Above: Amber Fuller and CP Aretino. Winners of Werribee World Cup Qualifier in 2021.

After the 2021 Australian FEI World Cup season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are looking forward to the start of the 2022 season, which is now just two weeks away.

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Last year, only the first three rounds of the scheduled 10 rounds were completed, with rounds held at Werribee, Gatton and Caboolture. The shortened season saw a tie at the top of the standings with Tom McDermott and Amber Fuller equal in first place on 35 points. This pair were followed by James Arkins on 34 and Billy Raymont on 31 points.

We caught up with Amber to chat about the upcoming season “After the last couple of years of lockdowns and uncertainties, we are all really excited about the World Cup season starting up again and our team will be going to as many events as we can. Our first World Cup will be Werribee at the end of this month, it was an amazing show last year and we can’t wait to be back again this year hoping to replicate our success from last time. I know all the riders were very disappointed when the season was unable to continue after the World Cup Qualifier at Caboolture last year so we are all crossing our fingers we are able to have a full season this year. I personally will have two horses competing in the World Cups this year as I will be stepping my 9yo gelding ‘Nopal Van Tallaert’ up to join ‘CP Aretino’ in these classes. I am certainly very excited to get the season underway.”

The 2022 Australian World Cup Season will consist of 10 events, during which riders will accumulate points with the best five results counting towards their season total. The overall winner of the season will be invited to attend the World Cup Final, in Omaha, Nebraska in April 2023.

The season will commence on Saturday 19th March at Shepparton, hosted by the Northern Victoria Show Jumping Club (NVSJC). This is an exciting time for the club. Between 1984 and 2016, the club hosted World Cup Qualifiers on 31 occasions with the upcoming event their first in six years. The following weekend, the second round will be held as part of the Dressage and Jumping with the Stars Show at Werribee.

From there, the tour travels to Queensland in June, with rounds at Toowoomba, which, like Shepparton, is back on the program after a number of years absence and then Caboolture. The World Cup Series travels to NSW in August with rounds at Sydney (SIEC) and Tamworth. September sees the Series in Adelaide and Melbourne at both Royal Shows. The season wraps up with a return to Adelaide for the 3DE before the traditional final round at the Sydney Summer Classic in December.

We are looking forward to what promises to be an exciting competition. The venues and dates of all events in the series are listed below.

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