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equestrian competitionsSeveral Ticket Offerings Sold Out for 2010 GamesTicket and Hospitality Sales on the Rise September 2, 2010 – LEXINGTON, KY – 22 Days to Go – Tickets to the Reining Individual Final and Grounds Pass tickets for October 1 are sold out for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Additionally, on-course hospitality for Eventing Cross Country on October 2 has sold out. Only a few hospitality passes to the Makers Mark Bourbon Village remain for October 1. Champions Club tables for Opening Ceremonies, Driving, and Dressage, are nearly sold out. Sales of competition tickets have seen a marked increase in the past six weeks. Most notably, tickets for driving, eventing, jumping and vaulting have seen a strong interest from buyers. Mary King Reigns at Burghley
 Mary King and Apache Sauce have a two-point lead after the first day of Dressage at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials. (Photo: Kit Houghton/FEI) 2 September 2010 – Mary King (GBR) showed all her experience to take the lead after an eventful first day of Dressage at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR), the fourth leg of the HSBC FEI Classics. King, 49, has been riding at Burghley for more than 20 years – she won it in 1996 on Star Appeal – but a momentary lapse in concentration which meant she had to correct an error of course will have cost her valuable marks. Riding the 14-year-old white-faced chestnut Apache Sauce, fourth here in 2008, she missed part of the final canter work and, on arriving at halt, had to be interrupted by Ground Jury member Marilyn Payne (USA). “I haven’t done that for years,” a smiling King said afterwards, confessing to a “blonde moment”. Tapner and Fox-Pitt Poised to Pounce on HSBC FEI Classics at Burghley31 August 2010 – Paul Tapner (AUS) and William Fox-Pitt (GBR) are the riders with most to gain from a big result at this weekend’s Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR, September 2-5). It is the fourth leg of the 2010 HSBC FEI Classics, which carries a prize-pot of US$333,000 to be shared by the five most successful riders across five CCI4* events. The current standings leader, Andreas Dibowski (GER), who has a healthy 7-point lead over this year’s Badminton and Lexington winners, is an absentee from Burghley, and Tapner and Fox-Pitt are poised to pounce. Tapner, who looks set to make his debut on the Australian squad at the forthcoming Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, has two horses with useful CCI4* form: Kilfinnie, 15th last year, and Stormhill Michael, 10th at Badminton. Second Hand News & Jessica Van Brocklin Win the $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Derby at HITS Culpeper
 © ESI Photography. Jessica Van Brocklin and Second Hand News in the $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Derby at HITS Culpeper. CULPEPER, VA (August 30, 2010) — It was the same old story for Second Hand News and Jessica Van Brocklin as they secured the top prize for the consecutive second week in the $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Derby at the Constitution Classic at HITS Commonwealth Park, in Culpeper, Virginia. Van Brocklin shows in the Amateur-Owner Hunters under the tutelage of trainer Pam Baker and got the best of the 17 horse-and-rider combinations in Saturday’s feature class for hunter riders. “It was a difficult course. It allowed for inside turns that were doable and was also wide enough with plenty of options,” said Van Brocklin. “It was very nice course, and I really love the log fences that they include in these types of events,” she continued. Van Brocklin (Alexandria, Virginia) had the top score of 87 in the first round on a course set by Rian Beals. In the handy round, the duo scored an 82.5 (169.5) to propel them to the blue ribbon. “The handy round was great! That’s really our specialty,” said Van Brocklin. Michael Jung Is New HSBC FEI World Cup Champion as Germans Dominate Schenefeld
 The HSBC FEI World Cup Eventing Champion for 2010 Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam. (Photo: Ute Goedecke) 29 August 2010 – Michael Jung was crowned the HSBC FEI World Cup Eventing Champion for 2010 at the last event of the season, Schenefeld (GER), where he emphasised his domination of the series by finishing second, third and fourth behind the winner, Julia Mestern (GER) on FRH Schorsch. After 12 events in 10 countries and three continents, Jung, who is being hailed as one of the world’s most exciting young riders, emerged supreme as the only rider to have won two events, at Marbach (GER) and Strzegom (POL). His reaction on learning that he has won US$50,000 of HSBC prize-money was: “This is wonderful for me because as a professional rider I am always thinking about earning money. This will now allow me to relax and prepare my top horse, Sam, for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky next month. Marcus Ehning, King of Rio
 Photo: Marcus Ehning, by Cymon Taylor. There was a lot riding on the last day of the GCT: the Million Euro Bonus, the Grand Prix of Brazil and the Leading Rider Award, which itself was worth over 25’000 Euro to the winner. Uliano Vezanni was in charge of building the course to sort them out and the first round produced eleven clear rounds but to the amazement of many, Marco Kutscher, leader of the GCT rankings, was not among them when he had two down with Catoki. And Jos Lansink’s chance of snatching the winner’s part of the Bonus disappeared when Spender S had two fences down. But Marcus Ehning was in the eighteen second round contestants and so was Edwina Alexander, lying in fourth but ready to capitalise on anyone else’s misfortunes. Mares and Marcus Rule in Rio
 Marcus Ehning. All photos by Lulu Kyriacou Tonight’s two part class in Rio was a glowing tribute to mares as they filled the top four places in a fourteen horse jump off. The Prix Bradesco was a winning round class so the best 20% went through to the second round against the clock where all of them started on zero. There was another 125’000 in total prize money and this class was open to the national riders as well as the GCT ones so sixty horses were originally in the field. The second phase later that evening was diminished by one when Ellen Whitaker was taken ill and could not jump off. Phillip Weishaupt started the ball rolling on dark bay Souvenir 29 and the pair set an excellent standard of 40.95. It did not like he had left much room for maneuver either. Billy Twomey on another mare Tinka’s Serenade was first to get past the German combination by just two tenths of a second, and then Roger Yves Bost, next in on his young mare Nifrane de Kreisker, removed a stride coming to the last and clipped a second off the Irishman’s time. This was looking unbeatable but you can never say never when the last to jump is Marcus Ehning. Riding his Sandro Boy sired Sabrina, a daring turn to the second last had the desired effect and his time of 39.63 was enough to give him another win on a mare who has barely been unplaced this season. Riders Prepare for Final HSBC Countdown at Schenefeld26 August 2010 – The HSBC FEI World Cup Eventing for 2010 climaxes at Schenefeld in Germany this weekend (August 27-29) as riders bid to boost their rankings in this valuable US$180,000 series. The world-beating German squad will be at Schenefeld in their entirety, as it is a compulsory selection trial before they head to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky to defend their Eventing team gold medal won at the 2006 Games in Aachen. Michael Jung (GER), who heads the HSBC FEI World Cup leaderboard with two victories, at Marbach (GER) and Strzegom (POL), is a definite starter, as are compatriots Andreas Dibowski, Kai Rüder and Kai-Steffen Meier, all of whom are in the current top 10 of the rankings, plus Ingrid Klimke, Frank Ostholt, Dirk Schrade, Simone Deitermann and Anna Warnecke. Six other nations are represented – Belarus, Brazil, Finland, Japan, Spain and Sweden – and riders such as Viachaslau Poita (BLR) and Aliaksandr Faminou (BLR), first and third at Minsk (BLR), have a good chance of enhancing their status in the HSBC rankings. GCT Brazil Begins with Wins for Christian and Luis
 Luis Francisco Azevedo. Photos by Lulu Kyriacou. With the anticipation of seeing the biggest prize in show jumping decided on Saturday and 30’000 at stake for the show’s leading rider and groom, there was much at stake as the last round of the 2010 Global Champions Tour began in Rio De Janeiro tonight. The show started in the best way possible for the Brazilian organisers and audience when Luis Francisco Azevedo won the first class by a whisker from Alvaro de Mirando Neto. Riding his chestnut gelding Une A Basta, Luis Francisco snatched the lead from Edwina Alexander and Kisby with a time of 51.51. Next to go was Alvaro and AD Norson has been prominent in GCT speed classes this year but today was not his night. To screams of encouragement, the pair galloped for the last only for the clock to show 51.68. The Brazilian pair was immediately followed by Denis Lynch and Lacroix but he ended up a second adrift of the winner although 52.66 was good enough for third. Luis Francisco is the youngest son of a famous show jumping family. His father has represented the country at the Olympic Games and his brother Luis Felipe, who went so well in the GCT Grand Prix of Monaco, is also competing here. Arenus Riders Cesar Parra and Kassandra Barteau Take Top Honors at Gladstone Dressage Festival of Champions
 Cesar Parra, Kassie Barteau and Yvonne Barteau took home first, second and third place respectively in the National Intermediaire I Championship at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions. (Photo courtesy of JRPR) Gladstone, NJ (August 26, 2010) – Cesar Parra and Kassandra Barteau took top honors in the National Intermediaire I Championship at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions, with Parra earning the Championship and Barteau the Reserve Championship. Parra and Barteau may compete against each other in the ring, but outside of the competitive world the two ride for the same team as both are sponsored by Arenus, a premier provider of innovative health and nutritional products for pets and horses, featuring the ASSURE, STEADFAST, EQUILITE, SORE NO-MORE, ALEIRA and RELEIRA product families. Parra, an EQUILITE Ambassador and long-time user of the EQUILITE line of products, including SORE NO-MORE, rode into the winner’s circle on Olympia, a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Dr. Lori Washton. It was an emotional experience for Parra, a native of Colombia, who recently became an American citizen and rode for the USA at Gladstone for the first time. |
