Next, to the United Kingdom, to see where British riders placed in Hippomundo's 2024 rankings.
Last year was a memorable one for Team GB with spectacular results at the Paris Olympics: team gold in eventing and show jumping, plus team bronze in dressage.
Plus, individual bronze for Laura Collett (eventing) and Charlotte (Lottie) Fry in dressage.
At the prizemoney end of the sport, where did British riders finish in Hippomundo’s riders by nationality rankings?
Starting with dressage and as in show jumping, Germany dominates this category too being the only nation in 2024 to record a seven-figure sum in dressage competition earnings. See the full list here.
No surprises either to see that Isabell Werth was the chief earner for the country that won team gold at Paris.
The United Kingdom ranks in sixth place on €252,127, some one million euros short of Germany’s total. Number of riders for each country? Germany has 239 riders recorded on the Hippomundo database, with an average sum per rider of €5,283; the UK has 107 (€2,356 average) and second-placed Denmark achieves the highest amongst the top-10 countries (€6,042 by just 76 riders).
So who’s the top-earning UK dressage rider? Lottie Fry with €106,935. After her elimination at the lucrative World Cup finals in Riyadh last April, her best ‘payday’ from 30 CDI5* starts in 2024 was €25,195 for her freestyle win with Everdale at Fontainebleau, followed by another Grand Prix freestyle win at London ExCel with Glamourdale (pictured).
Both of Fry’s top horses are by the same Rheinlander stallion: Lord Leatherdale.
Her Paris teammate Becky Moody is next in second and then Susan Pape in third, one place ahead of beleagured Charlotte Dujardin.
Despite the fallout and widespread coverage about Dujardin’s withdrawal from the British team for Paris and subsequent 12-month suspension by the FEI, there was better Olympic news for its eventers and show jumpers. Followed up by a pre-Christmas announcement that British Equestrian will receive £15.7 million for its equestrian and Paralympics squads in the run-up to the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
Likewise, all good news in the Hippomundo eventing riders rankings. Here, the UK has a runaway lead on €1,440,439, the only country last year to exceed the seven-figure prizemoney mark.
As mentioned in this article HippoLink, 649 British riders won a combined total of €1.4 million, giving an average of €2,219 per rider, while their nearest rivals - the USA - had 468 riders earning €659,572, (average: €1,409).
See the full list of top-earning UK riders here.
What helped secure this massive lead is the fact that British riders won four of the eventing circuit’s seven five-star events last year.
Oliver Townend with his father Alan at Burghley CCI5*-L after his first five-star win with Ballaghmor Class in 2017. Seven years later, the Irish-bred won his latest five-star at Fair Hill. © Susan Finnerty.
The most lucrative prizemoney was on offer at Kentucky and Fair Hill in the US, (both won by Oliver Townend with his Irish Sport Horse pair of Cooley Rosalent and Ballaghmor Class); Burghley on home ground (won by Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo, while five-star rookie winner Caroline Harris scored at Pau with D.Day.
Caroline Powell and Hippomundo’s top-ranked event horse of 2024: Greenacres Special Cavalier won the most profitable of all: Badminton (€136,000) last May.
The Kiwi rider’s result also secured New Zealand’s fourth place among countries in the Hippomundo rankings. Their 96 riders, (the second-lowest number within the top-10, Switzerland has just 59) have the highest average of €4,696 earned per rider, undoubtedly bolstered by Powell’s five-star win and Tim Price’s consistent results - still an impressive strike rate.
The United Kingdom ranks next on a €2,219 average from 649 riders, the largest number on Hippomundo’s eventing database.
Interestingly too, Lara de Liedekerke and the home-bred Hooney D’Arville not only became the first Belgian combination to win a five-star event but their Luhmühlen victory secured Belgium’s eighth place in the top-10 countries rankings.
In Hippomundo’s overall eventing rider rankings, six of the top-10 riders are from the UK: Oliver Townend (first), Ros Canter (second), Tom McEwen (fifth), Harry Meade (sixth), Yasmin Ingham (eighth) and Alexander Bragg (10th) rounding off an outstanding year for British eventing.
Next, show jumping. Here, UK riders rank in sixth place among the leading nations category. Show jumping offers the best prizemoney and most-packed competition calendar amongst these three Olympic sports.
As an indication of the prizemoney at stake, the top-six countries all earned over seven figures totals, with Germany at the top on €18 million-plus. Next is the USA (€16,802,279), ahead of France also on the €16 million-plus mark. Check out the complete list here
Who is the top-earning UK show jumping rider? Ben Maher could not be caught after netting €500,000 with Point Break as their share of the Shanghai Swans team’s runner-up place in the Longines Global Champions Tour play-offs in Riyadh. See the prizemoney on offer there.
That GCT result also contributed to Point Break’s sixth-place in Hippomundo’s top-earning show jumping horses of 2024 rankings.
Maher’s earnings last year were just short of the €2 million mark (€1,907,707), a figure that places him in third place overall amongst the top show jumping riders and as the only British rider in this top-30. Here's the complete list.
Next is Maher's Paris gold medal teammate, Harry Charles on €640,078. His biggest payday last year? €165,000 for winning the Grand Prix with Sherlock (pictured) at the London round of the Longines Global Champions Tour.
Third-ranked UK rider Matthew Sampson also broke the half-million barrier last year, finishing on €520,244. His best result in 2024? Daniel’s Grand Prix win that netted them €103,724.
Best win conversion strike rate amongst the top-10 UK riders? That’s 10th-placed Laura Renwick on 11.7% from her 282 competition starts and whose placed percentage (56%) is marginally behind ninth-placed Amanda Derbyshire (57.7%, 137 starts).
First place (eventing), and two more top-10 places (sixth in both dressage and show jumping) for UK riders in the Hippomundo riders by nationality rankings, to add to a golden Games in Paris, ends a superb year for British equestrianism.
