Australian carriage drivers are preparing to take on Great Britain in a world-first “stay-at-home international”.
Carriage driving’s own version of the cricket’s “Ashes” competition will be held next month, with the Australia taking on Britain in events being staged on opposite sides of the globe.
In Australia, the series will form part of the Australian Short Format National Championships being hosted by the Southern Highlands Carriage Club at Bundanoon NSW on August 12 and 13.
The British Short Format Championships will start 12 hours later on the same weekend at Cricklands.
This televised event featuring countries competing for interantional honours is a first within the carriage driving sport.
Arena-based short format carriage driving lends itself to being replicated at separate venues, even ones in different hemispheres.
To make sure all competitors are on equal footing, the same compulsory figures will be used in each country and supervised via live streaming by international judges. The cones course and obstacles will be carefully measured to ensure they are as identical as possible.
As well as being their nation’s short format champion, the winners of each class in each country will become a member of their “Ashes” team.
If their score is better than that of the opposing nation they gain a point and the nation scoring the most points will hold the “Ashes” until the following year.
The teams will be led by two equestrian legends; the British team by multiple European and World Champion and Olympian David Broome and Australia by multiple World Champion and World Cup Champion Boyd Exell.
The event can be watched on Horse and Country TV.
This article appeared on The Regional on 26 July 2023.
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