Wednesday, 02 April 2025
It’s that time of year again when some of the biggest names in dressage, jumping and vaulting come together for the FEI World Cup Finals. This year, the action heads to St. Jacokshalle Basel, Switzerland from 2–6 April.
Great Britain is fielding three combinations across two disciplines, so we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about the competition and how you can catch all the action.
Nestled on the banks of the Rhine river, Basel is renowned for its rich cultural history, vibrant arts scene and strong equestrian heritage. It’s home to the Longines CHI Classics Basel, which hosted legs of the FEI Dressage World Cup series Longines FEI Jumping World Cup series in January.
St. Jackobshalle Basel is a large, multi-purpose venue that hosts events including major sports competitions, concerts, exhibitions and corporate gatherings.
The FEI World Cup Finals are the culmination of the FEI World Cup Series, which includes leagues from across the globe. British athletes will usually contest the Western European League in both jumping and dressage, unless they are based elsewhere in the world.
Four leagues covering Western and Central Europe, North America and the Pacific offer qualification for the FEI Dressage World Cup Final. The Western European League consists of 11 legs, starting in Herning, Denmark in October and finishing with ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands in March. Athletes can compete in as many legs as they choose and achieve ranking points based on their placings in the Grand Prix Freestyle, with their four best scores counting in the overall standings. Across the various leagues, 18 combinations will qualify for the Final, including last year’s winner, Patrik Kittel, who receives an automatic qualification as title defender.
There are a total of 13 leagues that offer qualification for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final. The Western European League consists of 14 legs across Europe, starting in Oslo, Norway in October and ending in Gothenburg, Sweden in February. Athletes can compete in as many legs as they choose and achieve ranking points based on their placing, with their seven best scores counting in the overall standings. Across the various leagues, 40 combinations have qualified for the Final in Basel. This includes the back-to-back title defender – Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann – who has the automatic right to compete in the Final after his success last year with the great King Edward.
Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale: Lottie and her 14-year-old black stallion – who she co-owns with Van Olst Horses – had a dream FEI Dressage World Cup campaign, winning all three of their qualifier outings. The first came on home soil at the London International Horse Show in December, where they scored 86.645%. Next came victory at Amsterdam, Netherlands with 89.840%, before they contested the final leg of the series at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands to score 89.705%. This gave them 60 rankings points to finish joint fourth in the Western European League. At 29 years old, Lottie will be the youngest dressage competitor in the field. While it's her third time at a FEI Dressage World Cup Final – she rode Dark Legend in 2022 and Everdale in 2024 – it will be a first for her World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist, Glamourdale
Full list of dressage starters
Ben Maher and Point Break: Finishing 13th in the Western European League rankings, Ben has chosen to bring forward the 11-year-old stallion Point Break – who he co-owns with Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright – for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final. Ben started his Longines FEI Jumping World Cup campaign in Lyon in November, where he finished 23rd with Dallas Vegas Batilly. Later that month, he took Point Break to Verona, Italy, where they finished second, before repeating this feat at London International Horse Show in December. They have experience of the St. Jakobshalle venue, having ridden their final qualifier there in January to finish fifth. This will be the third time that Ben has ridden at a Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final – he rode Robin Hood in 2009 and Dallas Vegas Batilly in 2024.
Robert Whitaker and Vermento: Looking to follow in the footsteps of his uncle Michael, who achieved back-to-back victories in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup in 1990 and 1991, Robert qualified in fourth position in the Western European League rankings. He brings forward the home-bred black stallion Vermento, owned by Caroline and Stephen Blatchford, as his ride for the Final. The pair have had a busy, but successful, campaign – a 24th place finish in Oslo in October was swiftly followed by a win in Helsinki just a week later. They finished third behind Ben and Point Break at London International Horse Show in December, which temporarily put them at the top of the rankings. Since then, they’ve contested legs at Leipzig, Amsterdam and Gothenburg, earning themselves 63 rankings points. This will be Robert’s second Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final, having previously qualified in 2018 with Catwalk IV.
Grand Prix: All combinations ride a prescribed series of movements, which are scored out of 10 by seven judges spread around the competition arena. Additional marks are given at the end for the general impression. The final scores are tallied up and divided to form a percentage – the highest percentage wins. To decide the running order, athletes are divided into two groups based on their respective placing in each standing. Lottie and Glamourdale have been drawn 12th in the starting order for this round.
Grand Prix Freestyle: All combinations who scored at least 60% in the Grand Prix will qualify for the Grand Prix Freestyle. For this test, athletes choreograph their own routine, based on a list of required movements, that's set to music of their choice – the aim is to create a floorplan that highlights their horse’s natural movement and showcases his personality. The scoring is the same as in the Grand Prix, with additional marks awarded for artistic merit and the degree of difficulty. In groups of five (or three for the first group), athletes compete in reverse order of merit as per the placings from the Grand Prix.
Qualifying round one: Combinations tackle a course of fences with a maximum height of 1.60m. Each fence down adds an additional three seconds to the time it takes them to complete the course – the faster the time, the better the placing heading into the second round. Any combinations who are eliminated or retire won’t continue to the next round. Robert and Vermento are 11th in the drawn order for this round, while Ben and Point Break will be the 27th combination to get underway.
Qualifying round two: Jumping in reverse order of merit, combinations ride against the clock over fences measuring up to 1.60m. Any jumping or time penalties accrued will determine their ranking, while any clear rounds will go through to jump-off to decide the final standings. Robert and Vermento will be the 24th combination to start in this round, while Ben and Point Break will be the penultimate pairing.
Scoring in round one and two: Based on penalties accrued, the winning combination in each of the first two rounds is given one more point than the number of starters at the beginning of the competition. The second-placed combination in that round gets two points less than the winner, the third-placed combination gets three points less, and so on. After the first two rounds, these points are transformed into penalties – the highest placed combination will have zero penalties, while the other competitors will receive penalties based on the difference between their points total and that of the leading combination.
Final rounds one and two: The 30 best-placed combinations after the two qualifying rounds will jump in reverse order of merit over a Grand Prix course with a maximum height of 1.60m. Based on any accrued penalties added to their total from the previous two rounds, the top 20 will progress to jump again over a course of similar length but with an increased level of difficulty. The winner is the combination with the fewest penalties – a jump-off against the clock will be used as a tie-breaker for first place.
The individual male and female vaulting finals are split into two tests – the technical and the freestyle. The final result for each competitor is calculated using 40% of their technical score and 60% of their freestyle score.
The pas-de-deux final features two freestyle tests, with the final result being calculated using 40% of the score from the first test and 60% of the score from the second.
All competing start times and results are available via Longines Timing.
All the action will be broadcast live and with English commentary on FEI.TV via ClipMyHorse.TV – you’ll need a subscription to tune in.
Qualifying round one of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final, the Grand Prix of the FEI Dressage World Cup and both the technical and freestyle tests of the FEI Vaulting World Cup will be available to stream live on the FEI YouTube channel using the links below.
Some highlights from other rounds will also be available on the FEI YouTube channel, where you can also watch all the winning rounds from the World Cup Series.
You can also keep up to date with how our British combinations are getting on by following our social media channels, or those of British Dressage and British Showjumping.