The beautiful ‘bowl’ of Haras du Pin, which hosts Le Grand Complet each August. Photo by Christophe Tanière.
Quotes within this news story have been translated from the original French. The article was updated on January 11 to include a response from Haras du Pin, at the bottom of the page, also translated from the original French.
It has been announced today that France’s Le Grand Complet at Haras du Pin will not run in 2024 following a financial dispute between its organisers, Ustica, and the estate and regional department in Normandy.
Though many will know Haras du Pin primarily for its role as host of the 2014 World Equestrian Games and 2023 FEI European Eventing Championships, for continental European eventers, it’s a mainstay in the calendar each summer for its Le Grand Complet fixture, which hosts classes at CCI2*-L, CCI3*-S, and CCI4*-S, inclusive of the French leg of the FEI Nations Cup series.
While Le Grand Complet’s origins trace back to the mid-90s, it hosted its first FEI event at the turn of the millennium at its original site in Martinvast, where Ustica’s office is based and the home of André le Goupil, who rode for France in the 1968 Olympics. In 2010, it began its tenure at Normandy’s Haras du Pin, one of France’s prized national studs, and its association with the le Goupil family remains steadfast: one of Ustica’s directors and its resident course designer is Pierre le Goupil, who has also been appointed as course designer for the Paris Olympics.
But while Ustica was able to pull off last year’s European Championships, which it had originally been awarded for 2021 but ultimately lost in the initial cancellation and subsequent reinstatement of all FEI European Championships for that year, all has not been well behind the scenes as they navigate their relationship with Haras du Pin and the Conseil Départmental de l’Orne, the area’s governing body. The Départment’s taxpayers helped – alongside French and European funding – to contribute €24 million to the estate’s equestrian development project, which began in early 2022 and was completed just months before the Europeans, and which saw the competition facility add four new arenas, permanent stabling, a hospitality complex, offices, and associated facilities, all of which were debuted at the Championships. It was a development project that was largely seen as a positive one, and one that further invested in the estate’s rich equestrian legacy, but as Ustica President Valérie Moulin explains in a statement released this morning, it’s one that has also been used to increase the demands upon the organisation that facilitates the largest sporting event held at the site.
On March 31 of 2023, the Department decided to implement an up-front fee for Ustica to use the site for Le Grand Complet. The €80,000 fee would include a €60,000 site rental charge, €10,000 for personnel and material charges, and €10,000 to compensate against impact on tourism numbers on the site during the event. Furthermore, the estate has requested that Ustica fund further development and make changes deemed untenable, including relocating the event’s shopping village – which currently exists by the original arena on the cross-country side of the estate, to a stretch of road not currently supplied with electricity and not yet stabilised for structures. The estate and Department have also terminated the use of storage facilities on site, established with Ustica thirteen years ago in a bid to reduce organisational costs. Ustica appealed the result of the vote in the first part of 2023 and, explains Moulin in the statement, were subsequently threatened with the cancellation of the European Championships.
Ustica was asked to pay the up-front charge for the 2024 event on December 27, 2023, forcing them to cancel the renewal of the event as, explains the statement, they risked finding themselves unable to pay the contractors – most of whom are connected to the local area – who “faithfully contribute to the structure of the event.”
“We were criticized for our lack of political approach and, in June, less than two months before the event, threats to cancel the holding of the European Championships were made so that we could meet certain requirements that are quite incompatible with a sporting event of this level,” explains Moulin. “If our determination to maintain our choices has made it possible to deliver a Championship of undisputed quality that was welcomed by the highest sporting bodies, the other side of the coin has been strategically orchestrated. Indeed, for the first time in 25 years of organization, the demand of a subsidy from the department was made on December 27, thus preventing the association from financially settling with the many local companies with which we work faithfully, and also contributing to the financial asphyxiation of our associative structure.
“We deplore the way in which our association, which has been fully invested for years in the development of the sport, is excluded from a site that it has largely contributed to promoting, since Le Grand Complet is recognized as the only event to welcome so many visitors to Haras du Pin,” says Moulin, who points out that, with 15,000 visitors each year, Le Grand Complet is the biggest bringer of tourism to Haras du Pin, which sees 40,000 annual visitors for non-sporting events. “The sporting, media and economic benefits of the event seem to be deliberately ignored by management, since the relationships deteriorated when Ustica preferred, for economic and safety reasons related to hygiene, to work with a local restaurateur other than the one installed year-round on the site.
“Today, after 24 million Euros invested from public funds, this tool becomes a profit center whose cost of use is simply inaccessible to associations in the sector. This choice is harmful not only for external organizers, but especially for the entire sector and the territory.
“The loss of the event here will damage the area and the Department. We don’t understand why the owners are trying to stop the competition, but we are hoping our eviction for 2024 will not disrupt the evolution of the Complet in this place that is so emblematic. The passion is still absolutely there for all of Ustica’s members, and we hope to deliver news in 2025 of its return to Le Pin or its movement elsewhere.”
January 11 update:
Haras du Pin has published a press release in response to the cancellation of the event, which is translated in full as follows:
“Since 2010, the USTICA association has joined Haras du Pin to organize the Grand Complet.
“In 2023, the Haras du Pin turned an important page in the history of this site, and built an International Equestrian Sports Centre to host the largest competitions. That same year, it received the FEI European Eventing Championship, but also the World Pairs Driving Championship, among others.
“This new equestrian complex of international level and these new major facilities obviously involve new challenges and economic objectives. Le Haras du Pin has therefore revised the entry requirements of event organizers, in order to offer them a tailor-made welcome while respecting the economic balance of the Haras. It is in this context that a commitment on booking requirements was proposed to the USTICA association.
“Without commitment from USTICA, Haras du Pin was forced to take a decision to advance in its already busy 2024 season, and define a sports program with many national and international events, including an international showjumping competition (CSI) as part of the Normandy Summer Tour, for example. This is why the dates requested by USTICA were assigned to another organizer.
“Le Haras du Pin regrets this situation because, if relations with USTICA have always been complicated on an administrative level, the sporting aspect under the authority of [Pierre] Le Goupil and [Guillame] Blanc has always been there. Haras du Pin is ready to welcome USTICA in 2025.”
