The sweet moment of the Spanish equestrian sector after the pandemic will reach a peak this May. After passing through the venues in Doha, Miami Beach, Mexico City and Shanghai, the 2024 edition of the most important equestrian circuit in the world touches European soil for the first time in its only Spanish venue: Madrid. This is the “Longines Global Champions Tour 113 CSI 5* Madrid”, which is held on the weekend of May 17 to 19 to bring together some of the best pairs in the world in the jumping discipline, among which are several of the great favorites to make up the Spanish team for the Olympic Games such as Eduardo Álvarez Aznar, Mariano Martínez Bastida, Sergio Álvarez Moya or Manuel Fernández Saro.
The importance of the event is reflected in the baptism of this competition. Some say it is the “Equestrian Champions” and others say it is the “Formula 1 of equestrian racing.” It is the preferred name of Álvaro Arrieta, founder and president of Oxer Sport, the company in charge of organizing the competition in Madrid and Mexico. “The founder of the tour is Jan Tops, a Dutch rider who won Olympic gold and who in 2006 decided to revolutionize the sport… today, 18 years later, we can say that he has achieved it,” says the manager in an interview with EXPANSIÓN. “The circuit travels through 16 cities for nine months, the stages are in iconic settings and the best pairs in the world ranking compete.”
With this letter of introduction, the event is broadcast in more than 100 countries and the media return, calculated by the consulting firm Rebold, exceeded 10 million in 2023. In addition, the city of Madrid receives the economic impact (direct and indirect) of the thousands of fans who visit the capital during the week of the competition, according to the director of Oxer, which he co-organizes with the Villa de Madrid Country Club. the big event since 2013.
Spain is today the first equestrian competition destination in Europe. Arrieta highlights a recent study by Deloitte for the Royal Spanish Equestrian Federation that estimates the economic impact of the sector at 7.4 billion, equivalent to 0.6% of GDP. “It is an important figure that, added to the 150,000 jobs generated, confirms the strength of the sector in Spain.” All of this in a framework in which sport accounts for 2,500 of those 7,400 million, as added by the Oxer executive, owner of two Longines Global Champions Tour licenses, as it adds Spain to Mexico. The budgets for both events are very different. The one in Mexico is close to 7 million dollars (6.5 million euros) and the one in Madrid exceeds 2 million.
That said: sport as a competition is just the tip of the iceberg. “Behind it there is breeding, farms, processing and transversal activities,” continues Arrieta, who highlights the breadth of Deloitte’s study. “There were months of research and thousands of questionnaires in a huge sector.” In equestrian, the main competition cabin is in Madrid “and” surely the two big events, Longines Global Champions Tour in spring and Ifema Madrid Horse Week in autumn, contribute to this, the big events energize the sector and generate a fundamental boost for the true engine that is the buying and selling of horses.” “Competition feeds back to the market,” he concludes.
Regarding the sponsors, after 27 years of relationship with these companies, Arrieta emphasizes that “it is a great opportunity for many of them”, with the great attribute of being a 100% equal Olympic sport, since women and men compete equally. of conditions. There are many times that Amazons beat riders. “We do not have quotas, parity is absolutely natural. In addition, we are an elegant, sustainable, environmentally friendly and very exciting sport. Speed and maneuverability are essential, but without forgetting power. For all this, we are a territory attractive for brands that put quality before quantity,” adds the manager. He highlights that it is also an interesting option for luxury brands “who usually find themselves comfortable at our events.” Oxer currently manages more than 200 unique equestrian sponsorship clients.
The driving force of the sector is the buying and selling of horses. From there, the competition is the showcase, “the reference index to know the price of elite horses,” says Arrieta. This way, when a horse wins, its price goes up. That’s obvious, but it also increases the price of his siblings and, above all, the cost of covering for his father and the value of his mother’s future children, everything is related. Breeding has evolved a lot in the last two decades, especially thanks to the implantation of embryos in mother mares. “By contrast, cloning has not been successful.” “There is a unique, experiential factor in the breeding of each horse that greatly affects his growth as an athlete.”
This sport cannot be understood without the pairings, with horse and rider as elite athletes. “The best horse in the world with a mediocre rider will not win and the best rider in the world with a normal horse will not win either, the rider must get into the horse’s head and the horse must have complete trust in its rider.” Therefore, “the horse is a key part of the equation and it is logical that prices will skyrocket.” In this context, the petrodollars of the Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Emirates) “have greatly influenced the price of elite horses, which is now at maximum levels, especially since 2024 is an Olympic year.”