The Netherlands team will lead the way in the seventh leg of the Samsung Super League with FEI series in Dublin tomorrow when Holland and Ireland will be feeling the pressure. Both nations are hoping to leave the other behind and to pull away from the bottom of the series leaderboard before the final in Barcelona next month.
The draw is as follows:
1, The Netherlands; 2, Great Britain; 3, USA; 4, Sweden; 5, Ireland; 6, Germany; 7, Switzerland; 8, France.
Dutch Chef d'Equipe Rob Ehrens refused to be negative about his team's starting position in the second-last leg of the series - "tomorrow we will start first but in the second round we will start last and see what happens" suggesting that Holland should be at the head of affairs going into round two.
Irish team manager Robert Splaine said "there is no weak team here, everyone is strong but we will be fighting very hard. We have a good, strong, confident team and we are hoping to leave the "Dutch well behind us tomorrow - much as we like them!".
The Netherlands squad however includes Olympic medallists Piet Raymakers and Jeroen Dubbeldam and the Schroder brothers, Gerco and Wim, and should prove formidable but as Ehrens said today "in Rotterdam we had a very good team and we finished last - you just never know!"
Ireland's line-up includes Capt Shane Carey (Killossery), Shane Breen (World Cruise), Cian O'Connor (Irish Independent Echo Beach) and Cameron Hanley (SIEC Hippica Kerman) while Derek Rickett's British foursome is Robert Smith (Marius Claudius), Michael Whitaker (Insul Tech Portofino), Tim Gredley (Omelli) and John Whitaker (Peppermill).
Anne Kursinski will be first into the ring for America with Roxana followed by Candice King (Coco Cabana), Molly Ashe (Neuville) and Christine McCrea (Vegas) while the Swedish line-up is Peder Fredricson (H&M Magic Bengtsson), Linda Heed (Columbus H), Jens Fredricson (Diorissimo) and Svante Johansson (Nostradamus).
Thomas Voss (Leonardo B) leads the way for Germany along with Rene Tebbel (Team Harmony Coupe de Coeur), Ulrich Kirchhoff (Carino) and Heinrich Hermann Engemann (Aboyeur W) and Switzerland's pathfinder will be Marcus Fuchs (La Toya), who will be followed into the ring by Daniel Etter (Peu a Peu), Celine Stauffer (Daloubet d'Evordes) and Theo Muff (Con Spirito B).
Pierre Jarry (Haxelle Dampierre) leads the way for France followed by Jacques Bonnet (Gracieux Ardent), Stephan Lafouge (Gabelou des Ores) and Julien Epaillard (Icare du Manet) and the competition kicks off at 14.25 local time.
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE WITH FEI 2006 - LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 6 AT
HICKSTEAD :
1. Germany - 35.125
2. USA - 32.0
3. France - 31.0
4. Switzerland - 26.625
5. Great Britain - 26.0
6. Sweden - 18.125
7. Netherlands - 14.125
8. Ireland - 12.0
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE - NATIONAL PRIDE, INTERNATIONAL PASSION!
The next leg of the series takes place in Dublin, Ireland on Friday 11 August. Show President is Dr Austin Mescal, Show Director is Gerry McAuliffe, Show Secretary is Brian Reid and Press Officer is Kaleigh Cunningham email kaleigh.cunningham@rds.ie. WEBSITE www.rds.ie.
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE WITH FEI : 2006 CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
ROUND 1 - La Baule (Fra) 4-7 May; ROUND 2 - Aachen (Ger) 17-21 May; ROUND 3, Rome (Ita) 25-28 May; ROUND 4 - Lucerne (Sui) 1-4 June; ROUND 5 - Rotterdam (Ned) 22-25 June; ROUND 6 - Hickstead (GBR) 26-30 July; ROUND 7 - Dublin (Irl) 9-13 August; ROUND 8 and FINAL - Barcelona (Esp) 14-17 September.
You can access all the latest Samsung Super League news and information on website www.samsungsuperleague.com and don't forget that BIOGRAPHIES on all riders competing in the series are available at http://bios.horsesport.org.
Want to know more? You can check the full RULES for the Samsung Super League series on the FEI website, www.horsesport.org - section jumping/rules.
The Samsung Super league consists of the eight most prestigious horse shows at which the world's eight best national teams compare their merit. The Super League is connected to the Samsung Nations Cup series through a promotion/relegation system at the end of each season.
Samsung Electronics, one of the world's largest electronics companies, is committed to supporting international sporting events thereby returning corporate profits to the public and working towards a more harmonious and equitable society.
For more information:
Contact FEI Communications, Malina Gueorguiev,
m.gueorguiev@horsesport.org or consult FEI website www.horsesport.org.
Campus
