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Harrie Smolders Rider of the Year 2023

Harrie Smolders Rider of the Year 2023

Harrie Smolders from Lage Mierde has been elected Rider of the Year 2023 by the committee consisting of Anky van Grunsven (chairman), Ed van den Bent, Andries van den Berg and Henk Rottinghuis. Previously, he was also named Rider of the Year in 2017 and 2018. With this third election, he follows in the footsteps of illustrious show jumping riders such as Jos Lansink and Gerco Schröder, who previously won this honorary title three times. The decisive factor was his victory in the Global Champions Tour, which lifted his annual winnings above € 1,500,000. A formidable sum, ridden with his top horses Monaco N.O.P. and Uricas van de Kattevennen.

Honourable mentions and nominations
The Commission awarded two honourable mentions and three nominations. The honourable mentions went to the Team Four-in-Hand (Bram and IJsbrand Chardon, Koos de Ronde and Hans Heus) and the Paradressage Team (Frank Hosmar, Demi Haerkens, Sanne Voets and Lotte Krijnsen).

The three nominations were awarded (in alphabetical order) to:

  • Four-in-hand driver Bram Chardon, who won gold twice at the European Championships in Exloo, individually and with the team, and excelled in the World Cup (WB) with a second-place finish at the 2022/2023 Finals in Bordeaux. In the 2023/2024 season, he won the 2023 WB classes at Stockholm and Geneva and finished second at Mechelen.
  • Harness racing driver Rick Ebbinge, who became Rider of the Year for the first time in 2019 as he became World Harness Racing Drivers champion. He defended his title in 2023 and did so successfully. With Zeudi AMG, he won the Prize of the Giants at Wolvega, our country's most important international race. In Sweden, he won the most important classic for two-year-old trotters with L'amour Pour Blanca, the Group 1 race Svensk Uppfödningslöpning, at the Jägersro trotting track in Malmö.
  • Show jumper Harrie Smolders, who earned his nomination through an extremely successful performance at the top end of international show jumping. The committee has been notching up top-three placings for many years, which earned Harrie a fantastic annual profit of over €1,000,325. The final score for 2023, including other rankings, amounts to over €1.5 million. With his big earner Monaco N.O.P., he finished second in the Paris Grand Prix and third in the World Cup Final in Omaha. In the Global Champions Tour (GCT), he finished second in the Monaco Grand Prix and third in the London Grand Prix. With Uricas van de Kattevennen, he won the Grand Prix of Sankt Gallen and, in the GCT, the Grand Prix of Riesenbeck. With this horse, he won bronze at the Dutch Championships. All's well that ends well, the performances in the GCT tour turned out to be good for first place in the final standings, earning the sum of €294,500. On the FEI Jumping Ranking, Harrie was in 11th place on 31 December 2023. This makes him the highest-placed Dutchman.

Commission's choice
Bram Chardon's achievements, however good and professional, did not outweigh his two fellow nominees, who are much more internationally competitive, in the opinion of the Commission. Rick Ebbinge scored highly with his second consecutive world title, but ultimately lost out to Harrie Smolders, who, in the internationally highly competitive show jumping sport, achieved a final result that had long been thought impossible for Dutch riders.

The honouring will take place on Friday evening, 8 March, in the main arena. The complete list of all winners is online here.

The full programme is published here. Order your tickets now and don’t miss anything of this edition of The Dutch Masters!

Photos: TDM/Digishots