Beezie Madden will defend her title in the Longines FEI World Cup Final (Lyon, 17-21 April)

From 17th to 21st April, Lyon will play host to the thirty fourth final in the history of this prestigious event of which the first chapter was written in 1979, in Gothenburg’s wonderful arena (where the final was held in 2013) with the victory of the legendary horse and rider combination: Gladstone and Hugo Simon.

The rider who will be defending her title in Lyon next weekend is one of the great ladies on the international circuit: Beezie Madden. She is a highly respected figure, not least because she herself "trained" the horses that took her to success.

We have known for years, even decades, that Beezie Madden is one of the best riders in the world. She just needed an individual world title to seal her place in history. She achieved this on 28 April 2013 when she won the final of the 35th World
Cup ahead of the Olympic Champion Steve Guerdat and the French rider Kevin Staut, in the event's temple of Gothenburg.
Beezie knows the World Cup well ; she took part in her first final in 1987. She had to wait until her twelfth participation in the event before tasting victory, in the year of her fiftieth birthday, and this year Beezie Madden will be in Lyon to defend her title!

Only the best forty-one finalists, qualified in their respective league after the multiple FEI qualifying event organised worldwirde, will get to compete to try to register their name in the FEI World Cup history book.

The event will take place over three days, with four courses and a playoff. The first course will be a test of speed, the second will be a Grand Prix test with playoff. After this second round, only the top thirty may take part in the next test. After a day of rest, those competitors will take part in a Grand Prix in two innings. To win the title , riders have the right to ride two horses and swap from one event to another.