U.S. Samsung Super League Team Has “Hopes Up” For Finals at Barcelona, Spain on Sunday
Equestrian News Release
Barcelona, Spain - September 16 - The United States show jumping team, named on Saturday, has its “hopes up” for victory in the final of the eight-nation Samsung Super League. A win on Sunday at the Real Club de Polo de Barcelona will cement the team’s place as the 2005 series champion.
Jeffery Welles of Ridgefield, Conn. on Kimmel Yeager Equine’s Armani, Laura Kraut of Oconomowoc, Wis. on Anthem, owned by the Summit Syndicate, McLain Ward of Brewster, N.Y. on Double H Farm’s Oasis, and Lauren Hough of Wellington, Fla. on Casadora, owned by the Casadora Group, were selected by Chef d’Equipe George Morris to ride in the eighth and final double-round team competition. The United States was drawn to start in fourth position.
Aaron Vale of Aiken, S.C. was on standby for the team made of up four riders, but an hour after selection, he claimed the first U.S. victory of the Barcelona CSIO.
Vale rode Artur 28, an 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding owned by Millstream, to claim the Queen’s Cup, for which he won a Lexus sedan valued at $37,000. Vale was exuberant about his win that he said the forty-four riders in the class had talked about all week as “the car class” and “what do you know, but I end up winning it.”
Most attention was focused on the Samsung Super League made up of the world’s eight top show jumping nations. The nation that finishes at the bottom of the leader board Sunday will be dropped from the Super League for 2006.
“We have very nice riders, a nice bunch of horses. I have my hopes up,” Morris said after the draw to establish the order of go. The order is Switzerland, France, Germany, U.S., Ireland, Spain, Britain, Holland and Belgium. Spain is not a Super League nation, but competes as the host nation.
Although the United States has been at or near the top since winning the first Super League competition in La Baule, France and the seventh event at Aachen, Germany, the final awards double points so any of the top four countries could win the series with victory on Sunday. After the United States, the top teams are Germany, Britain and Switzerland.
Morris said he was comfortable with the order of go as “the strategy will be evident by the fourth ride.”
At the draw news conference, Morris caused laughter for his “simple” formula for winning: “Ride well, have nice horses and jump clean.”
However, he noted that only Welles and Armani are proven Super League performers, as they were on the winning team at Aachen. Kraut and Anthem have been a long time international combination, but Ward and Oasis and Hough and Casadora are new pairs at the Super League level.
In announcing that Samsung had agreed to extend its sponsorship of the Super League for another three years, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) said that Barcelona will remain as a Super League location.
Interest in hosting the finals had been expressed by Wellington, Florida based Stadium Jumping, Inc., whose Winter Equestrian Festival is largest and longest running series of equestrian events in the United States, when Barcelona’s three-year contract expired. The contract with Barcelona, the FEI said, will be renewed for another three years.
"It was evident from the very beginning that, with national pride at stake, the competition would be very successful, but no one could have anticipated the degree of enthusiasm and determination with which the series has been embraced," said FEI President Dona Pilar de Borbon.
“The FEI is delighted at the renewal of the contract,” said FEI Sports Director Michael Stone. “We have shown that the Samsung Super League is a good product for both the FEI and for the sport and it is a credit to the teams that have given us great competition over the last three years.”
The official order of go for the final round of the Samsung Super League at Barcelona is as follows:
1- Switzerland; 2- France; 3- Germany; 4- USA; 5- Ireland; 6- Spain; 7- Great Britain; 8- Holland; 9- Belgium.
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