2025 Adelaide Equestrian Festival - Show Jumping Day 43

The Adelaide Equestrian Festival (AEF) is an annual three-day event held in the eastern

Adelaide Park Lands The Adelaide Park Lands comprise the figure-eight configuration of land, spanning both banks of the River Torrens between Hackney and Thebarton, which encloses and separates the City of Adelaide area (including both the Adelaide city centre and ...

, which border

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre () is the inner city locality of Adelaide, Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Adelaide l ...

. It was known as the Australian International Three Day Event until 2022. A CCI5* event, the top rating by the Fédération Équestre Internationale, it comprises

dressage Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...

, cross-country, and show-jumping and is usually staged in late April.

History

The Adelaide International Horse Trials was created in 1997 to replace the Gawler Horse Trials that had been staged in Gawler, north of Adelaide, since 1954. In its period as the Gawler Trials, it was a successful competition and was selected to host the

Eventing World Championship The World Eventing Championships, or the eventing competition in the '' World Equestrian Games'' (WEG), began in 1966. It includes both a team and individual competition for the best horses and riders in the sport of eventing. The World Championshi ...

in 1986. On this occasion the Australian Post Office issued a special set of commemorative postmarked covers featuring a set of four stamps called Horses of Australia. The new 1997 event in the East Parklands began with a CCI3* (3-star) rating, but was subsequently upgraded to CCI4* in 2002, becoming the only such event in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2004, it was known as the Mitsubishi Adelaide International Horse Trials, being sponsored by

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

. In 2007, to celebrate its 10th anniversary and better reflect its international focus, the event was renamed the Australian International Three Day Event, and was held at the end of November each year. From 2011 the Australian International became part of the FEI ( Fédération Équestre Internationale) Classics series of events, for three years sponsored by

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

. In 2019, the event was upgraded to CCI5* status. In 2022 the event was renamed the Adelaide Equestrian Festival and held in April each year.

Governance

The AEF is owned and run by Adelaide Horse Trials Management Inc., and is supported by the

South Australian Government The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the highest ranking mem ...

through the

South Australian Tourism Commission The South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC), also known as the SA Tourism Commission, is an organisation set up by the Government of South Australia to promote tourism in South Australia. The legislation to establish the SATC was introduce ...

Event

The event is held throughout the East Parklands in separate stages over three days. It is classified as a CCI5* by the international governing body FEI, meaning that it is highest level of eventing competition under the FEI banner. it is one of seven in the world, with the other taking place in the UK, France, Germany, and the US. The event is unique in being held in a city-centre, taking place in the

. The dressage phase is held on Friday on the arena in front of the heritage-listed Victoria Park Grandstand. The cross-country phase is held on Saturday across the park lands and attracts the most spectators. The course starts in the arena in front of the grandstand, crosses Wakefield Road to Ityamai-itpina / King Rodney Park (Park 15) and then crosses Bartels Road into Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka (Park 14) and then returns to the arena again. The cross-country course has been designed by Michael Etherington-Smith, who has designed courses for the Olympics in 2000 and 2008 and other CCI5* events, and more recently, by Australian Wayne Copping. The water jumps in Rymill Park are regarded as some of the most challenging in international competition. The final show-jumping phase is held on Sunday in the main arena in

Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi, also known as Park 16, is a park located in the Southeastern Park Lands of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is bordered by Fullarton Road, Greenhill Road, East Terrace and Wakefield Road. Before 18 ...

(Park 16). , the event is used to select the Australian team for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Winners

References

External links