Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) Will Host Olympians From Around the World

Wellington, FL – January 16, 2006 – The 2006 Winter Equestrian Festival debuts on January 25, 2006 at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club on Pierson Road in Wellington, Florida. This year’s festival, the nation’s largest and longest consecutively running equestrian sporting event, celebrates thirty-four years in Florida and will be the winter stop for more Olympians than anytime in its history.

The Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) features eight weeks of back-to-back horse shows in Wellington. The one million dollar Grand Prix series features high-stakes show jumping competitions every Thursday and Sunday. The 10-week extravaganza, which also includes two weeks in Tampa, concludes with the United States’ richest outdoor show jumping event, the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday, April 1, 2006.

An exciting new addition at this year’s WEF is the $200,000 FTI Rider Challenge, a rider bonus pool of $200,000. Riders will accumulate points from their performances in the Thursday and Sunday Grand Prix events. The rider with the most points on March 12 will be awarded $100,000. Second place will be given $50,000, third place will receive $30,000, and $20,000 will be given to fourth place. FTI Consulting of Annapolis, MD, is sponsoring the $200,000 FTI Rider Challenge.

New this year is the world-wide debut of the Global Champions Tour during the Winter Equestrian Festival. The tour links six of the world’s most prestigious outdoor show jumping events and begins in Wellington during the Wellington Open, presented by Cosequin, on March 1-5, 2006. Each GCT Grand Prix will carry a purse of €150,000 Euros. A rider’s bonus pool will award €600,000 Euros to the top eight finishers in the series.

Olympians galore and riders from the around the globe highlight the roster of top show jumping stars planning to call Wellington home this winter. Riders from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Columbia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Venezuela and more, have been issued invitations to compete at the 2006 Winter Equestrian Festival.

The line-up from the United States features fifteen Olympians headlined by the 2004 Athens Olympic Team Gold Medalists McLain Ward, Beezie Madden, Alison Firestone, and Chris Kappler. Kappler also won the Individual Silver Medal at Athens.

Team and Individual Gold Medalist Joe Fargis returns, as does Team Gold and Silver Medalist Leslie Howard. Howard was the 1986 World Cup Champion.

They will be joined by the Individual Bronze Medalist from Barcelona, Spain, Norman Dello Joio and his teammate, Lisa Jacquin. Also in attendance will be four-time Olympian Anne Kursinski and Team Silver Medalist Peter Leone. Dello Joio was victorious as well in the 1983 World Cup Finals.

Other United States Olympians appearing at this year’s Winter Equestrian Festival include Margie Engle, Nona Garson, Lauren Hough, Todd Minikus, and Laura Kraut from the 2000 Sydney Olympic team.

2004 Olympic Individual Gold Medalist and three-time World Cup Champion, Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil, tops the roster of International riders with Olympic experience on their resume.

Michael Whitaker and Nick Skelton, two four-time Olympians, will represent Great Britain in Florida this year. Skelton is also the 1995 World Cup Champion.

Ian Millar of Canada will be in spending the entire winter in Wellington this year, after competing on the Ocala circuit for many years. Millar, with an unprecedented eight Olympic appearances for Canada, rode to back to back World Cup Championships in 1988 and 1989. Millar leads a list of six Canadian Olympians scheduled for a WEF appearance in 2006.

Mexico’s Jaime Guerra, winner of this year’s Budweiser AGA Championship at the National Horse Show in Wellington, is a three time Olympian for his home country.

The international list of invitees from around the world includes an incredible thirty-seven Olympic veterans.

One of the highlights of show jumping in Wellington is the Nations’ Cup, a competition that pits teams of show jumpers from multiple countries against each other in two rounds of competition. The 2006 Nations’ Cup, presented by CN on Friday, March 10th, marks the fifth time that the Winter Equestrian Festival will host this prestigious international event. Making the competition especially exciting, the Nations’ Cup will once again be held at night under lights in the Internationale Arena.

In addition to the $1 million Grand Prix series, $500,000 in prize money is offered in the various additional divisions for Open Jumpers. There is a $320,000 Amateur Owner section, a Junior Jumper section worth $220,000 and close to $400,000 offered for Adult Amateur, Senior, and Pony Jumpers. Young Jumpers in three different age groups will compete for $112,000 in prize money.

In this year of the World Equestrian Games at Aachen, Germany, the 2006 Winter Equestrian Festival will be the proving grounds for many riders who desire a chance to compete on the world’s greatest stage in late August and early September. World Equestrian Games Selection Trials will be held at the Internationale Arena on Tuesday, March 21st, Wednesday March 22nd, and on Saturday, March 25, 2006.

This year’s Winter Equestrian Festival, the richest on record and with more Olympians in any one place except the Olympics itself, should be one of the most exciting and competitive equestrian competitions ever held in the United States.

PHOTO CREDIT: Eight time Olympian Ian Millar of Canada . Photo by Peter Llewellyn- HorseSourceLtd.com