April 22, 2000 Las Vegas, Nevada - After a rather disappointing week in which she failed to make it into the final round of the World Cup, Alison Firestone emerged the winner in the $50,000 Las Vegas Grand Prix, held during the World Cup Show Jumping competition. Riding Arnica de la Barre, Firestone was one of only three riders to go clear to make the jump off. She took home $16,500. "I'm thrilled that I won the Grand Prix, but I'm still disappointed that I'm not in the final," Firestone said after her victory. She'll be watching the World Cup final from the sidelines.

The starting course of 15 jumps presented quite a challenge to some of the world's top show jumping riders, among them Margie Goldstein-Engle, Britain's John Whitaker, and American Hap Hansen. Hansen, a clear crowd favorite, had trouble from the start when Gienow's Lillian became overly excited by the enthusiastic crowd. The pair finished with 12 jumping faults and a time fault of .25.

Several riders had trouble with the second jump, which required a tight turn off the first. Also a problem was the triple combination. Richard Spooner and Southshore had a beautiful ride going until the triple. Southshore hit the first fence and while the rail rocked it didn't drop. The crowd let out a big sigh of relief only to watch Southshore hit the second fence of the combination dropping a rail to finish with four faults.

Firestone and Arnica de la Barre, a 12-year-old Selle Francais mare, whose sire is Jalisco B, were the first to go in the jump off and they quickly set the pace going clear with a time of 33.25 seconds. "I knew Thomas and Malin were fast riders. So, I knew I just couldn't canter around. I knew that I needed to keep a bit of a pace throughout," Firestone said.

Finishing second in the Grand Prix, worth $12,100, was Thomas Velin, of Denmark, riding Equest Carnute, a 10-year-old Selle Francais stallion out of Oberon du Moulin AA and Dynamique. Velin said he didn't see Firestone's jump-off ride but his sister warned him that it was fast.

In the jump off he had a beautiful ride going and was catching Firestone's time when Equest Carnute essentially failed to jump the last fence -- the second part of a double combination. The pair plowed through the fence rather than over it.

"I came very fast around the corner and I lost a little balance and I had to push him," Velin said. Equest Carnute made the first fence but tried to take the second on one stride for what was a two-stride fence.

Third place, worth $8,250, went to the only other pair to make the jump off -- Sweden's Malin Baryard riding Hennes & Mauritz Corrmint, a 15-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding out of Cortez 679 and Utrillo 432. They were also clear in the jump off until the final combination. Corrmint had trouble in the turn to the final fence and didn't recover in time to jump clear. "My horse slipped before the oxer and I had no chance getting over it, unfortunately," Baryard said.

Coverage for horsesdaily by Linndee Kemmet
Photo by Dirk Caremens

Horsesdaily World Cup Coverage
April 23 - Pessoa Makes World Cup History With Third Consecutive Win
April 22 - Barrel Racing Show Jumping Riders Entertain the Crowd
April 21 - Tinka's Boy and Markus Fuch win Second Round
Finalists for the 2000 World Cup for Showjumping
Rodrigo Pessoa Wins 1999 World Cup for Show Jumping for the second time.
For World Cup photos visit the website of Dirk Caremens from Belgium
Results Posted
www.worldcup2000lasvegas.com