With the excitement of the Athens Olympic Games still hanging in the air the show jumping world now turns its attention to the next great challenge – the final of the 2004 Samsung Super League series which takes place at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, Spain in 12 day’s time. With clinical precision the German team claimed gold for the ninth time in Olympic history at the Markopoulo stadium in Greece and, following their definitive victory at last year’s Super League final when they cruised to success without even having to call out their last team member Ludger Beerbaum in either round they will, once again, probably be the ones to beat. The 2003 Samsung Super League champions from France however still hold the advantage on the leaderboard and the big questions in the lead-up to the 2004 final are – can Jean-Maurice Bonneau’s squad do it again and can the Italians, lying bottom of the table now for some considerable time, be miraculously saved from relegation? The answers may lie in the double-points available for this last leg of the series. The French will be difficult to dislodge from pole position as they have a 12-point lead at present over the British who are holding the Germans at bay by the slim margin of just 0.2 points. In fourth spot are the Dutch, double-winners this season when topping the line-up in both Rome and Lucerne but they are hotly pursued by the Belgians, currently in fifth place, while the Irish only managed to move themselves out of the extreme danger-zone when winning on their home ground in Dublin last month. Carrying 25.5 points to date they are just 0.5 points ahead of the USA while the Italians are last with only 10 points on the board. The Irish must be concerned however as shortage of horsepower is leaving them vulnerable. This is a country that has very limited reserves to fall back on and newly-crowned individual Olympic gold medallist Cian O’Connor will be missing the Samsung Super League final as Waterford Crystal has been turned out for a well-earned break while O’Connor’s second ride, Irish Independent Annabella, is in the process of being sold. The Americans are likely to be a lot stronger and, boosted by their superb performance when pipping the Swedes in the thrilling jump-off for team silver in Athens two weeks ago, they should come out with all guns blazing at the Spanish finale. However the greatest challenge of all lies ahead of the Italians because nothing short of victory can save them now. The 20 points earned by the winning side at the final leg of the series would raise their score to 30 and that would put pressure on the Belgians, Irish and Americans but the nation which only barely managed to survive in the closing stages of the 2003 series has been under-performing again this season and although Juan Carlos Garcia and Bruno Chimirri produced good individual results in Athens it is the team effort that counts in the Samsung Super League. When it comes to team effort the Germans and French are both formidable. The Germans seem to be able to produce their best at the most important moments and, winners at the opening round in La Baule and then again at Aachen this season, the Olympic and European champions will be absolutely dominant if they add the 2004 Samsung Super League title to their "must win" list. The reigning World Champions from France however will be hoping to make up for the deep disappointment of having to withdraw from the team event in Athens when things did not go their way. Polish and panache have been the hallmarks of their performances in recent years and a double of Samsung Super League titles would prove very satisfying right now. So the stage is set for a gripping conclusion to the second season of top-class Nations Cup competition in which the best of the best have battled it out for supremacy. Lying second going into this final competition the British could just pull off a surprise but the real rivalry is expected to be played out between the French and Germans while no-one will be able to take their eyes off the Italians as, once again, they dance dangerously on the razor’s edge…. For full details about the 2004 Samsung Super League final at Barcelona on Sunday 19 September telephone: + 34 932031008 or fax: + 34 9320556616. Show Director is Hanspeter Vogelsanger and you can email him at hanspeter@hpwood.com. Press Officer is Isabel Suter and you can visit the CSIO Barcelona website at www.csiobarcelona.com. SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE 2004 LEADERBOARD (AFTER ROUND 7 IN DUBLIN): 1 France – 44.3 2 Great Britain – 32.5 3 Germany – 32.3 4 The Netherlands – 29.5 5 Belgium – 28.3 6 Ireland – 25.5 7 USA – 25.0 8 Italy – 10.0
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