Event Roundup:

Dashing Challenge Class Final (100-110cm)

With the competition going into the second day, the top national and international riders continued to show up with elegance and compete with skills. The first competition of the day was Dashing Challenge Class Final(100-110cm). As the level of the games elevated, the atmosphere gradually reached to its climax. The riders couldn’t be careless and learned from last year’s mistakes to reach the highest level. The riders with the highest score kept changing till the last minute of the game, the intense atmosphere made everyone hard to breath. Finally, 16 riders with zero penalty continued to compete in a jump-off. After the two fierce competitions, Zhou Xiaomao with his beloved horse Ke ancha from Shanghai Aijiu won the first place by 33.52s in the jump-off with zero penalty, while Pang Qingyu with his horse An Shuai from Chongqing won the second place and Xiaoqi and the horse BEN being the third.

Team Champions Final (120-125cm)

The following event was the Team Champions Final(120-125cm). 3 riders from each of the 13 clubs will be assigned to pair up and fight for the team champions. Every club has been actively adjusting tactically after the preliminary yesterday. The competition was fantastic while the scores are competitive. Finally, Dashing Equine seized the championship while Equuleus took the second place and Qing Ao took the third. The mascot, our cute pony Dashing presented the awards to these teams. The champion team didn’t only receive prizes and cups but also wristwatches from Longines Equestrian Collection. In the end, they toured around the stadium on the horseback and embraced the compliments from the crowd.

BMW Elite Class 1st Round (130-135cm)

BMW Elite Class, titled by the diamond sponsor BMW has been catching the attention from the audiences when it first started paving the stadium. The obstacle fences were lifted up to 130 cm and reached the international Level B. 29 rider and horse pairs went for this game and demonstrated their skills. Finally, Qiaolun Bate with HARIFU from Guangdong won the champion by 58.33s with zero penalty. Vincent Vermeulen with CEYLON from V-horse won the runner-up while Duan Yihua from Jilin Guolong with Lavender won the third place. Mr. Olaf Kastner, the President &CEO of BMW Group Region China with Ms. Lijing, President of Dashing Equine presented the awards to the top eight riders. 

BMW Drive and Jump Competition

After the BMW Elite Class competitions, the Beijing Masters introduced the pioneering BWM Drive and Jump Competition to the Bird's Nest, which became another spotlight for the audiences. Sitting in the stadium with the gorgeous horses neighing and roaring engines of BMW cars, the car lovers must not miss this unique BMW Drive and Jump Competition which included both cars and horses to compete on the same platform. The riders paired up with their family or friends. While the rider was jumping through the fences, the other one drove the BMW cars to complete the race. A total of 7 rider and driver pairs signed up for this game, among which there were couple, mother and daughter pairs, siblings, etc. With the fine horses neighing and BMW engines roaring, the passion of the audiences were gradually aroused. The whole stadium was flooded by such fast and furious spirits. Finally, rider Dong Fei with his horse owner Duan Yihua won the race and became the first champions of this game in history by 97.83s! Rider Aizizi Ainiwaer with her brother Zhang Gang took the second place while rider Hadan Chaolu with his horse owner Wang Bo won the third place.

International Team Competition (145-150cm)

The International Team Competition took place after the opening ceremony was a game where two Chinese riders teamed up with an international rider to compete in individual or team competition. It created great opportunities for Chinese riders to get in touch and communicate with the top professional riders. After the three rounds of competitions. Marcus Ehning with his horse Bloofield S from Germany won the individual champion by 69.38s, while Nulahemaiti Abai and Liu Tongyan took the second and the third place.

  As for the team champions, the well-known American rider Lauren Hough led Chinese riders Da Rima and Nulahemaiti Abai stood out with their advantages and won the first place. Ludger Beerbaum led Chinese riders Bianba Ciren and Xu Xin being the runner-up while the professional Canadian rider Tiffany Foster with Yuan Maodong and Yang Fujun won the third place.

Spotlights

Opening Ceremony

As the evening closed in, the flashing lights and shadows turned the Birds Nest into a beautiful stadium with elegance. The opening ceremony of the Beijing Masters commenced with the hip-hop performance of this Master’s theme song the Age of Knight. Mr. Juan-Carlos Capelli, the Vice President and International Marketing Director of Longines, Mr. Dennis Li, the Vice President of Longines China and Mr. Olaf Kastner, the President and CEO of BMW Group China went up to the stage and delivered speeches with a wish for the success of the Beijing Masters.

It is the seventh year for the Longines Beijing Equestrian Masters, while the age of seven is the age of maturity of the ponies. At this year’s Beijing Masters, a meaningful mascot, the seven-year-old pony Dashing was born. It represents the maturity of both the riders and the horses and the bonds between each other. It also symbolizes the innocence that every horseman holds while taking part in all equestrian events. When cute pony Dashing lively entered the stadium, followed all the representative riders from each club and the international riders along with the young volunteer riders. 

Another spotlight of this opening ceremony was the Horse Sky Entry. The competitors with their horses descended to the field directly from the second level. Horses were galloping on the Sky Entry, and horsemen were striding with victory. The glittering neon brightening and the shallow of lights shattering at the dawn of the Birds Nest, which made a great combination with the sports field and the charm of equestrian. Equestrian was known as the most spiritual sport. The bond between the human and the horses is the deepest communication between the souls. It could be considered as an understanding and trust in spite of the barriers in language, cognition, race and all. The free-roaming performance “Paris” brought by Michal Bednář from Czech Republic led the audiences to experience the connection between human and horses together.

In the end, soprano Ms. Li Tang brought the classic song “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”. With the echos of this lovely song, Mr. Zhang Xiaoning, President of Chinese Equestrian Association announced the official opening of the 7th Longines Beijing Equestrian Masters.

Equine Park

The spectacular competition went on inside the stadium while there is also excitement to be found outside. The Equine Park opened today from 11 o’clock has prepared interactive activities for people of all ages. All the guests visiting the Equine Park could go have fun and enjoy food and drinks at all stands with the Equestrian Passport, to get a full experience of life which equestrian fashion brings.

The first attraction you might spot entering the Equine Park is the elegant Carousels build by Longines. It had its debut at the Birds Nest from Europe, which allows the audiences to appreciate the classic chronometers between the elegant equestrian events. BMW China also contributed a lot to the Masters. The car lovers can find fascinations here. Apart from its pioneer BMW 7 and M760Li Series, BMW provided the brand new BMW 5 Series Li to be served as the official vehicle. The audiences could analyze how BMW builds the “modern luxury” in terms of designing aesthetics, high-end interior decorations, intelligent driving, material application and so forth. CASTEL Maison brought pure French red wines and shared classes with all the guests at scene. Also, you could enjoy the fine coffee provided by Melitta and five stars cuisines from Rosewood Hotel. Try out the high-tech equipped horseman spirit at Segway and build your “Chivalry” at CHEVAL Saddlery. 

As for children, there are plenty of locations to see and have fun. Children could learn some knowledge in driving with joy at BMW Children’s Traffic Safety Education. Dashing Equine united with UCCA Studio to build the teenage equestrian art district for the children to listen to the sound of nature. And of course, you could also experience the Pony amusement park of the Youth Olympic Park and find out your equestrian skills while spending a great time with family at the Birds Nest.

As a new sponsor, the international applied software and solution provider SAP provided the most powerful software support for the Beijing Masters. Turkish Airline as another official sponsor devoted to the Masters with passionate and protection for the Masters. Thanks to the support from the city department of tourism of Abu Dhabi and the cultural development department, as well as the only cooperative bank partner Bank of Beijing Private Banking. Ganten brought its high-end brand Blairquhan highly supported the Masters. The exclusive cooperative partner of insurance, the innovative technology insurance company Charming Insurance provides safety insurance for all riders.

The second day of the Beijing Masters full of passion and joy in the neighing of horses, the fine fragrance of the wine, the laughter of the audiences and the playful sounds of the children. Everyone holds the excitement for the arrival of the final day of Beijing Masters.