Celebrating 50 years of world-class equestrian competition in 2025, the Hampton Classic Horse Show returns to Bridgehampton, NY, August 24-31, featuring FEI CSI5* and CSI2* show jumping and USEF Premier hunter competitions with more than $1 million in prize money. The highlight of the week is the $400,000 Longines Hampton Classic 5* Grand Prix, one of the world’s premier show jumping competitions.

Germany’s Rene Dittmer hopes to defend his 2024 Hampton Classic Grand Prix title against multiple Olympic veterans and fellow Grand Prix winners, including World #1 Kent Farrington, who won the event in 2012 and 2013. Farrington has represented the U.S. at two Olympic Games and multiple championships with one Olympic medal (team Silver in 2016), one World Championship medal (team Bronze in 2014) and two Pan American Games medals (team Gold in 2011, team Bronze in 2015).

Among those joining Dittmer and Farrington at the Classic is six-time U.S. Olympian McLain Ward, who has won the Hampton Classic Grand Prix a record seven times and is currently ranked World #8. Ward is a top competitor on the international stage with five Olympic medals (team Gold in 2004 and 2008; team Silver in 2016, 2021 and 2024). He was also the Longines FEI World Cup™ champion in 2017 and claimed his second victory in the Hampton Classic’s Longines Rider Challenge last year.

Also looking to reclaim the Hampton Classic Grand Prix title is three-time Olympian Daniel Bluman of Israel, who is currently ranked #21 on the Longines FEI World Rider Rankings. He brought home his third Classic title in 2023 and became just the fourth rider to win the featured event at least three times.

Also returning to the Hampton Classic is four-time Canadian Olympian Mario Deslauriers, who won the Grand Prix in 2019. He will not make things easy for his fellow athletes, including his daughter Lucy Deslauriers, who placed second to him in 2019. Deslauriers is a three-time WEG and two-time Pan American Games competitor and remains the youngest rider ever to win the FEI World Cup™ Final, a title he won in 1984 at age 18. Lucy helped the U.S. win a team Bronze medal at the 2019 Pan American Games.

Other entered riders include World #22 Shane Sweetnam, who represented Ireland in the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Games and who has won the Hampton Classic’s Longines Rider Challenge three times; World #11 Darragh Kenny, Sweetnam’s teammate for the 2021 Olympic Games and winner of the 2023 Longines Rider Challenge at the Classic; 2021 Olympians Nayel Nassar (EGY) and Uma O’Neill (NZL); and 2024 Olympians Thaisa Erwin (AUS), Luis Fernando Larrazabal (VEN) and Isabella Russekoff (ISR).

Other notable athletes looking to claim prestigious titles at the Hampton Classic this year include three-time Olympic veterans Beat Mändli (SUI) and Alberto Michan (ISR), World #29 Lillie Keenan (USA), 2015 Hampton Classic Grand Prix winner Karen Polle (JPN), and Dittmer’s fellow 2024 podium finishers: Americans Mimi Gochman and Alex Matz, who finished in second and third, respectively.