Kentucky may be looming, but the first CCI5* of the season belongs to the Southern Hemisphere: the Adelaide Equestrian Festival, to be specific.
You’ll likely be familiar with the iconic atmosphere of Adelaide, which hosts one of the most unique cross country courses in the world, traveling through the city surface streets for a portion of the track.
You can get an idea of the layout of this course, designed by Mike Etherington-Smith, below (click the image to view the full preview on CrossCountryApp).
You can view entries for this event here; the competition includes the Bates Saddles Young Rider Championship, the Racing SA CCI3*-L, the Horseland CCI4*-S, and the Adelaide International CCI5*.
The 5* roster includes 13 competitors hailing from Australia and New Zealand. The field includes WEG riders David Middleton, Donna Edwards-Smith with two horses each as well as Olympic team silver medalist Megan Jones (2008). View the full CCI5* field here.
The action begins tomorrow in Australia, which means I’ve done some time zone gymnastics that I’m not wholly certain are correct. The CCI5* does not get underway until Friday — the full schedule can be found here.
The CCI5* schedule is as follows, and all phases can be found live on Horse & Country (membership or one-time event pass required; use code EVENTINGNATION15 to save 15% on your annual membership) here. Adelaide is 13.5 hours ahead of Eastern time in the US and 7.5 hours ahead of Central European Standard Time. Click here to check the local time against your time zone (and if my math has gone wrong below!).
Friday 19th – 5* Dressage – 1:45pm local time / 12:15am ET / 6:15am CEST
Saturday 20th – 5* Cross Country – 1pm local time / Friday (19th) 11:30pm ET / 5:30am CEST
Sunday 21st – 5* Show Jumping – 2:45pm local time / 1:15am ET / 7:15am CEST
Adelaide Equestrian Festival [Website] [5* Entries] [Schedule] [Scoring] [Live Stream]
