Like father, like daughter? Steve Jobs' and Bill Gates' girls go head-to-head at high-society horse riding event in LA

  • Jennifer Gates, Eve Jobs, Georgina Bloomberg and Destry Allyn Spielberg are attending Longines Masters equestrian meet
  • Jessica Bloomberg and Hannah Selleck also fixtures at society event
  • The young women have been moving in horse-riding circles for decades
  • Experts say it gives them a chance to shine away from famous parents 

Their fathers competed for dominance in fields as diverse as technology, media, music and the movies - but these young women have chosen the horse-riding field as their battleground.

The daughters of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Bruce Springsteen and Steven Spielberg have all gathered at a high-society event in Los Angeles, hoping to better their position in the expensive, exclusive and hyper-competitive world of equestrian sport.

Some, such as media and tech heiress Georgina Bloomberg, 36, have been showjumping for more than a decade.

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iRide: Jennifer Gates and Eve Jobs, the 18-year-old offspring of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple founder Steve Jobs respectively, poses for the cameras at the Longines Masters equestrian event in Los Angeles

iRide: Jennifer Gates and Eve Jobs, the 18-year-old offspring of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple founder Steve Jobs respectively, poses for the cameras at the Longines Masters equestrian event in Los Angeles

In competition: Miss Gates is pictured astride her competition horse late last year
Elegant: Miss Jobs is shown above competing at the Longines Masters

In competition: Miss Gates, left, and Miss Jobs, right, are pictured above in action. Miss Jobs is shown at the current competition in LA, Miss Gates at a competition in Austria last December

Others, such as Eve Jobs, daughter to late Apple founder Steve, and Jennifer Gates, whose father founded Microsoft, and Destry Allyn Spring, daughter to Hollywood supremo Steven, are all 18 and still warming to the sport.

Jessica Rae Springsteen, 23, whose father is pop star Bruce, and Hannah Selleck, 26, daughter of actor and producer Tom Selleck, also turned out for the prestigious Longines Masters event this weekend.

The glamorous ladies, who don smart riding gear for the competitions, wore elegant dresses and posed red-carpet style at an opening gala for the Masters event on Thursday night.

All smiles: Eve Jobs poses with other daughters of the rich and famous. From left to right are Miss Jobs, Hannah Selleck (daughter of actor Tom Selleck), Georgina Bloomberg (daughter of Michael Bloomberg) and Jessica Spingsteen (daughter of Bruce Springsteen)

All smiles: Eve Jobs poses with other daughters of the rich and famous. From left to right are Miss Jobs, Hannah Selleck (daughter of actor Tom Selleck), Georgina Bloomberg (daughter of Michael Bloomberg) and Jessica Spingsteen (daughter of Bruce Springsteen)

Famous family: Destry Allyn Spielberg poses in riding gear next to her father, Hollywood supremo Steven, and mother Kate

Famous family: Destry Allyn Spielberg poses in riding gear next to her father, Hollywood supremo Steven, and mother Kate

In the thick of it: Miss Spielberg is pictured above competing. Competition-standard horses often cost in excess of $100,000

In the thick of it: Miss Spielberg is pictured above competing. Competition-standard horses often cost in excess of $100,000

Some snaps from the party showed the girls hugging one another and smiling, reunited again by a key date in the U.S. horse-riding calendar.

These heiresses have met countless times before at similar events, and will know each other, their horses, and their sporting abilities well. 

According to experts, the exclusivity of the event and the fact that it is far removed from any of their father's pursuits means that horse-riding is the perfect escape for the young women.

Posing up: Miss Spielberg poses, left, in a stylish evening outfit
Celebrity fans: Though not members of the young daughters' club, Ashlee Bond (left) and Kaley Cuoco (right) also made an appearance

Posing up: Miss Spielberg poses, left, in a different outfit - while to the right are celebrity horse fans Ashlee Bond and Kaley Cuoco

Olivia Mellan, a psychologist who focuses on the super-rich, told the New York Times last year: 'Kids of famous parents who develop a passion for riding can build self-esteem and pride in their own autonomous accomplishment in a domain separate from their parents’ fame.

'Girls especially benefit from this opportunity to shine'.

Susan B. Schoellkopf, a horse trainer, noted that the cultured crowd in which they move also mean the women's fathers won't be gawked at should they choose to watch their offspring from the sidelines.

MISS GATES AND A VERY EXPENSIVE ANSWER TO DAD'S PLEDGE 

Bill Gates famously declared that he would not leave his billions to his children after they died, so they could achieve something for themselves.

Delivering a TED talk last year, he said: 'We want to strike a balance so they have the freedom to do anything but not sort of a lot of money showered on them so that they can go out and do nothing'.

He added that Jennifer and siblings Phoebe and Rory 'won't have anything like' a billion dollars spent on each of them.

However, Jennifer's choice of horse-riding as her 'anything' does require a certain amount of investment from her parents - including horses worth in excess of $100,000 each, pricey riding gear and extensive travel.

He has also rented properties to enable her dream, and in 2012 the total bill stood at more than $1million -seemingly for just that year. 

However - it has also been pointed out that the rarefied atmosphere can mean that the heiresses end up even further removed from real life.

A former rider who moved in the same circles as Misses Gates, Jobs and Springsteen told Forbes: 'It’s a crazy group of people... it’s well off people who grow up together. It’s a very unrealistic view of the world.

'They get tutors for the winter so can they travel. You’re just around people exactly like you... often it’s the only part of their life that they care about.'

The women themselves are extremely willing to extol the virtues of their horseriding. Speaking to Glamour magazine in 2013, Miss Bloomberg said: 'After graduation it would have been easy for me to get a typical boring desk job or work with my dad.

'But I would've hated it. Like any career, riding's about taking risks, hard work, and sacrifice, and with show jumping, you take risks - I've fallen and fractured my spine twice - it develops character.'

Miss Jobs has also spoken out about riding, which she describes as her 'passion'. In an interview with her high school newspaper, the Paly Campanile, early this year, she said: 'It takes up a lot of time, and school is definitely hard to balance, but we make it work'.

'You have to miss a lot of school for competitions but it’s fun and a great sport. It’s also very rewarding just to do well and have your hard work pay off.'

She continued: 'I plan to take equestrian as far as I can, definitely after college... Ultimately, I want to make it to the World Equestrian Games and the Olympics but, I still have a long way to go.'

WHO'S THE DADDY? THE WEALTH OF THE HORSE SET CAME FROM 

Bill Gates, father of Jennifer - Microsoft founder, worth $76billion

Steve Jobs (deceased), father of Eve - Apple founder, estate worth $18.7billion

Michael Bloomberg, father of Georgina - former NYC mayor, media mogul - worth $38.1billion

Steven Spielberg, father of Destry Allyn - prolific Hollywood director - worth $3.6billion 

Bruce Spingsteen, father of Jessica - rock star - worth $300million

Tom Selleck, father of Hannah - actor and producer - worth $25million

Sources: Forbes (Gates, Jobs, Bloomberg, Spielberg), Celebritynetworth.com (Springsteen and Selleck)

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