Ten Show Jumpers Short Listed for the 2008 Olympics

Following the completion of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Selection Trials for Show Jumping on March 9 in Wellington, Fla., a short list of horse-and-rider combinations has been made for the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong, Aug. 8-24, 2008.

The USEF’s Ad Hoc Committee on Selection has approved naming the following 10 horse/rider combinations to the show jumping short list:

1. Laura Kraut/ Cedric (Wellington, Fla.)

2. Nicole Shahinian-Simpson/ SRF Dragonfly (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)

3. Anne Kursinksi/ Champ 163 (Frenchtown, N.J.)

4. Charlie Jayne/ Urbanus (Elgin, Ill.)

5. Kate Levy/ Vent Du Nord (Wellington, Fla.)

6. Anne Kursinksi/ Roxana 112 (Frenchtown, N.J.)

7. Beezie Madden/ Authentic (Cazenovia, N.Y.)

8. McLain Ward/ Sapphire (Brewster, N.Y.)

9. Jeffery Welles/ Armani (Wellington, Fla.)

10. Will Simpson/ Carlsson Vom Dach (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)

Ten substitute horse/rider combinations have also been made the USEF’s Committee on Selection in ranking order as follows:

11. Christine McCrea/ Vegas (E. Windsor, Conn.)

12. Kent Farrington/ Up Chiqui (Chicago, Ill.)

13. Lauren Hough/ Quick Study (Wellington, Fla.)

14. Chris Kappler/ VDL Oranta (Flemington, N.J.)

15. Georgina Bloomberg/ Curius (New York, N.Y.)

16. Todd Minikus/ Olinda (Loxahatchee, Fla.)

17. Cara Raether/ Ublesco (North Palm Beach, Fla.)

18. Brianne Goutal/ Onira (New York, N.Y.)

19. Ken Berkley/ Carlos Boy (Flemington, N.J.)

20. Beezie Madden/ Judgement (Cazenovia, N.Y.)

As per the selection procedures, the top six horse/rider combinations are named according to their final ranking in the Selection Trials. The remaining four horse/rider combinations were discretionary choices recommended by the selectors.

The horse/rider combinations named to the short list have been divided into two groups of five riders each who will participate in the following two European Tours before final selection for the 2008 Olympic Games is made in early July:

Tour 1 – CSIO’s La Baule, Rome, St. Gallen:

Charlie Jayne/ Urbanus

Anne Kursinski/ Roxana 112

Kate Levy/ Vent du Nord

Nicole Shahinian-Simpson/ SRF Dragonfly

Will Simpson/ Carlsson Vom Dach

Tour 2 – CSIO’s Rotterdam and Aachen:

Laura Kraut/ Cedric

Anne Kursinski/ Champ 163

Beezie Madden/ Authentic

McLain Ward/ Sapphire

Jeffery Welles/ Armani