Oliver Townend and Ballaghmore Class. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
With September points now calculated, Oliver Townend has officially cemented himself as World No. 1 again in the FEI Eventing World Athlete Rankings. At last count, Oliver was second, but with points from the 2018 World Equestrian Games dropping from the tally, a third place finish from Burghley — among other results — boosted Oliver to the top again on 554 points.
He takes over from New Zealand’s Tim Price, who held the title for the last four months. Tim dropped to third place on 468 points.
Piggy French and Vanir Kamira. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
In the Year of the Pig, it should be no surprise that fan favorite Piggy French moved up one spot to be ranked second. As of last weekend — which doesn’t officially count toward these points until next month — Piggy has had the most successful International season on record, picking up a whopping 14 International wins in 2019. Incredible as that is, she’s currently got 504 points, and she’s not finished yet.
Great Britain has a third rider in the top ten with Gemma Tattersall, who moved from 10th to 7th with 419 points.
Lauren Kieffer and Vermiculus. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
Lauren Kieffer is the highest-ranked American as World No. 4. She moved up five spots after finishing in ninth place at Burghley last month with Vermiculus.
The stars and stripes have three other riders in the top twenty: Boyd Martin is ranked 6th (420 points), Caroline Martin is 18th (303 points), and Doug Payne is 19th (303 points).
Chris Burton is 6th on 421 points, and Michael Jung remains ranked 8th with 393 points. The Netherlands’ Tim Lips is 9th with 363 points, and Ireland’s rising star Cathal Daniels is 10th with 355 points.
Jessica Phoenix is 65th on 201 points as the highest ranked Canadian rider.
Click here to view the current FEI Eventing World Athlete Rankings. Go Eventing.
