FOLLOWING some international riders having expressed doubts about ranking points and how the system is working with Covid-19, the International Jumping Riders Club (IJRC) released a statement on the issue.

The said: “The Longines Ranking Working Group, which is made up of three FEI representatives (President, Jumping Director, Chair of the Jumping Committee) and three IJRC representatives (President, Director and one board member), found itself facing the ranking points question during lockdown. The continual cancellation of large events only added to the difficulties.

“After various consultations, the group decided on the following: As everybody knows at the end of each month, to update the Longines Ranking List, the points awarded from the same month in the preceding year are detracted, and only 30 results are always considered.

“Points were frozen for European riders at the end of February and for American riders at the end of March (as they had events in Wellington in March, and it was thought unfair to remove some results). As the USA coronavirus arrived later than it did in Europe, it was predicted that North American events would restart at a later date than in Europe (i.e. September or October) but this forecast proved incorrect. In fact, in the USA, events started again in June, while in Europe, June events were only held in the south of France.

“At this stage, competing riders can be awarded points, but it is important to remember that only 30 results count towards the ranking, so as the high ranking riders, currently competing in four-star and a couple of five-star events, will have more than 30 results, this will not have a significant effect on their ranking positions. In order to earn points they must have better result than in the same month of the preceding year (which will be difficult as there are no big events). Those who cannot compete will not lose points. So there will be no relevant changes in the ranking.”

Freezing points

On the issue of freezing points, the IJRC said: “The idea to freeze points is to protect riders currently unable to compete. We are monitoring the situation and will check the ranking list with the FEI – IT in a couples of weeks.

“Tennis decided to follow our lead and have also started to freeze points. The IJRC is also working with a professor of statistics who is also following tennis ranking points. These are tricky times and the rules and regulations are more difficult to accept but we need to follow common sense, fight the moment, trust the institutions, criticise them when needed with constructive critiques, work together, and always act in the best interest of our sport.”

Competitions

Canadian Olympic champion Eric Lamaze was in the news recently after blasting two shows in Belgium because of the numbers of competitors in competitions. The IJRC also feel there are too many competitors and too few events.

“Appreciation and thanks go to all organisers who have put themselves on the frontline over this period by arranging events but we must reprimand those who are profiteering from the Covid-19 situation by making money at the expense of others. We need to convince them to put things in order.

“Over 250 competitors in a competition of 1.45m with €4,000 euros as prize money is totally unacceptable. Equally unacceptable are the difficulties faced by young talents without large financial reserves who cannot enrol in events and therefore have no chance of being noticed by owners and technical experts and are unable to construct the futures they deserve. Or who have the support of technical experts and generous owners, but they can’t compete with their horses.

“Certainly, the IJRC Board will collaborate with the FEI Jumping Committee and with the Alliance of Jumping Organisers (AJO) to try and regulate these situations and render them acceptable. Unfortunately these are not the only problems we are currently facing and the time required to change a regulation is never brief. Together we can and must work to find solutions. And we will.”

Aluding to the issue of athletes paying into shows, the IJRC added: “We need to safeguard the credibility of our sport. Tennis does not allow anyone who feels like it to play with Federer just because they have paid; skiing does not permit ‘athletes’ to participate in the World Cup without having gone through all the qualifying rounds; athletics does not allow random individuals to run against [Usain] Bolt. The public pays for tickets to watch champions.”