Silver Oak Jumper Tournament Drawing an All-Star Equestrian Lineup

Ireland's Paul O'Shea winner of the main event last year, returns to the Silver Oak Jumper Tournament to defend his title. Photo by Tammy Hardy

Halifax, MA - This year's Silver Oak Jumper Tournament, at Fieldstone Show Park, just 28 miles south of Boston, continues to prepare for this summer's highlight event, scheduled from August 13 - 17, 2014. And the list of all-star riders increases by the day. The show runs Wednesday through Sunday with show jumping classes every day. The main event is Sunday's $75,000 Agero Grand Prix and will feature a world-class field of top equestrians from around the world.

Ireland's Paul O'Shea is at the top of the list of all star equestrians planning their trip to Halifax this year. O'Shea is the defending champion, having won last year's grand prix in fine fashion aboard Primo de Revel. Since his victory here last year, O'Shea has had a tremendous tour, including big-time wins at Lake Placid, NY and an exciting win in the $100,000 Grand Prix of Devon.

It's a strong Ireland contingent this year as O'Shea will be joined by Kevin Babington and Darragh Kerins. Babington, a winner this winter in Wellington is also a past Grand Prix of Devon champion, while Kerins comes to Halifax following a hard fought win in the $35,000 Spruce Meadows Spectra Energy Cup at Calgary, Canada.
 
American Olympians Margie Goldstein Engle, Peter Leone, Peter Wylde, Norman Dello Joio and Leslie Howard are scheduled to compete, as is Mario Deslauriers, the youngest rider to ever win the World Cup Finals which he did in 1984 at the age of 19. Peter Wylde won a team Gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 2004. Engle, a member of the US Olympic Team in 2000 in Sydney, Australia, comes to Halifan after competing for the United State at Hickstead,

Great Britain just this past week. Leslie Howard won a team Gold medal in show jumping with the American team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and a Silver medal in 1996 in Atlanta. Peter Leone was a member of that Atlanta Silver Medal team and Norman Dello Joio scored an Individual Bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Norman's son, Nick, is also scheduled for a trip to Silver Oak this year.

Georgina Bloomberg, shown here on Juvina, will be competing at this year's Silver Oak Tournament. Photo by Kenneth Kraus

Charlie Jacobs, Jeffery Welles, Ramiro Quintana and Georgina Bloomberg are on this list for this year's show as well. Jacobs was a top finisher here last year and had much success at this year's Winter Equestrian Festival. Quintana, from Argentina, has had a great season so far, posting a couple of impressive grand prix wins. And Georgina Bloomberg, fully recovered from a serious injury last year, has returned in fine form, helping the United States to a third place finish in the Nations Cup competition at Falsterbo, Sweden. She also picked up an impressive fourth place finish in the Global Champions Tour event at Paris, France. Top rider Jeffery Welles, also joining us this year, is a past American Invitational champion and a winner of the Hampton Classic Grand Prix.

Molly Ashe-Cawley and Candice King are on the roster this year. Both riders are top veteran show jumping competitors and both are fashioning very successful seasons so far this year. King, a former winner of the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Great Britain comes in off a one-two finish recently in Bromont, Canada. Ashe-Cawley is a two-time winner of one of America's toughest events, the $200,000 American Invitational in Florida. She's posted major wins at Harrisburg, the Capital Challenge, Tampa and at Devon.

Darren Graziano, sponsor of the DG Ventures Speed Stake, competing at Silver Oak. Photo by Tammy Hardy

Also competing this year in Halifax are Amy Momrow, German Camargo, David Tromp, Kevin McCarthy, Darren Graziano, Greg Mangan, Niko von Gumppenberg, Alan Griffin. Corey Harding and Kristen Bumpus.

In addition to the excitement in the Open Jumper divisions, the Silver Oak Tournament announced today that classes #116 and #117, the High Children's and the High Adult Jumper Classic's will be part of the North American League (NAL) series of events.

The North American League (NAL) offers great opportunities for competitors across the country to compete in five divisions including Children's Jumper Presented by EquiFit; Children's Hunter; Adult Jumper Presented by SmartPak; Adult Hunter; and Low Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper. Riders and horses compete all year long in order to qualify for the NAL National Finals at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in October and the NAL West Coast Finals at the Las Vegas National Horse Show in November. For more information regarding the North American League series please call (717) 867-5643, email to NAL@Ryegate.com or visit www.ryegate.com. Follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NALFinals.

Germany's Olaf Petersen, Jr returns to design the courses at this year's tournament. Photo by Kenneth Kraus

While all of our special tables are completely sold out, there are plenty of general admission seats, under covered grandstands, still available. Remember, it's FREE admission and FREE parking for this year's tournament. Come and see the best equestrians in the world going head to head in a fabulous setting for show jumping. We'll see you in Halifax for Silver Oak 2014!

Fast Facts - Silver Oak Jumper Tournament

Date: August 13 - August 17, 2014

Website and Facebook: www.SilverOakJumperTournament.com   www.facebook.com/SilverOakJumperTournament

2014 Prize List: http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=202874