I’ve had the good fortune to catch the last two Sunday 1.50 classics at WEF but the bad fortune to find myself dismayed at the outcome. In the past, this was my favorite class to bring a horse to, groom-wise, without the pressure that goes with a 1.60 and a grand place to bring along a young one or let your oldie show off. If you went clear, you came back to jump off. These days, however, the top 12 on faults and time come back and start from scratch. So this presents 3 problems: A four faulter can take the win; Nice clears can be excluded from the j/o; and those halfway through the first round order have a huge advantage knowing how crazy they have to go to advance. As a result the later rounds in the first week were full of very unpleasant cowboying and this week it looked like a lot of the best entries simply gave up and cantered around for the mileage. I was particularly irked when Margie and Dicas popped off a stellar round and were left off the short round list despite being 5 seconds within the time. Who thought up this format? It seems counter-productive.
If I remember correctly, it’s intended as a crowd-pleasing format to ensure there is always a jump-off with a predictable number of entries.
Of course, one could argue that an important aspect of course design is anticipating how many will go clear and adjusting the level of difficulty accordingly to hopefully end up with a certain portion of the class in the jump off, but 🤷
Could you explain this more? You’re saying Margie went double clear but didn’t come back to jump off? That confuses me no matter the format.
Further to this question – is this because in spite of being clear and well under the time, Margie didn’t race through the round fast enough to make the top 12?
Does someone who jumps through a top rail or two, but is super-fast around the course, have an advantage over a clean round?
Is this format turning it into a race instead of a good & fast jumper competition? That is my real question.
An over-emphasis on time, over riding and jumping well, will filter down the ranks and is going to come back on the sport in such a negative way, from so many points of view.
Sorry, she turned in a fast and clean round to begin with but was bumped off the jump-off list by others who were faster. The rounds tend to get faster as the day goes on and the clears accumulate. Those going late often have to go unwisely fast. Poor Dicas went early then had to wait around almost to the end to get bumped. Only 12 move on to the 2d round. Spencer Smith had a gorgeous first round also but did not advance. I feel cheated.
No, clear rounds are ranked ahead of rounds with a rail in the first round. However, they all come back with a clean slate in the 12 horse jumpoff, so if there are 8 clears in the first round, there are four people who did not leave all the jumps up who could ultimately win. Last Sunday there were more clears than slots in the jumpoff so that was not a factor. But there were some really nice jumpers that we did not get to see twice.
Ok so looking at results for WEF and not finding the classes that you’ve alluded to.
Closest I have come is the 2/23 class of the $62,500 FEI 5* Hermès 1.50m Classic.
Dicas finished 19th and had a rail in the first round.
The rules of this format are here:
The format is 238.2.2
Emily
This is the one from 3/10:
Ok so the class format is:
"In this Competition at least 25% and a minimum of ten Athletes of the first round qualify for the winning round, in which they start in reverse order of the results (Penalties and time) of the first round. The following Athletes qualify for the winning round according to the conditions of the Schedule: (i) at least 25% or a set number of Athletes, in any case a minimum of ten Athletes, qualify for the winning round based on their Penalties and time in the first round; or, (ii) at least 25% or a set number of Athletes, in any case a minimum of ten Athletes, qualify for the winning round, based on their penalties and time in the first round, and in any case all Athletes without penalties in the first round, qualify for the winning round. "
And FEI is the one that made this format.
Emily
I just don’t love it. Of the two classes I’ve seen, one looked like the Shetland pony races and the other had entries near the end that just went for a school, which is unusual for a Sunday. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth the 1.50 classic had entries competing for a chance to race, not racing for a chance to compete, if that makes sense.
I get all of that but your feedback would be best directed to 1) WEF for them to know and 2) the FEI.
They both may or may not do anything but feedback directly to them has at least a small chance of evoking change.
Em
Got it. Thanks.
Yes, it does help those who were at or near the bottom of the 12 callbacks.
Re-leveling the field definitely increases the suspense. Can understand that this is exciting to watch.
You need to get others who see it as you do to also send in their comments. One comment won’t matter, to be honest. Numbers of comments with the same feelings are what resonate with organizations.
Comments can also come for people who are watching by video – obviously important to the organizations – as well as those who saw it in person.
I think it’s just a different class and not for every rider or horse. Not all skaters or swimmers or divers or runners participate in everything their sport offers, so why should riders. If the rider doesn’t like the rules or how they have to ride in the class, then they should not enter it.
The Olympics has riders come back on a clean slate. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad.
Every class has advantages or disadvantages where you go in the order. It could be watching other riders, rain, wind, footing, time of day.
But, I respect the OP’s opinion and I’d be a bit sad if I was Margie.
Personally, I think it’s an interesting format that brings variety to a week that is filled with the same-old. It’s noble to feel disappointed for a rider who jumped a clear and didn’t advance, but they entered the class knowing that was a possibility.
If we want people to respect riding as a sport, we need to treat it as such. Speed and clean are the name of the game in the jumpers — it doesn’t seem right to complain that someone went faster than someone else, when there are hundreds of other classes at the show judged on other criteria.
Also, it’s WEF — arguably the most competitive venue in the entire country. I jumped double-clear and reasonably fast yesterday and still was only 15th out of 45. 
I am not sure who said it first, but this is a quotation I have heard most of my life “When you start charging admission, it (any sport) stops being a sport, and becomes entertainment.”
This combined with
tells me this is just another step on perverting show jumping from a “sport” into an “entertainment”. The OPPOSITE of “respect riding as a sport.”
It’s pretty tough to argue that, in this day and age, sports are not intended as entertainment. The more people who see show jumping as entertaining, the better off we will be.
I beg to differ.
The WNBA with its $2.2 billion media rights deal says otherwise. 
On the contratry- it confirms that high level Show Jumping has BECOME an ENTERTAINMENT, and is NO LONGER a SPORT.
