Classic Hamptons: How the Annual Horse Show Became an Enduring East End Tradition
by ELLIMAN INSIDER TEAM
August 2026
Of all the events and milestones that mark a summer in the Hamptons, the Hampton Classic Horse Show looms largest as the East End’s unofficial season finale.
Each August, some of the world's leading riders and horses arrive in Bridgehampton for a week of competition that draws the international equestrian community to the area. But the Classic has long attracted an audience far beyond the sport. Families return year after year. Friends and clients gather around tables overlooking the Grand Prix ring. Fashion, design and luxury brands set up shop. And on the final Sunday, the season draws to a close with one of show jumping's most coveted titles on the line.
In 2026, that tradition carries added significance for Douglas Elliman. The firm is celebrating its 30th consecutive year as an official sponsor of the Hampton Classic, a relationship that has evolved alongside the event and the Hamptons itself.
From Local Horse Show to International Competition
The Hampton Classic's history is closely tied to the East End's own equestrian tradition. Horse shows have been held in Southampton as early as the beginning of the 20th century, and riding flourished in the area during the 1920s and 1930s. The Southampton Horse Show was revived in 1971, and in 1976, organizers set out to transform what had been a local event into a five-day, nationally rated competition capable of attracting leading riders and horses.
Its debut proved memorable for reasons no one planned. A hurricane struck the night before the show was scheduled to begin, toppling stabling tents and forcing hundreds of horses to be evacuated. Crews and volunteers rebuilt, and the competition opened just a day and a half late.
A year later, the Hampton Classic formally incorporated the Southampton Horse Show. In 1982, it moved to its current Bridgehampton home and over the decades that followed developed into one of the country's leading hunter-jumper competitions. Along the way, the Grand Prix earned designation as a World Cup qualifying event, and the Classic welcomed some of the sport's most accomplished competitors.
Today, the Classic features more than 100 classes of competition, ranging from the much-loved Leadline classes on opening day to FEI 5* and 2* show jumping and world-class hunters. The week culminates with the $400,000 Longines Hampton Classic 5* Grand Prix, one of the most coveted titles in the sport.
Douglas Elliman's Enzo Morabito has experienced that evolution firsthand. A longtime equestrian, he has attended the Hampton Classic for 45 years.
"I've been riding for decades, first through polo, and later competing in the adult amateur jumpers," says Morabito. "One winter, I spent two months competing down in Wellington at the Winter Equestrian Festival, where every Sunday was the Grand Prix. That had been on my bucket list for years, and finally doing it changed how I saw the sport, and the Classic, entirely. But nothing quite compares to the Hampton Classic."
More Than a Horse Show
In the decades Morabito has attended the Classic, hosting a table full of guests each year, he has watched the event grow alongside the Hamptons and attract an audience increasingly broader than the equestrian community.
"It remains one of the country's premier horse shows, but it's also become a true Hamptons tradition, a place where the community comes together at the close of summer," says Morabito. "What's allowed it to stay so special is that blend: world-class competition, tradition, philanthropy and the social energy of the Hamptons, all in one place."
Some 50,000 attendees — including may A-list celebrities — now come through the grounds over the course of the week. Alongside six competition rings, the showgrounds include the Agneta Currey Boutique Garden, more than 70 vendors and an array of dining and hospitality offerings.
"You don't have to be an equestrian to appreciate the atmosphere, the history or the sense of community it creates," says Morabito. "It's become part of the fabric of the Hamptons, something people look forward to year after year."
That ability to appeal to serious competitors and casual spectators alike has helped the Classic occupy an unusual place in Hamptons culture: international in reach but still closely identified with the community around it.
Hamptons Style
The equestrian world has always prized quality and functionality: tailored jackets, polished boots, handcrafted leather and natural materials designed to perform and last. In the Hamptons, that sensibility meets a similarly relaxed approach to luxury.
Competition attire shares the grounds with late-summer fashion, while tables overlooking the action become gathering places for friends, family and clients. Open fields and established landscapes remain as much a part of the experience as the tents and show rings.
The result is distinctly Hamptons: polished without being overly formal and grounded in the outdoor setting that has defined the event from the beginning.
Top left: Enzo Morabito; top right: Todd Bourgard.
A 30-Year Partnership
Douglas Elliman became an official sponsor of the Hampton Classic in 1996. Three decades later, the firm is one of the event's longest-standing corporate partners.
The partnership has grown along with both organizations. Today, Elliman sponsors the $116,100 Douglas Elliman 5* Grand Prix Qualifier, which determines the starting lineup for the Classic's culminating Longines Hampton Classic 5* Grand Prix. The firm's biannual Equestrian magazine, available during Classic week and across Elliman's markets, extends that connection to equestrian communities around the country.
Over three decades, Elliman agents, clients and friends have returned to the Classic season after season, making the event part of the firm's own Hamptons tradition.
"Our 30-year partnership with the Hampton Classic reflects the deep roots Douglas Elliman has in the Hamptons and our longstanding commitment to this community," says Todd Bourgard, CEO of Douglas Elliman's Long Island, Hamptons and North Fork Region. "The Classic has grown into an internationally recognized sporting event, but it has never lost the sense of tradition and community that makes it so distinctly Hamptons. We're incredibly proud to have grown alongside it and to continue supporting an event that brings our agents, clients, neighbors and visitors together year after year."
The Unofficial Farewell to Summer
For all that has changed, some of the Hampton Classic's most recognizable traditions have remained remarkably consistent.
Opening day still brings young riders into the ring for the Leadline classes as proud parents and grandparents watch from the sidelines. Families return each year. Riders and spectators reconnect. And Grand Prix Sunday still arrives with the unmistakable feeling that another Hamptons summer is coming to a close.
The competition has become more international. The caliber of sport has continued to rise. The Hamptons have become a global destination. Yet the Classic has retained a sense of tradition and community alongside that growth.
For eight days each August, the Hampton Classic brings world-class equestrian sport to Bridgehampton. But entering its 51st edition, it has become something broader: part of the calendar, culture and collective memory of the Hamptons.
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