Western European riders in Mechelen for year-end World Cup qualifying

With the list of European riders for that Final becoming clearer, this weekend is an important opportunity to close in on a coveted invitation. And one rider hoping to ride a wave of momentum to Paris is France’s Julien Epaillard, who won the preceding World Cup qualifier at London’s Olympia Show before Christmas, outracing runner-up and home crowd favourite Scott Brash in a jump-off with four horse-and-rider pairs.

“I really want to qualify for Paris, so I will go to the next qualifier in Mechelen and then Bordeaux (February 4th),” Epaillard said after his victory in London with the 10-year-old chestnut mare Toupie de la Roque. “To ride at the Final in my own country would be fantastic!” And after this weekend’s competition, the make-up of the group eligible for that Final will be further clarified — in advance of the remaining Western European League competitions in Leipzig, Germany, Zurich, Switzerland, Bordeaux, France, and Göteborg, Sweden.

To nail down one the 18 places allocated to riders of Western European background — the most out of any of the FEI World Cup Show Jumping leagues across the planet — it has been estimated that 40 points should be sufficient. And after the Olympia Show, there were several riders who had passed that threshold or were within striking distance.

They include Australian (and European-based) Edwina Tops-Alexander with 50, tied for the lead in the standings with France’s Kevin Staut. Thanks to her stellar performances this season, Tops-Alexander is now all but guaranteed a spot, but as an ‘extra’ — not taking a place from other riders trying to qualify through the powerful league. For their part, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat (43 points) and Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann (40) are sitting comfortably as well, as are Ireland’s Denis Lynch and Mark McAuley, on equal footing with Italy’s Alberto Zorzi at 37 points. Rounding out the current top ten in the league are Germany’s Daniel Deusser and France’s Simon Delestre (both with 35), following by the Netherlands’ Maikel van der Vleuten, with 32.

In Belgium, 52 riders and 144 horses representing 16 nations are set to line up for the CSI5-W (the acronym stands for an elite level (5) World Cup (W) Show Jumping competition (CSI)). While Tops-Alexander is taking a break, her co-leader Staut is present with a strong French contingent that includes Delestre and Roger-Yves Bost. They will square off against some of the other top riders in the world, including Deusser and Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca. And not unexpectedly, the biggest group is from Belgium, with 19 riders taking part in the competition.

Four British riders are on the entry list, including Michael Whitaker, and for Ireland, Bertram Allen and McAuley will be among the four from that nation. The full list is here.