By Wang Zijiang and Larry Nield
LONDON, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Alex Hua Tian has galloped into the record books as China's first international competitor in a sport that started life in military cavalry regiments where man and horse needed to work in harmony.
In the equestrian world he is the flag-carrier for the sport of eventing tasked with attracting more followers in China, with hopes his homeland will host a future major showpiece event.
Singing Hua Tian's praises, Christopher Stone, who last year launched a seven-leg Event Rider Masters competition, told Xinhua: "He has helped to improve the profile of the sport in China and we are very lucky to have a rider who is good, and I mean that positively."
Hua Tian had just finished competing in the latest event in the stunning surroundings of one of Britain's most aristocratic homes, Blenheim Palace, birthplace of war time prime minister Winston Churchill.
The 26-year-old, whose father is Chinese and mother English, won a silver medal for China at the 2014 Asian Games and was China's first equestrian Olympian in history, competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and finishing eighth in Rio.
He was also the youngest eventer ever to compete at an Olympics, and while he may not have gained a place on the podium in the equestrian event, he has become a worthy winner and ambassador for the sport.
Although the Eventing Masters is still in its infancy it has already rounded up a global audience of over 3 million regular followers on social media platforms for each leg of a seven-leg series. In the first year there were just 10,000 on-line followers.
"The idea of hosting a seven leg masters eventing is to bring the sport to more people, to make it easier to understand and more accessible," said Stone.
Competitors take part in a show jumping segment, a cross country run and an elegant dressage event.
"Because there are seven legs it is the series that makes it interesting," added Stone.
Hua Tian, explained Stone, just doesn't take part as a rider. Every time he competes he has a chance of winning.
"That is impressive. Hua Tian is the only Chinese athlete at this level in the sport. He doesn't have the same support around him in the same way that British team have, with team trainers and coaches. He does a lot on his own, supported by the sport's federation in China. It is really impressive what he does," said Stone.
Will the Master's ever trot over to China to stage an event?
Stone told Xinhua: "We have had a lot of conversations, and we are talking to some people about next year, hoping we will get some Chinese sponsors on board for next year."
Being realistic, adds Stone, holding a future leg of the masters in China is more long term than a short term likelihood.
"In the long term, the answer is yes. But in the short term, the challenge we have of quarantine regulations. We can get the funding to move the horses, and the riders are willing to travel to China. But the horses are very specialist. You just cannot borrow a horse to do this, it would be very dangerous. So we would have to ship the horses in, and the regulations make it difficult.
"We'd love to have a competition in China, and I would love to do it, but we have to find an answer."
Meanwhile Stone believes Tian does have a chance of winning next year.
"He always has a chance of winning because he is one of the top riders in the world. Horses are not machines. They have a big influence on the results, but Alex (Hua Tian) is a rider capable of winning anywhere in the world.
"The horse he has, Don Geniro, is capable of winning. But the horse is a bit naughty: I don't know what the Chinese word would be for that. The horse has his own opinion and you are never quite sure, but I'm sure Alex will win one of our competitions next year."
Britain's Gemma Tattersall was crowned the 2017 Event Rider Masters Champion at the seventh and final leg of the 543,000 U.S. dollars series.
