.
In the meantime, enjoy what has to be the most bizarre equestrian event promo of all time:
Go Jumping.