Le Lion d’Angers

The eventing World Championships for six- and seven-year-old horses – or officially, the WBFSH (World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses) Eventing World Breeding Championships – take place each autumn in Le Lion d’Angers, France.

This is a highly prestigious competition in which the best young horses in the world go head to head with their peers. The six-year-olds compete at CCI2*-L level and the seven-year-olds at CCI3*-L.

The competition at Le Lion is renowned for providing the young horses with a true big event atmosphere. The cross-country course is always beautifully decorated and large crowds attend the event, providing plenty for these inexperienced horses to cope with as they take part in the competition.

Past winners of Le Lion d’Angers

Numerous horses who have gone on to success at the top level of eventing have competed at Le Lion.

Past winners include Andrew Hoy’s double Olympic gold medallist Darien Powers (winner at Le Lion in 1994), Ingrid Klimke’s world team gold medallist and individual European bronze medallist Sleep Late (winner in 1998), William Fox-Pitt’s Pau Horse Trials five-star winner Oslo (winner at Le Lion in 2008) and Michael Jung’s world silver medallist and three-time Kentucky Three-Day Event winner FischerRocana FST (winner at Le Lion in 2011)

The year 2000 was a particularly bonza one for Le Lion because Nicolas Touzaint’s ride Galan De Sauvagère won the six-year-old title and Pippa Funnell piloted Primmore’s Pride to the seven-year-old title. Galan De Sauvagère went on to be a double European champion and win Olympic team gold and Primmore’s Pride won Badminton Horse Trials and Burghley Trials and an individual Olympic bronze. Galan is among those horses who have done the Le Lion double as he also won the seven-year-olds in 2001.

How to watch Le Lion d’Angers 2022

The action from Le Lion d’Angers (22-23 October 2022) is available to view on ClipMyHorse.TV. It is also available to watch via the FEI Eventing facebook page.