The Dutch Masters – scheduled for 13 to 15 March 2025 – has announced a new addition to their program; a show class where four reigning jumping champions will be competing against each other, on each other's horses. The 2023 European Champion Steve Guerdat, the 2022 double World Champion Henrik von Eckermann, the 2024 Olympic Champion Christian Kukuk and the Dutch Champion Willem Greve will be part of the show class, which takes place on the Thursday night of The Dutch Masters.
It's sports director Jeroen Dubbeldam, together with Yvonne van Bergen, who is calling the horse change back into life. "We all know that the horse change has been taken out of the World Championship format. I have always thought it was a very interesting test and also often ridden it myself," Dubbeldam explained in a press release from The Dutch Masters. "It is interesting for the audience to see how the different horses interact with the different riders and how the riders respond to this. Also outside our scene there were always a lot of positive reactions to this class, which is why I think this class should stay in our sport."
Dubbeldam has managed to capture all four reigning champions for this new show class. "I started by sounding out the Rolex Testimonee and 2023 European champion Steve Guerdat. He is someone with a vision and an opinion, and he was immediately very enthusiastic, as were the other champions. I think it's going to be very interesting, you don't often experience the champions all coming into the ring and jumping a course on each other's horses. I will explain to the audience during the competition itself and ask the riders questions about their horses. We are still discussing which horses they will start with, but it will be a serious class at 1.45m/1.50m level. We really think this will catch on, so we can expand this class further in the future."
It's sports director Jeroen Dubbeldam, together with Yvonne van Bergen, who is calling the horse change back into life. "We all know that the horse change has been taken out of the World Championship format. I have always thought it was a very interesting test and also often ridden it myself," Dubbeldam explained in a press release from The Dutch Masters. "It is interesting for the audience to see how the different horses interact with the different riders and how the riders respond to this. Also outside our scene there were always a lot of positive reactions to this class, which is why I think this class should stay in our sport."
Dubbeldam has managed to capture all four reigning champions for this new show class. "I started by sounding out the Rolex Testimonee and 2023 European champion Steve Guerdat. He is someone with a vision and an opinion, and he was immediately very enthusiastic, as were the other champions. I think it's going to be very interesting, you don't often experience the champions all coming into the ring and jumping a course on each other's horses. I will explain to the audience during the competition itself and ask the riders questions about their horses. We are still discussing which horses they will start with, but it will be a serious class at 1.45m/1.50m level. We really think this will catch on, so we can expand this class further in the future."