Budweiser World Cup Las Vegas
Jumping and Dressage
Daily Report by Carol Dean-Porter |
April 20, 2005
Once again the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada is the
host venue to the Budweiser Show Jumping World Cup finals. This
year, for the first time, also included in this spectacular event is
the Dressage World Cup finals.
Last held in 2003, the return of the World Cup finals to this
glittering city is very exciting to riders and spectators alike. The
performances are sold out and the show is well worth the price of
admission. Horses and riders from all over the world compete in
qualifying events for months in advance in order to earn the
privilege of riding in this arena.
The venue itself is a part of the University of Las Vegas campus.
The indoor ring is fairly small and instead of the normal oval, has
a flair shaped enlargement at the in gate end. This makes for some
interesting course design options.
The horses are stabled in a chain link enclosed area, in the parking
lot behind the arena with portable stalls enclosed by tents. There
is a tent-enclosed warm up arena close by the tunnel leading down to
the show arena itself.
Las Vegas can be very warm in April, or quite chilly, so spectators
should be prepared to bring all weather clothing!
The Thomas and Mack Center is located on Tropicana Blvd. about a
mile east of the fabulous Las Vegas Blvd strip with such world
famous casinos as the MGM Grand, Tropicana, Luxor, New York, New
York, Mandolay Bay, Stratosphere, Mirage, Bellagio, Paris, Venetian
and Ceasar's Palace among many others. Shows of all types are
available, as are restaurants, buffets gift shops and sight seeing
tours. There is something for everyone here!
There are special demonstrations planned by equestrian vaulters,
including national and world champions. Vaulting is one of the seven
equestrian disciplines recognized by the Federation Equestre
Internationale.
Another exciting and innovative event will be the World Championship
Hunter Rider World Cup Team Challenge. This will pit the skills of
four past World Championship Hunter Rider Professional National
champions against four European show jumping stars. Americans John
French, Peters Pletcher, Louis Serio and Scott Stewart will
represent the US. They will compete against Rodrigo Pessoa from
Brazil, Marcus Ehning from Germany, Nick Skelton from Great Britain
and also Michael Whitaker from Great Britain.
The Challenge will be held in a two round format, in which all eight
riders compete over a course on horses donated for this event. The
first round will be 3'6" and judged by three pairs of two judges
each. Each pair of judges will announce a score. The lowest scores
for each four member team will be dropped and the remaining three
scores added for a cumulative total score.
The second round will be over a Handy Hunter course and the riders
will all ride different horses than in the first round. Again, each
entry will receive a score and the team with the highest over all
total score wins the competition.
The Finals are to be taped for national network broadcast on NBC
Sports and Outdoor Life Network (OLN). The jumping final will be
televised on NBC on Monday May 8 at 5 pm EDT. The Dressage final
will be televised on OLN on Monday June 6 at 4 pm EDT.
Show Jumping begins Thursday evening April 21 at 7:15 pm. The
Dressage Grand Prix begins Thursday afternoon at 1:00 pm
We will have the start list of horses, riders and other comments
available on Thursday morning!
