Equestrian Sport Productions announced today, Dec. 20, that the Trump Invitational, due to be held on Jan. 3, 2016 at The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., has been cancelled. Due to a series of recent heavy, unprecedented rain events occurring over the past few weeks, during which cars were parked on the lawn, the grass turf footing for the jumping arena on the back lawn of The Mar-a-Lago Club was deemed unfit for competition. With the event weeks away, there was not enough time to repair the turf to a level necessary for a world-class event. ESP CEO Mark Bellissimo stated, “We are extremely disappointed to announce this cancellation. We discussed the situation with the Trump organization, and we agreed that we have to put the safety and welfare of the horses and riders first and foremost. The footing is not up to the excellent standards of the past two years of the event, and we would not want to risk anyone having any issues. It is our desire to maintain a high standard for quality." "Last year we had perfect weather and footing for the Trump Invitational, and it was a great success,” added Donald Trump. “It has been one of the great events on the U.S. equestrian schedule. With the amount of rainfall that we have had recently, the turf is just not fit to the high standards we set for all of our events. Our team will get the turf back into world-class shape so that we can host another fantastic event in 2017." South Florida has seen a number of cancellations of other sporting events due to the recent weather. "We look forward to the Central Park Horse Show in late September of 2016 and planning the 2017 Trump Invitational at The Mar-a-Lago Club. I know that it will be back better than ever next year," Bellissimo said. The Trump Invitational is a unique event that features the $130,000 Trump Invitational Grand Prix CSI** and a $10,000 junior/amateur jumper class, which will be back on the schedule for 2017.
