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The governing body for horse sport, International Equestrian Federation, has today confirmed that Ireland will be promoted to show jumping’s Samsung Super League in 2008.

The Samsung Super League is for the top eight show jumping nations in the world. The Irish team replaces France, which has been demoted to compete in only the nations cup series, after finishing bottom in Super League rankings for this year.

The Irish show jumpers were relegated from the elite league at the end of 2006, but their success in the FEI nations cup series this year has secured their return. Ireland currently tops the nations cup table and, although one event in Buenos Aires remains, its position cannot be threatened by closest rivals Denmark and Italy.

Early wins in the nations cup series establish Ireland as the early leader, a position that was unassailable throughout the year.

Irish team manager Robert Splaine hopes to establish a better position in the Super League in 2008 than in 2006, when the team struggled to avoid relegation.

“We are stronger and more determined after having to fight our way back to the top,” he said. “But the Super League is where we want to be, even though it is very tough, and I know we will have a challenging year ahead.”

The Northern Ireland International Horse Show saw a fantastic £10,000 victory for Laura Kraut’s 16-year-old Anthem in the Equestrian Sportsman Grand Prix finale at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast (25-28 October).

Michael Whitaker finished a close second with his new eight-year-old mare Wonamia Van Den Aard, while Switzerland’s Hansueli Sprunger (Ilton Daye) was third, ahead of John Whitaker and the 10-year-old skewbald Utah Van Erpekom.
Nick Skelton recorded the first British success by bringing Russel home ahead of the Netherlands’ Jurgen Stenfert and BMC’s Naomie in the opening day’s Swift Hire Welcome Stakes.
British riders dominated Friday’s classes. Robert Whitaker steered Karina home to win the North South Language Body International Stakes over his uncle, Michael Whitaker, with Lady Des Hayettes.
The evening’s feature class, the WKD International, was a triumph for Nick Skelton with Arko. Dutchman Gerald Geesink, 24, claimed runner-up spot just 1sec off the winning time.

Britain’s Ben Maher, also 24, claimed third with the promising young mare Rolette.
Youth had its revenge in the Irish Horse Board Top Score event when 22-year-old Australian Matt Williams kept the seniors at bay with a great round from Leconte.
Saturday’s Irish Horse Board International was won by Ireland’s Conor Swail and Gold Digger, while the WKD Speed Grand Prix went to Cian O’Connor riding his new mare Faulein Semila.
Saturday’s highlight was the Lagan Puissance, which was won by Shane Breen on Lyssegan Clover Diamond, clearing 7ft 2in.
On Sunday afternoon Tim Stockdale steered Lou Lou into pole position in the SHS Group Stakes.
It was a British whitewash in the final evening’s Northern Ireland Events Speed Stakes when Michael Whitaker and Lady Des Hayettes stormed in ahead of Ben Maher (Akosie Du Wonderland) and William Funnell (Cortaflex Amber Du Montois).

The 2007 Northern Ireland International Horse Show is set to see the return of familiar faces to the Odyssey Arena, as well as welcoming some new faces as they compete for the £100,000 prize fund over 4 days of action. With classes ranging from speed stakes, accumulator, top score, grand prix classes to the high jump over the lagan wall in the Puissance, where we seen the wall rise to 2.18m in 2006, can we get any higher in 2007?

Below is a list of riders that have confirmed their participation in the Northern Ireland International Horse Show 2007. Many more riders have yet to confirm, look out as we update the list as we get closer to the start of the show.

Australia (AUS)
James Paterson Robinson
Matthew Williams

Belgium (BEL)
Francois Mathy
Jan Vlemmix

Egypt (EGY)
Abdel Said

Great Britain (GBR)
Julie Andrews
Mark Armstrong
Geoff Billington
William Funnell
Ben Maher
Nick Skelton
Robert Smith
Tim Stockdale
John Whitaker
Michael Whitaker
Robert Whitaker

Ireland (IRL)
Joanne Sloan Allen *
Shane Breen
Marie Burke
Capt. Shane Carey
Anthony Condon – YR*
Ryan Crumley
Kenny Darragh *
Comdt Gerry Flynn
Marion Hughes
Dermott Lennon
Clem McMahon
Cain O’Connor
Paul O’Shea
David Quigley
Connor Swail
Billy Twomey
*- No FEI Ranking

Netherlands (NED)
Jochen Munsterhuis
Jurgen Stenfert
Gerald Geesink

Portugal (POR)
Miguel Bravo

Russia (RUS)
Rami Al-Shear

Sweden (SWE)
Linda Heed

Switzerland (SUI)
Hansueli Sprunger

United States of America (USA)
Laura Kraut

The International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) has been selected as the official show charity of this year’s Olympia, London International Horse Show (December 17-22).

This year Olympia celebrates its 100th anniversary and the ILPH will benefit from a special Gala Centenary performance on opening night, where 50p from every ticket sold will be donated to the charity.

Show Director Simon Brooks-Ward said: “We are delighted to welcome the ILPH to Olympia as our official show charity and hope it will encourage even more people to support their incredibly important equine welfare work both at home and abroad.

“The Show is really gearing up to produce something special this year. As well as celebrating the wonderful history, we are going to look forward as well. Archive footage dating back from the 1920s, projections onto huge screens on the Hall’s gable ends, well known narrators and a musical score will take the audience through the glorious past, the present and what we intend to make Olympia in the future. It is a massive theatrical and presentational effort that I hope will find our audience clamouring for more of the same.”

During the Show the ILPH will be manning the ’shop and drop’ point and mascot Hoof It Harry will be making regular appearances around the venue. The ILPH stand is number GH10 in the retail village will provide the last chance to buy ILPH raffle tickets with a top prize of £10,000.

It won’t be so long before Vlaanderens Kerstjumping – Memorial Eric Wauters 2007. We still remember the beautiful and emotional last moments of the 26th edition with a Belgian Top 4 in the World Cup Show Jumping. A fantastique and historical moment for Jumping Mechelen. Will Dirk Demeersman or one of his Belgian colleagues manage to win the World Cup this year ? Well, whoever wins - we look forward seeing some amazing showjumping!

The 27th edition is planned from Wednesday 26 to 30 December 2007. The Vlaanderens Kerstjumping – Memorial Eric Wauters 2007 is a CSIW 5* and the best riders from all over the whole world will be there!

There have been some small changes in the program. The amateur- and eventing riders made place for the junior riders with a CSIJ cat. A and all the finals of the “Botte d’Or”.

The four main acts are as followed : the World Cup Dressage on Thursday 27 December in the afternoon, the Grand Prix jumping on Saturday evening 29 December, the Rolex FEI World Cup Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon and the World Cup Driving on Saturday evening 30 December. Moreover several national finals, children classes, stallion classes, the six-bars and the Ride & Drive (for riders and their grooms).

As always Jumping Mechelen pays a lot of attention to the breeding : loose jumping for 2 year old horses, the Darco cup and the Auction. All this sport will be intermingled with beautiful shows with Jean-Francois Pignon and the Mini Steeple Chase, funny animation and swinging parties. Don’t miss this horsy Christmas party !!!

Palm Beach USA March 12-16 2008
Doha QAT April 10-12 2008
Cannes FRA June 12-15 2008
Monte-Carlo MON June 26-28 2008
Estoril POR July 10-12 2008
Valkenswaard NED July 31 August 1-3 2008
Arezzo ITA September 11-13 2008
Athens GRE September 25-27 2008
Sao Paulo BRA October 8-12 2008

Hong Kong - host of the equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics - may not be able to field a show jumping team because of eligibility requirements.

The territory needs to put forward a minimum of three riders to compete in the show jumping events.

But none of the top potential riders have all the necessary credentials, Hong Kong Equestrian Federation official Edwin McAuley said yesterday.

Show jumpers need to have both a certificate of competence gained by competing in International Events and a Hong Kong passport.

According to McAuley, only one rider in Hong Kong has a certificate - Charlotte Morse, a US passport holder.

Unfortunately, two riders who do have Hong Kong passports do not have a competence certificate, he said.

McAuley said there are a number of good riders with family or other ties to Hong Kong, including one ethnic- Chinese American who has competed for the territory in the past, who want to gain the certificate, but are unsure if they will be able to compete because of the nationality issue.

To get a Hong Kong passport, one needs to become a naturalized Chinese citizen, spend seven continuous years in Hong Kong and relinquish any other passport or nationality.

“Of course, to give up a US or British passport to compete at the Games is a big decision for any athlete and one has to consider the alternatives carefully,” said American-Chinese Jennifer Chang, who won the World Cup qualifier for Hong Kong at the Malaysian Open in August.

McAuley said the International Olympic Committee had made previous exceptions on the passport issue, but only at the request of National Olympic Committees.

He has appealed since January to the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong - but has failed to get a clear answer.

“These are all people who have a legitimate connection with Hong Kong. It’s not as if we’ve gone out and tried to raid some other countries to find good athletes, which of course does happen in other sports,” he said.

Rutherford Latham is the World Cup Winner!

The second Qualifier of the Western European league resulted in a surprise winner when Rutherford Latham, 53, jumped to his first ever World Cup Qualifier victory in the Rolex FEI World Cup in Helsinki roding his stallion Guarana Champeix. Rolf-Göran Bengtsson was second for Sweden and Heinrich Hermann Engemann from Germany third.

This was also the first time that two Finnish riders have scored World Cup points in the same class. Mikael Forstén with Isaac du Jonquet was seventh and Noora Pentti´s Evli Cagliostro was placed eleventh.

The new fibresand footing enabled Aki Ylänne to design a big and a technical course. Especially the combinations were challenging and only three horses out of 39 went clear and nine horses had one fence down.

”I found the track really difficult to ride. One always tries to go clear, but to be honest, I did not believe in my own chances. I really surprised myself, said the happy winner, Rutherford Latham.

Latham has ridden his now 14-year-old Selle Francais stallion Guarana Champeix since he was five years old.

Rolf-Göran Bengtsson was second to go in the jump-off and wanted just to go clear. His plan worked, and resulted in second place.

”I knew that I would have no chance of being faster than Latham. So I tried to give Quintero La Silla a nice steady and clear jump-off. My plan worked when Engemann, who started last in the jump-off, hit the last fence and got four faults.

Mikael Forstén, who also won the prize for the best Finnish rider of the show, was happy with his World Cup round that gave four faults.

”It was a difficult course but my horse Isaac du Jonquet made it feel easy. He was jumping with great power and gave me such a huge jump over the triple bar that started the line towards the double that I lost my striding and got too close to the first element of the double. However, all in all, the weekend was a good one even though I did not hit the jackpot,” said Forstén.

Mikael Forstén´s partner Noora Pentti was equally pleased with their joint achievements.

”My new horse Atlas felt great and Evli Cagliostro jumped unbelievably well. I feel that Team Forstén-Pentti has shown that we are serious competitors at this level,” she said.

Pentti represents Finland in the third Qualifier of the Western European Rolex FEI World Cup league that takes place in Verona, Italy. Finnish riders share a problem with Swedish Rolf-Göran Bengtsson. Both countries have only one place in each Qualifier.

45.000 People Wanted to See the Stars

Glitnir Helsinki International Horse Show is the biggest annual indoor event in Finland. This year 45.000 visitors came to Hartwall Arena. The number of visitors is one of the highest in the history of the show. This time there were nine performances instead of eight because the most successful dressage rider in the world, Anky van Grunsven had her own lecture demonstration performance on the first night.

Next year Glitnir Helsinki International Horse Show welcomes you on October 16th to 19th 2008.

German show jumping star Toni Hassmann has had to pull out of this week’s Northern Ireland International Horse Show at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast after being handed down a two-month suspension by the international equestrian federation, the FEI.
Two banned substances were discovered in his horse, Classic, during the World Cup show in Bordeaux, France in February and although the FEI’s Judicial Committee accepted the explanation that, unknown to the rider, the horse had been treated by his previous owner in America, he was penalised and will not be back in action until late December.

The Belfast fixture has attracted a strong entry, with representatives from 10 countries including Sweden, USA, Holland, Belgium, Egypt, Portugal, Switzerland, Australia, Great Britain and Ireland vying for £100,000 in prizemoney along with the valuable rider-ranking points available in Friday’s International Stakes and Sunday’s Grand Prix.

The Swiss contingent includes Hansueli Sprunger while Laura Kraut lines out for the USA, Jochen Munsterhuis is amongst three Dutch contenders and Francois Mathy Jnr rides for Belgium.

It is the British line-up however that is likely to present the strongest challenge to the home runners with Nick Skelton, Robert Smith and John Whitaker all signed up along with John’s son Robert Whitaker who scooped the honours in last year’s Puissance.

 Seven year olds

Mennell Watson was the best of the British contingent, finishing seventh in the seven-year-old final at the World Breeding Championships on Helen van Heyningen’s home-bred Halida Du Rouet.

Stallions dominated this final, with the impressive Caballero guided into first place by Bastian Freese, a stable jockey at Paul Schockemöhle’s yard.

The Netherlands’ Gerben Morsink settled for second on Carthino Z, by Carthago Z, with third going to Belgium’s Yves Vanderhasselt on the French-bred Muscaris D’Ariel, a stallion with Diamant De Semilly-Laudanum bloodlines.

With the fastest four faults in the first round, Belgian-based Briton Joe Clee took eighth place on the Andiamo Z-sired An Sidec.

Six year olds

Holland dominated the hotly contested six-year-old final, which was topped by physics student Gerben Morsink on the Zandor-sired Zekina Z.

Stuart Neads was Britain’s only jump-off hope, but he dropped to 14th after tipping a pole on Andy Doswell’s Amoroso Van De Helle, a Holsteiner stallion by Acorado.

Laura Renwick on her British foreign-bred champion Beluga and John Popely with his wife Lea’s home-bred national champion Tiger Lily saw their hopes die with four faults apiece in the first round.

Five year olds

With 27 in the five-year-old jump-off, the clock was always going to dictate, but despite serious challenges along the way, Columbian Dayro Arroyave’s devastating early round meant that Opera De Rizzi Z became the second champion for Zangersheide.

Mares were dominant here, filling the top six places, with second and third going to Marielle Schroder’s Virginia ahead of Anne van Vulpen and Society’s Voila.

Laura Renwick again had four faults in the first round on Vernon G and Britain’s jump-off hopes rested with another Essex-based rider, Barry Dove. But four faults dropped the Chellano Z grey Cosmos to 22nd.

Sires of the World

The prestigious Sires of the World title went to Jaguar Mail, who covered 200 mares this year. He was ridden here by Sweden’s Peter Eriksson to win by just 0.04sec.

Four faults in round one kept Ronnie Healy out of the jump-off, but he brought Louise Mindermann’s 15-year-old Grannus son Give Me Remus into 15th place.

Britain’s Carron Nicol rode her Kannan stallion Zorro into fifth place in the five-year-old consolation behind Belgium’s Benny Naessens on Defender Z.