FEI World Cup Jumping Update: Bordeaux

Italy's Juan Carlos Garcia and the veteran Loro Piana Albin stormed to victory at the ninth leg of the FEI World Cup Jumping series in Bordeaux, France tonight to firmly secure a qualifying spot at the final in Kuala Lumpur in April. Bordeaux is famous for its fine wines, and the 18 year old Albin produced a truly vintage performance when, third-last to go in the nine-horse jump-off, he showed the rest of the field a clean pair of heels.

Switzerland's Gregoire Oberson (Cartoflex Gazelle Beauval) finished second ahead of Sweden's Helena Lundback (Madick) in third while Ireland's Jessica Kuerten, who has rocketed up to second place in the FEI/Gandina World Rankings following a string of major successes in recent months, slotted into fourth place tonight.

Gerco Schroder was second into the arena in round one, and the Dutch rider who has headed the series leaderboard for some time now quickly found the key to Frank Rothenberger's track as Eurocommerce Milano returned the first clear of the evening. The home side's Philippe Rozier (Heritiere D'Adriers) and Michel Hecart (Itot du Chateau) were not so fortunate however and when Julien Epaillard and Icare du Manet collected 17 faults on their tour of the track the home supporters still had nothing to smile about.

Jessica Kuerten is at the top of her form right now and has been like an unstoppable train in recent weeks with a stunning series of lucrative wins, and she showed that she has lost none of her edge as she steered Quibell to the second clear performance of the night with the greatest of ease.

Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly quickly followed suit and Helena Lundback ensured strong female representation in the deciding round when steering her young mare, Madick, for a foot-perfect run. Belgian-based Swiss rider Gregoire Oberson then brought the clear-round tally to five at the halfway stage before the zero scores disappeared for a while and then returned with a vengeance as, one after another, Florian Angot put France on the map with First de Launay, Juan Carlos Garcia jumped into the frame with Albin, Norway's Geir Gulliksen and Cattani left all the poles in place and the relatively unknown Russian Vladimir Beletskiy continued his impressive weekend run of form when taking the last qualifying spot for the jump-off with Rezonanz.

Schroder led the way against the clock and put no pressure on those who followed when returning home with two fences on the floor. Kuerten however jumped clear once again, and although her time of 35.85 second looked vulnerable it was always going to be good enough to secure a top placing. Michaels-Beerbaum proved that the Irish rider's time was very beatable when racing home with Shutterfly almost three seconds quicker but she paid the price for her speed with a pole down and it was left to Lundback to re-arrange the line-up when bringing her 10 year old mare home and clear in 38.03 seconds. Oberson however was faster still, breaking the beam in 37.99 seconds to knock the Swede out of pole position and the crowd were on the edges of their seats as Florian Angot flew around with his stallion in 35.10 seconds, but after picking up four faults when lowering the FEI vertical, he presented no real danger to the leading bunch.

With just three left to go Garcia knew it was all or nothing. "I always try, but so many times we make just a single fault in the final round" the Italian rider said afterwards, "but I have a very special horse and tonight he was truly great". His partnership with Loro Piana Albin is the stuff of legend as the horse's former owner wanted to retire him at the age of 16 but, after much pleading from Juan Carlos, sold him to the rider two years ago and the pair have gone from strength to strength ever since. Albin belied his 18 years once again tonight, showing the toughness that has kept him at the top of his game when making a miraculous recovery after stumbling badly on landing three fences from home and yet still recording the fastest clear round of the competition when the clock showed 36.20 seconds as he raced through the finish.

Two fences down for Gulliksen and a single error from Beletskiy kept them down the order as Bologna-based Garcia collected the €27,000 winners prize and the maximum 20 FEI World Cup points which, when added to the 17 he picked up when runner-up in Verona in November and the 11 he earned for his sixth placing at Geneva in December leaves him with a comfortable total of 48 points and in the enviable position of being qualified for Malaysia well ahead of time.

With just three more chances to qualify however - at Vigo next weekend and then at s'Hertogenbosch in March and Gothenburg in April - there are plenty of others still under pressure.

RESULTS:
1, Loro Piana Albin (Juan Carlos Garcia) Ita 0/0 36.20; 2, Cartoflex Gazelle Beauval (Gregoire Oberson) Sui 0/0 37.99; 3, Madick (Helena Lundback) Swe 0/0 38.03; 4, Quibell (Jessica Kuerten) Irl 0/0 38.85; 5, First de Launay (Florian Angot) Fra 0/4 35.10; 6, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) Ger 0/4 35.98; 7, Rezonanz (Vladimir Beletskiy) Rus 0/4 42.23; 8, Eurocommerce Milano (Gerco Schroder) Ned 0/8 46.57; 9, Cattani 17 (Geir Gulliksen) Nor 0/8 48.08; 10, Sherry Mury Marais Z (Patrick McEntee) Bel 1/78.30; 11, Granie (Markus Fuchs) Sui 4/69.40; 12, VDL Groep Eve des Etisses (Hubert Bourdy) Fra 4/70.87; 13, Cyrenaika FRH (Philippe Leoni) Fra 4/71.74; 14, The Sixth Sense (Thomas Fruhmann) Aut 4/72.06; 15, Mac Kinley (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) Swe 4/72.42; 16, Kalusha (Robert Smith) GBR 4/73.69; 17, Gabelou des Ores (Stephane Lafouge) Fra 4/73.76; 18, JPC Modesto Equifoam (Jean-Marc Nicholas) Fra 4/74.25; 19, Montender (Marco Kutscher) Ger 4/75.01; 20, Insultech Portofino (Michael Whitaker) GBR 4/75.42; 21, Andante (Tina Lund) Den 4/75.75; 22, Itot du Chateau (Michel Hecart) Fra 0/78.38; 23, Heritiere D'Adriers (Philippe Rozier) Fra 8/71.41; 24, Irish Independent Echo Beach (Cian O'Connor) Irl 8/73.97; 25, Classic H (Toni Hassmann) Ger 8/75.53; 26, Cinderella (Marcus Ehning) Ger 8/76.15; 27, Sundance K (Franke Sloothaak) Ger 12/73.94; 28, Tiquila (Dirk Demeersman) Bel 12/77.08; 29, Triomphe de Muze (David Jobertie) Fra 12/77.26; 30, L'Espoir (Ludger Beerbaum) Ger 16/75.86; 31, Exploit du Roulard (John Whitaker) GBR 17/79.90; 32, Icare du Manet (Julien Epaillard) Fra 17/79.99; 33, Caletto Z (Ludo Philippaerts) Bel 28/76.09; 34, Eurocommerce Montreal (Wim Schroder) Ned Elim; equal 35, Kesberoy de St Aubert (Cayetano martinez du Irujo) Esp, Loreana (Lars Nieberg) Ger, Isaac du Jonquet (Mikael Forsten) Fin Ret.

FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING 2005/2006 - LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 9 AT BORDEAUX:
1. Gerco Schroder - 61
2. Beat Mandli - 56
Eq 3. Juan Carlos Garcia, Marcus Ehning - 48
5. Robet Smith - 47
6. Thomas Fruhmann - 43
7. Heinrich H Engemann - 41
8. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum - 39
9. Jessica Kuerten - 35
10. Nick Skelton - 34
11. Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst - 32
12. Philippe Leoni - 31
13. Patrick McEntee - 30
14. Pia-Luise Aufrecht - 27
15. Piet Raymakers - 26
Eq 16. Gregoire Oberson, Harry Smolders, Ludger Beerbaum - 25
19. Rolf-Goran Bengtsson - 24
Eq 20. Markus Fuchs, Thomas Velin - 23.

For further information on the FEI World Cup Jumping qualifier at Bordeaux, visit WEBSITE: www.jumping-bordeaux.com. Show President is Marc Lecoq, Show Director is Francois-Bernard Martin and Show Secretary is Sabine Palau. Press Officer is Marie-Sol Fournier, Tel:             +33556 119943       or email presse@bordeaux-expo.com.

The next leg of the series takes place in Vigo, Spain from 9-12 February. Show Director is Mercelino Cendon Estevez, Show Secretary is Irene Gonzanez Garcia and Press Officer is Alejandra Mier Rodriguez - Tel (mobile)             +34657 593093       or email amier@csivigo.com.

For all information on the FEI World Cup Jumping final in Kuala Lumpur (26-30 April) check out the WEBSITE www.klworldcupfinal.com or contact Press Officer Lo Wai Fai at email waifai@asiapromote.net or Tel (mobile)             +6012 209 0068      . Show Director is Peter Winton, email paw@asiapromote.net.

2005/2006 FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING SERIES - CALENDAR OF EVENTS:1, Helsinki (Finland) - 6/9 October; 2, Oslo (Norway) - 14/16 October; 3, Verona (Italy) - 4/6 November; 4, Stuttgart (Ger) - 16/20 November; 5, Geneva (Switzerland) - 8/11 December; 6, London-Olympia (Great Britain) - 13-19 December; 7, Mechelen (Belgium) - 26/30 December; 8, Leipzig (Germany) 19/22 January; 9, Bordeaux (France) - 3/5 February; 10, Vigo (Spain) - 9/12 February; 11, 's-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands) - 23/26 March; 12, Goteborg (Sweden) - 13/16 April. Final Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 26/30 April.

BIOGRAPHIES of riders competing in the FEI World Cup Jumping series are available at www.horsesport.org.

MBPtv BROADCAST SCHEDULE FOR FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING QUALIFIER AT BORDEAUX:
LIVE:

SVT (Sweden) - Sunday 5 February 17.00
TVE Teledeporte (Spain) - Check local service
RAI (Italy) - Check local service
Equidia (France) - Sunday 5 February 20.45
NOS (The Netherlands) - Check local service

HIGHLIGHTS
CNBC ASIA - Check local service
CNBC EUROPE - Saturday 18 February 17.00
ESPN STAR - Thursday 16 February 17.30, 18.30, Friday 17 February
05.30, 06.00, 19.00,
Saturday 18 February 07.00, Monday 20 February 04.30, Tuesday
21 February 18.30, 19.00,
Friday 24 February 05.00, 11.30
ESPN Brazil - Check local service
Eurosport - Wednesday 8 February 20.00
Finnish Sport TV - Monday 13 February 22.00, Monday 6 March 22.00
Fox Sports Australia - Check local service
Fox Sports Middle Ease - Monday 27 February 17.00
Horse TV USA - Check local service
M-Net Pan Africa - Friday 17 February 19.30, Saturday 18 February 01.00, 21.00
VIASAT SPORTS (Denmark)- Sunday 12 February 10.00, 18.00, Wednesday 15 February 16.00.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE RULES for World Cup Jumping riders from FEI website www.feiworldcup.org.

FEI World Cup Jumping has entered its 28th year. The series, created in 1978, today comprises 13 leagues on all continents. The best riders from 116 World Cup preliminary competitions will qualify for the Final in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which takes place from 26 to 30 April 2006. The title-holder is Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum.

The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), founded in 1921, is the international body governing equestrian sport recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and includes 133 National Federations.

Equestrian sport has been on the Olympic programme since 1912 with three disciplines - Jumping, Dressage and Eventing. It is one of the very few sports in which men and women compete on equal terms. It is also the only sport which involves two athletes - horse and rider - and the FEI has relentlessly concerned itself with the welfare of the horse.

For more information contact:
FEI Communications, Muriel Faienza m.faienza@horsesport.org or consult FEI website www.horsesport.org.