Los Angeles, CA. (September 17, 2014) The world’s top elite show jumping riders and horses have traveled half way around the world to compete for $1 million of prize money during the first edition of The Longines Los Angeles Masters. Held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on September 25-28, 2014, this will be the first time in 30 years, since the 1984 Olympics, that this caliber of horses and riders have competed in United States.
The roster includes Team USA’s 2014 World Equestrian Game Bronze medal winners Kent Farrington, Lucy Davis and Beezie Madden who also won individual bronze. They will be joined by Olympic champions Laura Kraut and McLain Ward. Reed Kessler, 2013 Longines Rising Star Award’s winner and world’s youngest Olympic Show Jumping competitor in history will also compete alongside Jessica Springsteen, Richard Spooner, Georgina Bloomberg, Lauren Hough and many more who will make up a strong US team for our new “Battle of the Nations” competition.
European riders include 2014 World Equestrian Game silver medalist and star of the inaugural edition of the Longines Hong Kong Masters where he won 4 out of the 6 competitions including the Longines Grand Prix, Patrice Delaveau, who will be joined by WEG silver medal team mate from France Kevin Staut and Simon Delestre. Olympic gold medalists Rodrigo Pessoa, Steve Guerdat and Scott Brash, who is also world number one in the current Longines rankings, Olympic silver medalists Gerco Schröder; Olympian bronze medalist Marco Kutscher; Los Angeles native and German Olympian, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, who won three World Cup finals; Swiss rider and Longines Ambassador of Elegance Jane Richard Philips and many more.
The Star Studded start list of the competition includes 7 Olympic Champions including the current gold medalist, 15 Olympic medalists, 3 World Cup Final Winners, 2 World Champions and the current European Champion.
The Longines Los Angeles Masters is a unique opportunity for US riders to compete on the west coast, having the home crowd on their side. The hospitality, lifestyle, entertainment and glamour of the Longines Los Angeles Masters coupled with spectacular show jumping action will make it the new not to miss event of the year in the U.S.
Embedded interviews of several of the confirmed riders can be found below:
Beezie Madden
Laura Kraut
Patrice Delaveau
Scott Brash
Jane Richard Philips
Kevin Staut
Reed Kessler
Georgina Bloomberg
A full list of riders competing can be found at:
http://www.mastersgrandslam.com/en/los_angeles_masters/program/riders
The Longines Los Angeles Masters will be broadcast to over 300 million households across 100 countries, and live streamed to 800 million viewers. Broadcast partners include FOX Sports and HRTV. The Network for Horse Sports, EUROSPORT, EQUIDIA, Horse and Country, GLOBO, TVB (Hong Kong), FOX Sports Asia, and EUROSPORT Asia. A full broadcast schedule can be found at:
http://www.mastersgrandslam.com/en/los_angeles_masters/program/tv_schedule