MEREDITH TURNS ON THAT SHUTTERFLY MAGIC.....

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum claimed the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping title for the second time in her career this afternoon with a magical performance from Shutterfly. The 30th anniversary fixture at the Scandinavium produced some of the most breath-taking show jumping competitions ever seen and it was Jessica Kuerten who held the whip hand going into today's closing stages but, just as the Irish rider had predicted on Friday night, it was her great rival who would reign supreme.

America's Rich Fellars created a huge sensation when finishing second with Flexible, a horse who has achieved success against the most incredible odds, while Heinrich-Hermann Engemann and Aboyeur W slotted into third to under-pin his utter reliability when the chips are down. "We have seen extraordinary sport over this weekend" said FEI First Vice-President Sven Holmberg this evening. "I've been to many World Cup finals over many, many years and this was the hardest ever" - few of the riders would disagree......

Course-designer Rolf Ludi presented two more fascinating tracks on the final afternoon. They asked huge questions about the rider's ability to be accurate and the horse's willingness to stretch themselves to their limit, but when it comes to limits Shutterfly does not seem to have any at all.....Meredith left the 15 year old gelding with a lot to do at the triple combination in today's opening round but the horse just opened up his jump a little more to bring her home clear. Shutterfly was relaxed and it all looked so very easy - "he's been in a great mood here all week and he wasn't nervous at all. He enjoyed working in the warm-up ring which was very quiet and he reflected that in the ring" she pointed out later.

The first two of the 24 starters retired in the opening round, Judy-Ann Melchior and the adorable stallion Levisto Z after hitting two elements of the treble at fence eight and America's Todd Minikus and Olinda after lowering the narrow vertical at fence six. These were just two of the traps in the cleverest of courses, the former approached off a left-hand turn after a big oxer and the latter following the triple bar that would put an end to Kuerten's dominance. In the lead after the first two legs and having won the Grand Prix with Quibell on Saturday night the Irish rider looked like a runaway train that just couldn't be stopped. But as all top riders are only too aware, including the eventual winner, show jumping is an entirely unpredictable affair and the World Cup format leaves absolutely no room for error.....

Fourth to go, Belgium's Patrick McEntee produced the first fault-free round with Ever Mury Marais Z and when the Swedish duo of Helena Lundback with Madick and Rolf-Goran Bengtsson with Ninja La Silla did likewise the packed stadium went wild with excitement. However they were all lying a distance off the main contenders, carrying double-figure points when the results of Thursday's Speed and Friday's Jump-Off classes were calculated.

Switzerland's Steve Guerdat did his chances no harm however when, lying ninth, he left the course intact with Tresor and Engemann then kept a clean sheet to hold on to his seventh place on the leaderboard. He began to move up as Ludger Beerbaum fell victim to the middle-element of the treble with All Inclusive NRW and the defending champion, Beat Mandli from Switzerland, left two on the floor with Ideo du Thot. Fourth-last to go however Michaels-Beerbaum piled on the pressure when foot-perfect and when the following three got into trouble she was in the driving seat. The relatively novice 10 year old Esplanade began to show her lack of experience when collecting 12 faults for America's Peter Wylde, Fellar's stallion hit the vertical at six and then Kuerten lost her grip with a mistake at the same spot on the track. Standing off the previous triple bar, the Irish rider's mare Castle Forbes Libertina landed short and hit it and then found the three-stride distance to the following vertical just too long and crashed through that too, although the partnership recovered their equilibrium quickly to finish without further incident. The die was cast however, and there would now be no way back......

The second-round track was shorter with just nine fences but the questions were still big ones and course-builder Ludi admitted afterwards that he might have been a little kinder with the distance to the very final fence. This asked for either three very forward and long, or four short and snappy strides from the previous big oxer and, time and again, the riders just couldn't master this one. Not until Wylde returned to show the huge promise of this amazing mare Esplanade who has come out of the blue to sparkle at this World Cup final, going clear this time out. Mandli mastered the last distance too but Guerdat, now lying sixth, kicked out the final vertical as did Beerbaum when both attempted the distance on three strides while Kuerten, now fourth, slipped further down the order with a frustrating mistake at the very first fence. With just two coming after him, Fellars chipped in an extra stride on the last line and Flexible showed exactly how he earned his name when snapping up and over to hold his position with a clear round.

An error at the first element of the double at fence three hampered Engemann but, last in, Shutterfly was like a piece of precision equipment and the crowd rewarded the German partnership with a huge roar as the horse and rider executed the last distance to perfection on four strides. It just looked simple in the end....but Meredith insisted these were some of the toughest days jumping she had ever experienced, and she was very glad to slay the dragon of last year's final when she disappeared from the reckoning due to a freaky fall.

'I'm very proud to win my second World Cup title and the first Rolex-sponsored World Cup final" said the rider who previously topped the line-up in Las Vegas in 2005. "Shutterfly showed he was in great form over three days and at 15 he is not young - he was super and he never had a rail down. I'm pleased with myself today too, and glad I got him around safely" she added.

Runner-up, Rich Fellars, was bombarded with questions because his second-placing came as a big surprise - even to him it seemed. The Oregon-based rider is also a trainer and horse agent and prefers to live a quiet life with his family in the US rather than travelling the international circuit - "I have two wonderful children and being with them is my priority" he pointed out. However he has benefitted from the temporary arena created in Thermal, California where Flexible has produced some good results. Even the 49 year old American was surprised by the Irish-bred 12 year old stallion by Cruising out of a mare called Flex which was ridden by Edward Doyle. "You don't know what they can do until you ask them, and when I asked him this week to jump higher and go wider he just kept saying OK" the rider pointed out. His success was all the more remarkable however for the fact that Flexible was found to have a blocked artery in a fore-leg which caused persistent lameness some years ago. Having sorted that out surgically the stallion then got loose while over-nighting at Barney Ward's stables and galloped into a fence breaking his shoulder. To come back from that almost three years later and finish a close second in the World Cup final is little short of remarkable....

Engemann meanwhile knew that he also achieved some special this weekend. There has never been any question about his horse's courage but he also showed that he could jump the biggest of tracks - "I am very happy to be third - my horse did a great job" he said.

And Meredith could now laugh about the 2007 final, safe in the knowledge that both she and Shutterfly are right back on top of the world.....

RESULT (First score is points carried into today's competition from first two classes): 1, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) Ger 4/0/0 - 4; 2, Flexible (Rich Fellars) USA 2/4/0 - 6; 3, Aboyeur W (Heinrich-Hermann Engemann) Ger 5/0/4 - 9; Equal 4, Ideo du Thot (Beat Mandli) Sui 4/8/0 - 12, All Inclusive NRW (Ludger Beerbaum) Ger 4/4/4 - 12, Castle Forbes Libertina (Jessica Kuerten) Ger 0/8/4 - 12; Equal 7, Esplanade (Peter Wylde) USA 3/12/0 - 15, Tresor (Steve Guerdat) Sui 10/0/5 - 15; 9, Suncal Portofino (Michael Whitaker) GBR 8/5/5 - 18; 10, Ninja la Silla (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) Swe 15/0/4 - 19; 11, Madick (Helena Lundback) Swe 16/0/5 - 20; 12, Ever Mury Marais Z (Patrick McEntee) Bel 20/0/1 - 21; 13, Up Chiqui (Kent Farrington) USA 14/4/4 - 22; 14, Quick Study (Lauren Hough) USA 13/8/5 - 26; 15, Guarana Champeix (Rutherford Latham) Esp 18/6/5 - 29; 16, Isaac (Royne Zetterman) Swe 13/8/9 - 30; 17, Vancouver d'Auvrey (Danielle Torano) USA 20/8/9 - 36; 18, Cristallo (Richard Spooner) USA 18/8/16 - 42; 19, Summer (Mandy Porter) USA 18/8/22 - 48; 20, Ilostra Dark (Eugenie Angot) Fra 11/12; 21, Onira (Brianne Goutal) USA 19/20; 22, Oki Doki (Albert Zoer) Ned 17/Ret; 23, Olinda (Todd Minikus) USA 21/Ret/ 24, Levisto Z (Judy-Ann Melchior) Bel 22/Ret.

For further information on the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final in Gothenburg, Sweden check out WEBSITE www.goteborghorseshow.com

Show President is Per Lojdquist, Show Director is Tomas Torgersen, Sport Secretary is Wiveka Lundh and Press Officer is Mayvor Thorin - contact (mobile) +46 705 828420.

 PHOTO CATALOGUE - Photographs of the winning riders in high and low resolution can be downloaded from the FEI online catalogue. To access it, please visit www.horsesport.org>Media Centre>Catalogue. There is no reproduction fee, but please credit photographer (photographer's name will appear under each photo)/FEI. Usage is strictly for editorial purposes.

 MEDIA GUIDE - The FEI is pleased to provide you with a Media Guide for the 2007/2008 season. The Guide is filled with useful facts, figures and statistics including the list of winners since the series began in 1978 and contact details to help you access all the information you need. You can download it from the Media Centre on the FEI website www.fei.org or order a hard copy from FEI Communications - Email o.robinson@horsesport.org.

 2007/2008 ROLEX FEI WORLD CUP™ JUMPING SERIES - CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR WESTERN EUROPEAN LEAGUE:

1, Oslo (Norway) 12/14 October; 2, Helsinki (Finland) 18-21 October; 3, Verona (Italy) 8-11 November; 4, Stuttgart (Germany) 14-18 November; 5, Geneva (Switzerland) 6-9 December; 6, London-Olympia (Great Britain) 17-22 December; 7, Mechelen (Belgium) 26-30 December; 8, Leipzig (Germany) 17-20 January; 9, Amsterdam (The Netherlands) 24-27 January; 10, Bordeaux (France) 1-3 February; 11, Vigo (Spain) 8-11 February; 12, s'Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands) 27-30 March; FINAL - Gothenburg (Sweden) 24-27 April.

YOU CAN SEE IT ON TV

2007/2008 ROLEX FEI WORLD CUP™ JUMPING BROADCAST SCHEDULE FOR FINAL IN GOTHENBURG:

Live/Delayed Live

 SVT (Sweden) - Thursday 24 April 22.00, Friday 25 April 22.00, Sunday 27 April 13.00
NOS (The Netherlands) - Sunday 27 April 13.10
RAI (Italy) - Sunday 27 April 23.00
Estonian Sports Channel (Estonia) - Friday 25 April 18.55, Sunday 27 April 13.55
Equidia (France) - Sunday 27 April 20.45, Monday 28 April 18.30, Wednesday 30 April 10.00

 Highlights

CBC Country (Canada) - Saturday 3 May 14.00
CNBC Asia - Saturday 3 May 15.00
CNBC Europe - Sunday 4 May 17.00
ESPN Brazil - Check local service
ESPN Star (Pan Asia) - Wednesday 14 May 18.00, Friday 18 May 14.00, Saturday 17 May 07.00, 16.30,
Sunday 18 May 02.30, Monday 19 May 07.00, Wednesday 21 May 18.00, Thursday 22 May 18.00,
Friday 23 May 04.00, 18.00, Saturday 24 May 01.00
Eurosport - Wednesday 30 April 18.25
Fox Australia - Check local service
Fox Middle East - Monday 19 May 18.00, thursday 23 April 02.00
M-Net (Pan Africa) - Thursday 15 May 17.30, Saturday 17 May 08.30, Sunday 18 May 10.00, Monday 19 May 14.00, Tuesday 20 May 14.00, Wednesday 21 May 20.00
TSI (Switzerland) - Saturday 17 May 18.00

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE RULES FOR FEI WORLD CUP™ JUMPING RIDERS FROM FEI WEBSITE www.feiworldcup.org