A Running Commentary by Major H. F. FAUDELL-PHILLIPS on the competition for The Kings Cup
Relayed from Olympia
THE INTERNATIONAL HORSE SHOW, which opened on Friday at Olympia, and is to continue throughout this week, has many delightful classes, from ' Shetland Ponies ' and ' Donkey Turnouts ' to ' The Coaching Marathon ', arriving at Olympia as if from thirty years ago. But, spectacularly, the jumping classes stand alone in the affection of the public. If ' Children's Jumping ' in its very prettiness awakes our most generous applause, the competition for the King George V Gold Cup is the pièce de resistance.
The finest military riders and jumpers in the world compete. Horses have to be ridden by officers in uniform and must be the property of an officer or regiment or cavalry school. Only the first fifteen horses in the qualifying round are eligible. It is a competition of superlative excellence.
It is of interest to note that eight cut of about two dozen different types of jumps are selected by the judges a day or two before the Show, so that no horse can be trained over a particular kind of jump.
The International Horse Show was abandoned in the war years, and was, unfortunately, not held last year. In the thirteen years, 1920 to 1932, France won the King George V Cup four times, Italy twice, U.S.A. and Belgium once each, and Great Britain five times. In 1930 and again in 1932 it was won for Britain by Lieut. J. A. Talbot-Ponsonby on his sterling jumper ' Chelsea '.