The first time the Final visited the USA in the 39-year history of the event was in 1980 when it was staged in Baltimore.
Four riders have won the FEI World Cup™ Jumping title on three occasions: Hugo Simon, Austria - Gladstone 1979, ET FRH in 1996 and 1997. Rodrigo Pessoa, Brazil - 1998, 1999 and 2000 all with Baloubet du Rouet. Marcus Ehning, Germany - Anka 2003, Sandro Boy 2006, Noltes Kuchengirl/Plot Blue 2010. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, Germany - 2005, 2008 and 2009 all with Shutterfly.
The countries with the greatest number of victories in the series are Germany with 10 successes followed by USA with 9.
The youngest winning horse was the 7-year-old Aramis, ridden by Canada’s Mario Deslauriers in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1984. Deslauriers is also the youngest rider ever to have taken the title. He was just 19 years old when lifting the coveted trophy.
McLain Ward USA - 1st: “In our sport there are three major events - the Olympic Games, World Championships and the World Cup Final - that we all very much want to win in our career. It’s a big deal."
Gregory Wathelet BEL - 2nd: (Talking about his horse, Forlap) “I never expected him to get his confidence back so quickly but three weeks ago he started feeling good again. Today I decided to go a bit for the time, it’s always easier when you have a horse that fights for you. I knew McLain would be fast so I went quick but not crazy.”
Romain Duguet SUI - 3rd: “I’m very happy with TwentyTwo (his horse TwentyTwo des Biches), I have her since she was five years old, she’s never spectacular but she jumps clear rounds. It wasn’t my plan to ride her in the Final but my