Samsung Super League Update

The home side is drawn first in tomorrow's fifth leg of the 2005
Samsung Super League series at Hickstead but, for once, running early
rather than late is considered an advantage as, after weeks of dry
weather, the rain has descended on the All England showground.

The order of go is as follows:

1, Great Britain; 2, Belgium; 3, Germany; 4, USA; 5, France; 6, The
Netherlands; 7, Switzerland; 8, Ireland.

Mr Ben Tilley, Marketing Services Manager for Samsung UK, welcomed the
Chefs d'Equipe from the eight competing nations during today's draw and
said that Samsung is delighted to continue its sponsorship of the Super
League series which is included in its portfolio along with the Olympic
Games, the Winter Olympics and the recently-announced sponsorship of
the team shirts for the world-famous Chelsea Football Club.

French team manager Jean-Maurice Bonneau pointed out that it is
difficult to find strong teams for events when they take place in a
short space of time. "We had the European Championships last week and
now we have two Super League shows at Hickstead and Dublin so I hope
the course designer will take that into account and take care of our
horses" he said. Britain's Derek Ricketts hoped that there would be no
overnight rain, and he also expressed concern about fielding a
competitive team so soon after a championship event. His side for
tomorrow's clash will include Mark Armstrong, John Whitaker and his
son, Robert, and Nick Skelton.

As expected, the American and German teams are well-fancied and while
Belgian Chef d'Equipe Lucien Somers forecast a win for the US ahead of
Britain and Germany, the German Chef, Sonke Sonksen, predicted that
France will head the line-up tomorrow with the British in runner-up
spot.

"I put my team in the first three" said Holland's Rob Ehrens, but Irish
team manager Eamonn Rice said "if the gods were with us we would like
to reverse the order of the draw so that we could have the best of the
ground. Realistically if we finish in the top three I'll be very
happy. Germany and the US are very strong" he added.

Rolf Theiler is acting as Chef d'Equipe for Switzerland this time out,
and after his country's superb silver medal winning performance at San
Patrignano team spirits are high. "I hope we can make a result like
last week - that would be good" he said but he pointed out "here we
have two young horses so maybe we might have to finish behind the USA,
Britain and Germany".

Mr Theiler was also concerned that tomorrow's course should not be too
demanding on what is likely to be difficult ground, but America's
George Morris disagreed with him. "I've ridden at Hickstead in much
worse conditions than this and I don't think it is good for either the
horses or riders to 'build down' all the time just because the ground
isn't perfect. Doing just that has hurt the sport in America. We need
to remember that this is not a business, it's a sport. I think the
Germans and the British will do well tomorrow but I hope we will be in
the top three" he added.

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE LEADERBOARD (after Round 4 in Rotterdam):
1. Switzerland - 22
2. USA - 21.5
3. Germany - 21
4. Great Britain - 20.5
5. France - 20
6. Belgium - 10.5
7. Ireland 7.5
8. Netherlands - 7

The next leg of the Samsung Super League series takes place at
HICKSTEAD on Friday July 29th. Show President is Douglas Bunn, Show
Director is Edward Bunn and Press Officer is Peter Jeffery. For all
information contact :jeffery.communications@btopenworld.com, tel:
            +441643 831011      , fax: +441643 831040 or check out the website
www.hickstead.co.uk.

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE 2005 CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

ROUND 1 - La Baule (Fra) 5-8 May; ROUND 2 - Rome (Ita) 26-29 May; ROUND
3 - St Gallen (Sui) 02-05 June; ROUND 4 - Rotterdam (Ned) 16-19 June;
ROUND 5 - Hickstead (GBR) 28-31 July; ROUND 6 - Dublin (Irl) 03-07
August; ROUND 7 - Aachen (Ger) 23-28 August; ROUND 8 and FINAL -
Barcelona (Esp) 15-18 September.