JOINT PRESS RELEASE (see attachment)
The Prime Ministerial Decree published in Italy on March 9, indicates that the Covid-19 health emergency affects the whole nation. We are all following the evolution of events from the point of view of health and the social and economic effects with attention and concern; we are also aware that the various problems we must face include the “false start” of the competition season, which has naturally affected our sport as well as others.
With the desire to give our sector an injection of confidence, so necessary in moments like this, Italian Reining Horse Association (IRHA) and ELEMENTA together, in the wake of the collaboration sanctioned by the Members' Meeting of February 22 last, have decided to respond with a new, forward-looking proposal by resetting the Italian show calendar as required by these early months of the health emergency. The idea is to focus on the second half of the year by preparing a sparkling summer and autumn for athletes.
- CremonaFiere / Salone del Cavallo Americano / 28 April - 3 May
IRHA DERBY + SALONE CAVALLO AMERICANO
Added money 80,000 euro - Le Arene / Corropoli - Teramo / 29 June - 4 July
ELEMENTA-IRHA MATURITY (5-UP YO)
Added money 150,000 euro - Fiere di Reggio Emilia / 14-20 September
IRHA PREFUTURITY + COPPA DELLE REGIONI + NRHA OPEN/NP
Added money to be announced - Roma / 8-18 October
ELEMENTA NATIONAL REINING CHAMPIONSHIP + ELEMENTA-IRHA DERBY 5-8 YO + NRHA FREESTYLE + FEI CRIO
TOTAL ADDED MONEY: € 500,000
(NRC 150,000, Derby + Freestyle 350,000) - CremonaFiere / 20-28 November
IRHA-IRHBA FUTURITY 3YO
ELEMENTA-NRHA EUROPEAN FUTURITY 4YO
ELEMENTA/ARCESE IRHA-FISE ITALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
TOTAL ADDED MONEY: € 800,000
(Futurity 3YO: 250,000; EuroFuturity 4YO: 400,000; Italian Championship Finals: 150,000)
All events are NRHA approved. Membership of the NRHA for 2020 will, therefore, also be required for the Finals of the Italian Championship.
The April, September and November events will be organized by the IRHA with the technical support of TFY (Giancarlo Doardo), a company that has been working alongside the Italian Reining Association for many years; the events in June and October will be organized by Terra Communication (Domenico Lomuto), the company of the Elementa group that deals specifically with events management and which demonstrated its quality more than adequately at the 2019 Fieracavalli with the Elementa Masters Premiere. The office of the Show Secretary will be organized jointly by the IRHA and Elementa for all events.
The IRHA expresses satisfaction with the agreement reached and the important calendar resulting from it that ensures the high level of the 2020 competition season despite the difficulties imposed by events relating to the health emergency. In particular, the fact that the European Futurity will remain in Italy is considered extremely important. This outcome was obtained thanks also to the collaboration of Elementa which will contribute 50% of the added money and has also undertaken to finance the reconstruction of the ground of the Cremona arenas. IRHA also wishes to underline that for the first time the added money for the Finals of the Italian Championship has reached the figure of €150,000 thanks to the support of Elementa, Eleuterio Arcese and other partners.
For its part, Elementa wishes to stress that its considerable economic input for the NRHA-IRHA events (Maturity €150,000, EuroFuturity €200,000, part of the €150,000 added money for the Finals of the Italian Championship), as well as of course the purses of the events it organizes, is intended as a clear sign of the shared desire to move in
unison for the well-being and growth of the sport.
Some details are still to be defined, such as the venue for the Elementa event in October which will be held in a prestigious sports facility in Italy's capital, while the IRHA is evaluating the possibility of combining the European Futurity, class in class, with a 4YO IRHA Futurity open to horses not enrolled in the NRHA Nomination Program and therefore, as things stand, currently excluded from the added event.
The new programme jointly defined by the IRHA and Elementa thus invests in the 2020 season beyond the health emergency, expressing confidence in a recovery of the Italian economy to which our sport also contributes with its activities. Hence, the hope is that the changes introduced will allow everyone to fully recover their season's commitments.