World-Class Equestrian Line Up Converge on Sydney for the Equestrian Grand Final

Olympic Gold Medallist, Stuart Tinney and Vettori – © Main Event Photography

Olympian Rachel Sanna and Jaybee Alabaster © Franz Venhaus

International Jumping star Chris Chugg and Vigo © Julie Wilson

Australia’s top equestrian athletes are gearing up for the ultimate show-down at the inaugural Equestrian Grand Final at Sydney Showgrounds from 11-13 November 2011.

This is the only event in Australia will bring together the elite athletes from all the Olympic disciplines of dressage, jumping and eventing as they battle it out for an attractive prize pool. There will be an undoubted Olympic flavour to the Equestrian Grand Final, with former Olympic representatives and many of the 2012 Olympic hopefuls set to take centre stage.

One of the major attractions of the Equestrian Grand Final will be ‘Exhibition Eventing’ which is the fast, fun and testing modification to traditional eventing whereby it will be held on one day, in an arena format and will test the skills of our riders like never before.

This popular event is created specifically for spectator viewing and has attracted the best Aussie names in the sport including UK-based riders Clayton Fredericks (Olympic silver medallist, two time World Cup Champion and World Championships silver medallist), Paul Tapner (Badminton CCI4* winner and World Games representative) and Sam Griffiths (World Games representative and placegetter at Badminton and Burghley CCI4*s). This line up will provide a rare opportunity to see these overseas stars compete in Australia.

Couple this with Australian based stars Stuart Tinney (Olympic gold medallist); Shane Rose (Olympic silver medallist) and Megan Jones (Olympic silver medallist) and what you have is the biggest show down in eventing you’ll see ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games.

Both the dressage and jumping line ups are equally impressive, with dressage queen Rachel Sanna, Sydney 2000 Olympian representative and London 2012 hopeful,coming off the back of a successful National Championships where she made a clean sweep and took the trifecta of the grand Prix classes.  Australian Jumping Champion Paul Athanasoff and his magnificent stallion Wirragulla Nicklaus will be challenged by jumping legends Chris Chugg and Vicki Roycroft as well as many upcoming stars.

Held as part of EQUITANA Sydney, the largest equine tradeshow in the southern hemisphere, the Equestrian Grand Final is set to attract thousands of spectators across the three days of competition.

Equestrian Grand Final

Jumping                               Friday 11 November, 7.00pm

Dressage                             Saturday 12 November, 7.30pm 

Exhibition Eventing              Sunday 13 November, 4.30pm

Equestrian Australia would particularly like to thank the official partners of the Grand Final including:  Horsezone, Gow Gates, Equiline, IRT and host, EQUITANA Australia and the supporting partner of the Dressage Grand Final – The Australian Sports Commission.

For further media enquiries on the Equestrian Grand Final please contact Equestrian Australia’s Commercial Manager Lauren Ryan on lauren.ryan@equestrian.org.au or 0402 162 807.