Swiss Star Guerdat Chasing Third Title at 2017 Longines FEI World Cup Final

34-year-old Guerdat — one of the best Show Jumpers on the planet — is in the Midwest American state to defend his two previous World Cup titles, from 2015 in Las Vegas with Albführen’s Paille de la Roque and 2016 in Gothenburg, Sweden riding Corbinian. This year, the native of Bassecourt, Switzerland will be competing in Omaha with his 11-year-old bay mare, Bianca, including in Sunday’s decisive 1.60m Two Round Jumping Final.

Bianca was among the group of 37 elite European horses who arrived in Nebraska Saturday on a Boeing 777 flight from Amsterdam. The early arrival gave the mounts — reportedly the first group of international horses to ever fly into Omaha — time to go through the U.S. quarantine system. Another group arriving from Florida was greeted Monday upon touchdown by Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts.

But while Guerdat is feeling confident of scoring a hockey-like hat-trick (three goals in a game) — indeed on Monday he tweeted a shot of Bianca on the grass beside the CenturyLink Center venue with the caption, “Bianca is ready for the #WorldCupFinal” — such an achievement will be anything but easy.

A large group of world-class riders, many of whom were at last summer’s Rio Olympics, will be aiming to capture the 2017 title and block Guerdat’s hoped-for triple. Among the contenders present in Nebraska is Ireland’s Denis Lynch with All Star 5, who finished near the top of the elite Longines Western European Qualifying League. Others coming from that league include Kevin Staut with Reveur de Hurtebise, part of an always-strong French contingent. Neighbour Germany also has an imposing group of top-ranked riders such as World Cup veteran Ludger Beerbaum on Chiara 222. The European list goes on, with Show Jumping stars such as Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca with Ensor de Litrange and Limestone Grey, Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet with Forlap, and Spain’s Sergio Alvarez Moya with Arrayan.

Not surprisingly, the United States will also be strongly represented on American soil in Omaha — albeit without World No. 2 Kent Farrington — by pairs like McLain Ward and HH Azur and Laura Kraut with Zeremonie, all hoping to give the home crowd at the CenturyLink Center a chance to hear the Star Spangled Banner instead of the Schweizerpsalm (Swiss Psalm) or other anthems over the next few days.