The Longines League of Nations Cup 2024 started today with the first race in Abu Dhabi, and this year, as many as 4 Estonian sports horses, in teams from different countries, took part in this 5-star competition series!
The new two-round format of the series, with four riders in the first round and three riders in the second round, makes the show even more exciting as the final results are difficult to predict. This format already proved itself in the first round, where among the 10 participating countries, the leading equestrian countries – Belgium, the Netherlands and the French team – were eliminated before the second round. In addition to those mentioned, Germany, who became the leader, Ireland, who took 2nd place, Sweden, who took 3rd place, and the teams of the USA, Switzerland, England and Brazil also competed.
Estonian sport horses did not let their teams down – in the first round, three out of four jumped clear. It could be said that in the Belgian team, where there are 2 of our horses – ESH Bonne Amie and ESH Ace of Hearts, it was rather their own production that let them down – in the first round, Lector vd Bisschop, who entered the track first and belongs to the BWP pedigree, failed, which put more pressure on the rest of the team. The first obstacle, which was a stumbling block for many, was fatal for ESH Bonne Amie, unfortunately there was also a second mistake and then the Belgians were no longer helped by the fantastic work and clean round of Gregory Wathelet and Ace Of Hearts. The Belgians did not make it to the second round.
ESH Alfons Ra also made fantastic jumps in the first round, there were a few mistakes in the second round, but all in all, Brazil was the best of the teams with ESH horses, taking 4th place. The English team, where ESH horses were represented by ESH Q Paravatti N, took VII place. It can be said that Jack Whitaker and ESH Q Paravatti N, who made a clear round in the first round, were hit by a momentary communication break in the second round when after the water barrier the horse took flight dangerously early, luckily they were able to collect themselves and ride to the end of the track with a total of 8 penalties.
For the sake of honor and fame, the United Arab Emirates (organizer) team was also allowed to participate in the competition (they do not take part in the entire series), so a total of 44 horses jumped in this race and they were divided between the studbooks as follows (for comparison, the number of foals registered in the respective studbook in 2022 behind the slash):
KWPN – 9 / 11,500
BWP- 6 / 3630
SF – 6 / 8200
ZANG – 5 / 8645
ESH – 4 / 238 ESH
HOLST- 4 / 2899
ISH – 3 / 5480
OS-2 / 3162
WESTF – 3 / 4097
CDE – 1/692
SBS – 1 / 1030
Even after such a superficial comparison of statistics, it must be recognized that in any case it is necessary to further investigate what the ESH phenomenon consists of! But until then, good luck to the breeders!