Cannes 2012: A Global Champions Tour’s Stage of Prestige

If there is one event one should not miss in the French showjumping season, it is without a doubt Jumping de Cannes.

Being one of the two French stages of the very prestigious “Global Champions Tour”, the show jumping in Cannes belongs to the very rare events that bring together the best thirty riders of the world with a tiny but important bonus: the charm of the Croisette.

Only about 200 meters away from the famous avenue, the Hespérides arena entices the spectators with a setting that has not yet found a counterpart anywhere else. The competition’s horses are housed on the port and it is quite a spectacle to see the four-legged beauties on their way to the competitions among the yachts. These horses are – like their riders – the best of the world: Olympic champions, winners of the World Cup, great winners in Grand Prix.

Last year, the audience in Cannes was perfectly happy with the great show offered by the four riders who made it into the jump-off of the Grand Prix Jaeger LeCoultre; they had given their eyeteeth to win this stage of the Global Champions Tour and in the end, the Australian Edwina Alexander with her Itôt du Château beat her adversaries by three seconds and took home the Cannes trophy for the second time in succession.

The Global Champions Tour presented by Jaeger-LeCoultre is a prestigious circuit that revolves around the world all the way to China (Shanghai), passing the Emirates (Qatar and Abu Dhabi) as well as the most beautiful competitions of Europe on its way. Every stage is a Grand Prix endowed with 285.000€ (95.000€ for the winner) and leads to a general ranking: at the end of the circuit, the top eighteen riders share prize money worth of 1.000.000€. Only the world’s best 30 riders may participate in the tour. This circumstance guarantees that the audience can sit in on the best
show jumping there is in Cannes.