With eight Olympians among them, some 1,600 riders and horses are to begin strutting their stuff at the weeklong Hampton Classic Horse Show in Bridgehampton on Sunday, dubbed Local Day because Long Islanders, some as young as 2 years old, compete in most of its hunter, jumper, and equitation classes.
McLain Ward, who has won the Classic’s main event, the Grand Prix, a record seven times, and who was a member of the U.S. equestrian team that won a silver medal at the recent Paris Olympics, heads the list of Olympians expected to ride here. He now has five Olympic medals to his credit, two golds and three silvers. Ward was also the Longines F.E.I. World Cup champion in 2017.
The other Olympians expected are Daniel Bluman of Israel, the defending Grand Prix champion, who also won that class in 2017 and 2021; Mario Deslauriers of Canada, the Grand Prix winner in 2019; Kent Farrington, who won the Grand Prix in 2012 and 2013; Shane Sweetnam of Ireland, a three-time winner of the Classic’s Rider Challenge; Darragh Kenny, also of Ireland, who won the show’s Rider Challenge last year; Thaisa Erwin of Australia, who debuted at the Paris Olympics, and Nayel Nassar of Egypt, who represented that country in the 2021 and 2024 Games.
Shanette Barth Cohen, the show’s executive director, who is in her 19th year in that position, said at the showgrounds last Thursday that the Classic, now in its 49th year, has a new Grand Prix ring course designer this year in Nick Granat. A former student of Marty de Leyer’s and Peter Leone’s, he can be expected to build courses that present horses and riders with “fair tests regardless of the type of horse. . . . You don’t want just one problem, you want rails to come down at different places. You don’t want too many questions or too few. . . .”
Monday, which in the past has been an off-day for most riders, aside from those with disabilities, will have a full schedule this time, Barth Cohen said, in order to even things out time-wise. “Last year,” she said, “some rings didn’t finish up until almost 7. Ideally, you want things to end at 5 so that our crews can change the jumps for the next day, but 6 would be okay.”
Things were proceeding apace, she said. The dozen-plus stabling tents were up, as well as the few dozen large tents, including the V.I.P. and Chalet tents that flank the large Grand Prix ring. There were a few tables left to buy in those tents, “but not a lot. . . . You’ll be able to livestream classes in the Grand Prix and Aspinall rings for free through our website. Action in other rings will be available too, but will be pay-per-view. . . . There’s much to be done, but we’re on schedule to have a horse show. It’s exciting. Time moves on whether we’re ready or not.”
