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December 1, 2011
The Horses Will Jump in Brooklyn
The Wall Street Journal
by Sophia Hollander
The Gucci Masters is to Roger Green's hypothetical "18,000-seat opera house" as the hypothetical opera house is to monster trucks or professional wrestling.
At the 2011 Gucci Masters, a prestigious show-jumping event that begins in Paris this weekend, spectators can enjoy free on-site manicurists and hair stylists, a Champagne bar and a private pony paddock for children.
It's typical glamour for a sport that has attracted celebrity offspring such as Georgina Bloomberg, daughter of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Jessica Springsteen, daughter of Bruce. Hong Kong is also part of the show-jumping series, and organizers are now planning to add a third site.
They've picked Brooklyn.
The Barclays Center will host the new elite show-jumping competition in 2013, drawing the world's top 30 riders to compete for $1 million in prize money, officials were scheduled to announce on Thursday in Paris.
...[Ashley Herman-Griffin, project manager for the New York Masters] added, show jumping remains a spectacle predicated on horses that can cost up to 10 million euros each, world-class chefs, and extravagant production values. The New York event will cost $6 million to produce, including prize money, and will be broadcast to a global audience estimated at 550 million households, she said. "It's not a hipster event," she said.
NoLandGrab: Don't say we didn't warn you that something like this could happen.
Related coverage...
Park Slope Patch, Barclays Will Host Elite Show-Jumping Event
Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that the arena will also be home to the 2013 New York Masters, an elite show-jumping competition that’s part ponies, part champagne, caviar and celebrities. The event will pit the world's top 30 riders against each other (in the most civilized way possible) for a $1 million prize.
...The Journal says that the event will cost $6 million to produce, with around 80 horses stabled inside the arena, and more than 200 in tents outside.
NLG: 200 horses in tents "outside?" In the "temporary surface riding stables," perhaps?
Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Posted by eric at December 1, 2011 12:35 PM