Great Britain's Carl Hester, part of the London 2012 gold medal winning team, leads the list of 18 competitors taking part in the dressage events and will be joined by Danish team bronze medallist at Beijing 2008, Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Christian Brühe, representing Palestine, will also be in attendance ahead of the main event in August where Palestine will be one of 14 nations making their debut at the Games.

Morocco and South Korea will also be making their first appearance in the Games and will be represented in the jumping competitions this week by the likes of Abdelkebir Ouaddar, who competed in his first FEI World Cup Jumping Final in Lyon back in April, and 2006 Asian Games silver medallist Jae-Hong Park.

They will be joined in a 50-strong jumping field by home favourite Patrice Delaveau, who currently lies sixth in the Longines Rankings and Hong Kong's Raena Leung, winner of last year's FEI World Cup Jumping China league.

The dressage events will take place tomorrow and Tuesday (June 24) followed by the jumping competitions on Wednesday and Thursday (June 25 and 26).

Fans attending will also have the opportunity to buy tickets for the World Equestrian Games, which is due to take place August 23 to September 7, with a special 20 per cent discount available on Wednesday.

London 2012 champion Carl Hester will be one of the star names competing at the test event in Caen this week ©Getty Images



"The events are being staged on week days to enable the champions to get in some riding between two major competitions in Europe," said Laurent Cellier, director of sports at the Normandy 2014 World Equestrian Games Organising Committee.

"Most importantly, we were keen not to stage our events on dates overlapping historic competitions, like the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup in Rotterdam.

"We respect tradition in Normandy."

The D'Ornano Stadium in Caen will be the main hub of this year's Games and play host to the jumping and dressage events as well the jumping test of the eventing competition.

The stadium, home to Ligue 1 football club Malherbe Caen, will also stage the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Games, which organisers claim are set to be the most international ever with 76 nations expected to take part.

The Para-dressage and driving competitions will take place in the Prairie racecourse in Caen city centre, while the Zenith indoor arena and exhibition centre will host the vaulting and reining competitions.

The cross-country and dressage phases of the eventing competition will take place at the Le Pin National Stud in Orne region while the 160 kilometre endurance event will start off in the town of Sartilly and circle around the Bay of Mont St Michel.

The towns of Saint-Lô and Deauville will each host demonstration sports; horse-ball and polo.

France's Patrice Delaveau will be out to impress on home soil ahead of the World Equestrian Games in August ©AFP/Getty Images



"The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2014 will see a record number of nations taking part," said Ingmar De Vos, FEI secretary general,

"With 14 competing for the first time at these Games, [it demonstrates] the increased globalisation of equestrian sport and the popularity of this flagship event.

"We're now just 62 days away from the start of the Games in Normandy, when we will have 15 days of absolutely top equestrian sport."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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