Preview: Longines EEF Series Final

The 2024 Longines EEF Series will reach a thrilling conclusion this Sunday, September 8th, in Warsaw, Poland. The ten highest-ranked teams, plus the host nation, will battle it out for the top spot on the podium at the beautiful Sluzewiec Racecourse venue.

It’s been quite the build-up to reach this point, through eight regional qualifiers across four regions and the two highly decisive semi-finals. 811 rounds of jumping have taken place, amounting to 312 clear rounds and 79 double clears.

The Series has been the best ever for participation with 36 different nations represented, of which 29 were European and included Series’ debuts for Luxembourg and Monaco.

The featured winners ran back through Switzerland (Gorla), Netherlands (Mannheim), Netherlands (Peelbergen), Norway (Stutteri Ask), Italy (Athens), Belgium (Luxembourg), Poland (Drammen), Mexico (Slovakia), Spain (Deauville) and a third win for the Netherlands (Budapest).

The Netherlands have really made themselves the ones to watch in Warsaw with three wins under their belt and a particularly impressive performance at the semi-finals in Budapest, in which all four riders jumped double clears.

The Deauville semi-final was a particularly tense affair with three teams tied on 16 faults and 5th pace, separately by time which put Denmark through and a bitter taste for France and Poland who missed out by mere miliseconds. The Polish crowd will still get to see their heroes in action during the Final as the host nation will always be invited to compete.

The 2023 Longines EEF Series Final was won by Austria, who will undoubtedly hope to achieve back-to-back results. Only five double clear rounds were recorded at last year’s contest, three of which were achieved by Austrian riders. One of those elusive zero scores came from Austrian team member Katharina Rhomberg, who was back campaigning this season with her young horse Colestus Cambridge gaining experience and results that earnt them a place at the Olympic Games this summer. Polish rider Adam Grzegorzewski also performed brilliantly at the 2023 Final, and he, too, went on to represent his country at the Paris Games. Double clear rounds are particularly valuable in the Final as each one will be eligible for a share of a prize money bonus fund.

One of the main goals of the Longines EEF Series events is to support upcoming riders and horses by providing them opportunities to compete for their country and be in the team environment while accessing high-quality competition. This season, we have seen some incredible performances from our young riders, with the likes of British rider Oliver Fletcher (21), who helped Great Britain to a third-place finish at the Longines EEF Series Luxembourg before heading to the Young Rider European Championships just six weeks later and taking the individual gold. The combination are on the start list for Warsaw and will be hoping to continue their run of form into the Final.

Meanwhile the selection of young horse talent has taken our breath away, with clear progression being seen in this year alone as combinations built their seasons through the 1.45m qualifiers and onto bigger classes. A number of those stars were included in the nominations for the Series Horse of the Year Award in association with the Jumping Owners Club. The likes of Chuck Marienshof Z (NED) has shown form throughout the Series and recently stepped up to jump his first 1.55m GPs with excellent results, while Katharina Rhombergs 9yr old star Colestus Cambridge (AUT) moved up to the highest stage and became an Olympian this summer.

These two are joined in the nomination list alongside Calder (UKR), Impian D (NED), Kannandillo (GRE), Orak d’Hamwyck (BEL) and Statis Conti (SVK). All seven horses are fantastic examples of the Series philosophy with younger horses gaining experience, slightly older horses providing their rider with experience, and some solid team horses that developed into regular features for their nations.

Last year Lord Mexx, ridden by Greek team member Angelos Touloupis, took the honours. Lord Mexx went on to compete in the 2024 FEI World Cup Finals in Riyadh and he has also achieved qualification for the 2025 FEI Jumping European Championship in La Coruna, Spain – really demonstrating the progression horses can make having built a solid competition foundation.

The Longines EEF Series Final will take place on Sunday 8 September from 11.00 CEST, all live on Clipmyhorse.tv

The confirmed team entries are:

Austria

Lena Binder // Fritz Kogelnig Jun // Christoph Obernauer // Markus Saurugg

Denmark

Lars Bak Andersen // Laura Baaring Kjaergaard // Zascha Nygaard Lill // Caroline Rehoff Pedersen // Soren Moeller Rohde

Germany

Emilia Löser // Philip Rüping // Mario Stevens // Michael Viehweg // Maximilian Weishaupt

Great Britain

Lily Attwood // Mark Edwards // Oliver Fletcher // Robert Murphy // Adrian Whiteway

Ireland

Jessica Burke // Francis Derwin // Jason Foley // Seamus Hughes Kennedy // Jenny Rankin

Italy

Piergiorgio Bucci // Emanuele Camilli // Giulia Martinengo Marquet // Carolina Palmucci // Alberto Zorzi

Netherlands

Michael Greeve // Hessel Hoekstra // Lars Kersten // Ruben Romp // Mel Thijssen

Poland

Dawid Kubiak // Cassandra Orschel // Juliana Suska // Maksymilian Wechta // Michal Ziebicki

Slovakia

Bronislav Chudyba // Dominika Gaalova // Alexandra Linda Hornakova // David Horvath // Radovan Sillo

Spain

Teresa Blazquez – Abascal // Fernando Fourcade Lopez // Diego Ramos Maneiro // Imma Roquet Autonell // Iván Serrano Sáez

Sweden

Angelica Augustsson Zanotelli // Erika Lickhammer-Van Helmond // Karin Martinsen // Ida Selin