by Patricia N. Saffran
Saturday night, September 23, 2017, Olympian, and other top international three-day-eventing riders, CCI 4, entered Wollman Rink for the first time for Arena Eventing and the audience cheered on the pairs of competitors with wild applause. With dressage competitors canceling just 2 ½ weeks before the start of the show, Mark Bellissimo, CEO of Equestrian Sport Productions and International Equestrian Group LLC and show president, Michael Stone, discussed the situation and decided to try the new format of arena eventing. It had already been tried in the UK and Devon this year but mainly with movable show jumps and fixed cross country jumps in separate areas.
Mark Bellissimo decided to combine them for the small arena in the Rolex Central Park Horse Show (RCPHS) and asked eventing designer, Captain Mark Phillips, to design a safe but challenging course. The result was a rousing success with Ryan Wood (AUS) on Alcatraz and Dominic Schramm (AUS) on No Objection racing, cutting corners, and jumping to first place for Team East Village. Thrilling the audience with their second place finish were Holly Payne-Caravella (USA) on her speedy Thoroughbred, Never Outfoxed, and Boyd Martin (USA) on Kyra for Team Times Square. Making their appearance for the first time in the New York City with borrowed horses were William Fox-Pitt (UK) on Indian Mill and Oliver Townend (UK) on Prince Renan for Team Chelsea. Mr. Townend had just won the Burghley Three Day Event CCI 4*. In Central Park the pair finished third.
Since Wednesday, the first night of the show, audiences in Wollman rink have seen fantastic horses, riders and classes. The Arabians competed first on September 20, 2017, with halter and equitation classes. Competitors and judges came in from all over the world for the prestigious third annual U.S. Open Arabian in the Rolex Central Park Horse Show. On the subsequent days and nights, horse show classes had top prize money for international competitors for hunters, jumpers, under 25 jumpers and a special Puissance class. Family day was held on the last day of the show September 24, where there was no admission. For complete show results see For more information, visit www.centralparkhorseshow.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CPhorseshow and follow @cphorseshow on Twitter and Instagram.
All photos courtesy of Central Park Horse Show.
