Olympia - Dec 2016

[LaFlottes]

Hi - I want to buy tickets to take my Dad to Olympia this year. Which day would you recommend for seeing some of the bigger names in show jumping and some of the very exciting classes?

Any recommendations would be so useful. Thanks x

We go every year and bought our tickets for the Monday afternoon session back in April (day they came on sale) to give ourselves choice of seats. Whatever day you choose you may want to check if they have seats in the section you like..

We go on Monday as we like to watch the M&M class in the morning but this wouldn't be to everybodys taste.

You really need to decided if you want to go in the morning/afternoon or evening performances. The better days are more expensive and popular..

Have a look at the schedules on their website - I'd say the Sunday is the best day for show jumping.. The extra displays, dog agiity, Shetland pony grand national, finale etc are on at every performance so it really comes down the quality of the show jumping.

It's a great show - entertaining for everybody, not just hard core horsey people..

Thanks so much for your reply.

I've had a look and I'm obviously very late in booking tickets. However there is availability on the Sunday evening, which has the Ivy Stakes and also the Monday afternoon which has the Grand Prix.

Do you think they are both good options? Thanks so much!

Sunday evening will be a fun time. The big jumping class is Sunday afternoon though (the World Cup) and I'm not sure that the Ivy Stakes will be but I'm sure you'll enjoy it. There will also be the mini stakes which i think is the children riding pairs with the adults and all the other performances.

We go on Monday afternoon as we like to see the Mountain and Moorland showing championships (afternoon tickets also allow you into the morning session..) The show jumping is the 6 bar - which is like a sequence of massive jumps in a row - sort of horses which jump the puissance and can be very exciting. The Grand Prix isn't until Monday evening though so the afternoon tickets don't cover that.

I'd say go for whatever date suits you but the evening performance would be slightly more adult. The afternoons tend (as a generalisation) to be more families.

I wait for the cheap Groupon tickets and take whatever seats/days they have. But to be fair I go more for the shopping.

Butkin - Thank you so much you've been a huge help - the Mountain and Moorland showing does sound lovely. I bet the horses are beautiful.

The six bar jumping sounds fun - I would have loved to see the puissance but that day if sold out - I must be quicker next year as I'm thinking this could be an annual outing for me and my Dad if he enjoys it.

I think maybe I will go for the Monday afternoon or the Monday evening as there are still tickets for both and the six bar or the Grand Prix would both be great fun to watch.

Garthmarenghi - I will keep an eye on Groupon too just in case!! Thank you.

Yes the 6 bar is exciting and usually has the big name riders in it.. It is rather odd though just seeing 6 identical jumps across the diagonal of the arena getting higher and higher !

We get there really early (about 8am) and watch the Mountain and Moorland classes (split by breed) and the early rounds of the dog agility and then go for something to eat/shop (the latter is a major part of Olympia for most) and then settle down for the afternoon performance.

Olympia is very different to HOYS in that it is very theatrical and everybody sits down and watches all the performances at the same time. It's like a Christmas show.. There will be some repetition (Shetland Pony Grand National, the displays, the dog jumping) between afternoon and evening but the show jumping will be very different. The Grand Prix will be the last big jumping class of the year and very prestigious..

Hope you have fun - we book from year to year as it has been a major part of our lives growing up and DD has been with us since she was about 4 or 5..

Groupon have their discounted tickets on their site now.