Saturday nights in Wellington belong to show jumping again!
The show jumping season and 2018 Winter Equestrian Festival started in earnest this weekend with the yearly Battle of the Sexes, an off-beat event that pits male riders against their female colleagues.
And despite the chilly winter night, there were few seats available around the arena for the kickoff of 12 weeks of competition, a three-month event that brings about 4,000 riders of all ages and more than 6,000 horses to Wellington.
Hardcore fans got a shocker of sorts: For the first time in the 10 years that the $75,000-Battle of Sexes has been fought, the men have won!
“It’s one of the only sports were men and women can compete as equals,” said Winter Equestrian Festival owner Mark Bellissimo. “It’s great to see how successful the women have been.”
The crowd-pleaser that had the folks in the VIP sections and elsewhere on their feet?
The night-closing match race, where riders jump simultaneously on courses side by side.
And there was some drama, in addition to old-fashioned ice hockey-style trash-talking in the stables minutes before the races.
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