Chantilly joins the Global Champions Tour in 2010!
The 2009 edition of the „Jumping de Chantilly“ already seems attractive thanks to the participation of great riders such as Edwina Alexander (AUS, #4 in FEI/Rolex world rankings), Jessica Kuerten (IRL, n° 10 in world ranking) and, of course, Pénélope Leprévost (FRA, n°16 in world ranking). However, the 2010 event is bound to generate even larger amounts of hype as the promoting agent of the prestigious Global Champions Tour, Jan Tops, recently announced Chantilly’s participation in the Champion Tour’s circuit in 2010.
Thus the Chantilly jumping enters the circle of big international eventsLive and becomes a CSI 5* that will take place between the July 29th and July 31st, 2010. In order to carry such an exceptional competition, an equestrian stadium holding a new fibre-grass equipped tract with the dimensions of 150m x 100m will soon be installed in the heart of Chantilly’s hippodrome, thanks to the support of Eric Woerth and Edouard de Rothschild.
The Global Champions Tour is a world series with twelve stages, passing through Europe’s most beautiful showjumping tournaments (in Cannes, Hamburg, Milan, Valencia…) only to finish at Quatar after a halt in Brazil. The Grand Prix(s) are endowed with a minimum of 400.000€ thanks to its two main sponsors CN international and Rolex. The whole tour is broadcasted live on Eurosport in 102 countries. Only the world’s Top 30 riders (according to the FEI/Rolex ranking list) can participate.
“It’s an exceptional recognition of this event that we have been carrying for five years now“, states Gérard Manzinali, president of the Jumping de Chantilly, who is evidently pleased with the great news. „For Chantilly, which is already recognized as the world’s capital of race horses, it is an exceptional possibility to gain further recognition throughout the world, as the Grand Prix Global Tour is being watched around the globe; apart from the Eurosport audience, there’s also that of Universal Sports in the United-States. The competition’s dimension will be according with the majestic scenery that Chantilly has to offer. I want to thank Edouard de Rothschild in particular for his involvement in this project.“
France will be the only country that hosts two stages of the GCT, since Cannes has already been taking part in this prestigious event for 4 consecutive years.