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With a little more than a month to go before the Geneva International Horse Show (CHI), the field continues to take shape. The identity of the six drivers that will contest the Swiss round of the FEI Driving World Cup has now been revealed, while the season's top four riders from French-speaking Switzerland have been allocated wildcards. This year's CHI Geneva will also break new ground with the staging of three forums on horse welfare in the exhibitors' village.
While the fields for the show jumping and indoor cross competitions will be revealed in a few weeks' time, the drivers on the FEI Driving World Cup circuit have already announced their intentions, with reigning three-time champion Bram Chardon of the Netherlands among those lining up in Geneva. The first of that hat-trick of wins came in 2021, when Chardon unseated the undisputed king of driving, Australia's Boyd Exell, the winner of ten World Cup titles and victorious in Geneva 12 times in a row between 2008 and 2019. Exell will no doubt be in the mood to make it win no. 13 when he returns to the Palexpo arena.
Respectively second and third in 2023, Belgium's Dries Degrieck and Dutch driver Koos de Ronde will be joining them in Geneva, as will Germany's Georg von Stein. All three will be on the hunt for some precious points in their bids to qualify for next February's final in Bordeaux. Meanwhile, the organisers have handed a wildcard to Switzerland's Jérôme Voutaz, who has twice made the CHIG podium but never the top step. Is his turn about to come?
Wildcards announced
Four jumping wildcards have gone to the season's most consistent riders from French-speaking Switzerland. Based at Steve Guerdat's stables, Valais rider Guillaume Gillioz secured one of them, thanks in the main to his Romand Elite title and a win in the Grand Prix of Galgenen (canton of Schwyz). Mehdi Roessli-Dobjanschi of Vaud owes his wildcard to his fifth place in the final of the Swiss Elite Championship, third place in the Romand Elite final, and victory in the Grand Prix of Aarberg (canton of Bern). Likewise, fellow Vaud rider Christian Tardy produced some steady form across the season, including third place in the Grand Prix de Crête (Geneva), to secure an invitation of his own from the CHIG organisers.
The fourth and final wildcard was keenly contested but eventually went to Fribourg's Thibaut Keller. Though a first-time recipient, he is no stranger to Palexpo, having taken part in several U-25 competitions.
Horse welfare up for discussion
The CHI Geneva has always taken the well-being of horses seriously, which is why it is organising forums to encourage discussion and debate of the issue and horse management in the wider equestrian community and at competitions in particular. Chaired by the journalists Elisa Oltra and Lena Vulliamy, three 40-minute forums will be held in the exhibitors' village, the first of them on the Friday evening, after the indoor cross-country event; the second late on Saturday afternoon; and the third just before Sunday's Rolex Grand Prix. Taking part will be riders, vets, a farrier, a groom, a breeder and an FEI steward, with participants also taking questions from the floor.
