The final Leg of the 2022 Australian World Cup Qualifying Series will be held as part of the Jumping NSW Summer Showjumping Classic CSI1*-W show at Sydney International Equestrian Centre (SIEC) on Saturday 10 December. In what was been a shortened season, the planned 10 Leg season will conclude next weekend, after the completion of only six legs, with inclement weather playing a significant role in the shortening of the season.

Advertisement

The top of the leaderboard going into the final round looks like this:

With a maximum of 20 points on offer for winning each leg of the series, the top three have the title to sort out between them and although it might appear that Olivia Hamood has a very strong chance of taking out the title, her current lead is not as big as it appears on the surface.

The series rules state that since there were 10 legs planned, then only best five legs will count towards the season total. Since Olivia Hamood and Sam Overton have already competed in all five legs (the only two athletes to have done so), then they will have to drop their worst performance before working out their season total after Saturday’s class.

What this means for Hamood, since her worst Leg was in Tamworth where she scored 9 points, is that she will need to score 10 points or more to advance her total from the current 70 points she is on. If she were to gain the maximum 20 points in the final leg, her total would end up on 81.

Advertisement

Sam Overton’s situation is a little different. His current total of 64 includes his worst score of the season of just 2 points from Leg 1 at Shepparton which means that he only has to score more 3 or more points in Sydney to enable him to drop the 2 and start advancing on his current 64. In fact, if Overton were to take the maximum points in the final Leg, he would advance his score to 82 points. The Series winner is going to come down to a competition between these two, with the rider who can pick up the most points on the day, most likely going on to take out the series.

Off course, the third possible scenario is should both of these riders perform poorly on their World Cup nominated horse, then Aaron Hadlow could snatch an unlikely Series win by winning the leg and having the maximum 20 points added to his score. Hadlow has the experience to do it having won the series in 2018.

The winner of the Series will be invited to attend the World Cup Finals, to compete against Qualifying Series winners from around the world. This event is scheduled for April 4 to 8 2023, in Ohama, Nebraska.

It promises to be a fascinating battle for the Series and no doubt will be the highlight of the show.

We would like to wish all competitors in the class the very best of luck and we very much look forward to what hopefully will be a full Australian Qualifying Season in 2023.