Fran Jurga: Equestrian Sport News

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The sun has barely set behind the Badminton Horse Trials but today Zara Phillips was behind the wheel instead of in the saddle as she launched the Range Rover Evoque WISE Scholarship at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. The scholarship is aimed at young women looking to pursue a career in engineering.

Land Rover is one of Zara Phillips' sponsors in her eventing and sailing pursuits. She drove a car for them on the Land Rover Experience test driving course at the Show, which is held on the grounds of Windsor Castle. The show expects almost 100,000 visitors and 3000 horses.

The video features old footage from World War II showing women training to be drivers and mechanics in the Army Transport Service--including her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

@FranJurga writes:

Take 13 minutes out of your life and watch the farewell performance of Anky van Grunsven's Salinero. The two-time Olympic gold medal winning horse was retired tonight in the Brabanthallen in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.

(So sorry, the headline link is not correct; the site has a cookie popup so the correct link is:

http://nos.nl/video/485338-laatste-kur-salinero-en-anky.html

And yes, the announcer is speaking in Dutch but once the pianist starts, you won't hear anything else!)

I've never retired a dressage horse, but I think this is how we'd all like to do it: as a performance in a spotlight, with a sound horse going out to a standing ovation...not just a press release, never to be seen again.

Anky enjoyed enormous success with the 19-year-old Hannoverian.

As the FEI's Louise Parkes writes:  "(Salinero's) career might well have been overshadowed by the memory of his revered predecessor, Bonfire who, together with van Grunsven, first brought Freestyle Dressage to center stage. 

"Salinero however followed faithfully in those very famous hoofprints to become a star in his own right, taking Olympic individual gold in Athens in 2004 and again at the equestrian events of the Beijing Olympic Games in Hong Kong four years later. 

"And he helped van Grunsven to become the most prolific winner of the FEI World Cup™ Dressage title - she won it nine times over a 13-year period between 1995 and 2008.

"Salinero first came to prominence in 2003 with victory in the Dutch National Championship and was part of the Dutch bronze medal winning team at the London 2012 Olympic Games at Greenwich Park last summer which brought his spectacular career to a fitting conclusion."

Anky and Salinero gave me ten years of thrilling performance and amazingly close competition. They helped bring artistic expression into the sport of dressage and Anky's not done yet.

Salinero always seemed to enjoy leaving the arena more than entering it, so tonight was his night, in a very big way. He never has to go in there again, but the dressage world will be a little empty without him.

Archival photo from The Jurga Report files.

The following is a portion of a longer press release; photo of Orb in his Maserati cooler provided by the Jockey Club. The colt is shown with  Exercise Rider Jen Patterson and Groom Arnold Velasquez.

Luxury performance automaker Maserati today announced a sponsorship agreement with Stuart S. Janney III and the Phipps Stable, and the Kentucky Derby winning Team Orb, which will benefit the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation.

“The opportunity to raise money and awareness for two meaningful charities within our industry and be associated with a classic, international brand like Maserati made this a very easy decision for Stuart and me,” said Ogden Mills Phipps. “We are grateful for Maserati’s interest in Team Orb we look forward to working closely with the Maserati team in a partnership that will benefit equine health and many individuals throughout the Thoroughbred industry.”

Under terms of the agreement, Maserati will have the right to use the image and likeness of all parties associated with and including Orb in Maserati advertising and promotional materials.

Orb will wear a Maserati logo on his blanket for the upcoming Preakness Stakes.

The Janney-Phipps Stable will donate one half of their sponsorship fee to Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and the other half of their portion to The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation.

The 138th running of the $1,000,000 Preakness Stakes will be televised by NBC Sports, beginning at 4:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 18, 2013.

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@FranJurga writes: Germany's Helen Langehanenberg and her stallion Damon Hill won today's Reem Acra FEI World Cup Final 2013 Grand Prix--an event that was marked by several uncharacteristic spooks from the finalists, including defending champions Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival of The Netherlands.

Can Helen continue her form and become the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Champion of 2013? It's an exciting finale as the top riders finally ride against each other in the same event.

via press release (edited 2 April 2013)

The world’s leading show jumping championships will be staged at The International Quarter, adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, cementing the extraordinary equestrian legacy from the London Olympic Games.

Global Champions Tour will bring world class 5* show jumping to the capital from June 6 - 9 2013 with the full support of Mayor of London Boris Johnson and his Chief of Staff Sir Edward Lister. It will be one of the first international sporting events in the Olympic Park since the London Games and comes only weeks before the site opens fully to the public.

Britain’s Olympic show jumping gold medallists will be competing in the Global Champions Tour event along with the world’s Top 30 riders. Record prize money of around €750,000 will be on offer during the four days of the event.

Swiss watchmaker Longines is the main partner and official timekeeper and Eurosport will broadcast the GCT Grand Prix on Saturday worldwide.

The high profile international event will be staged next to the world famous Olympic Stadium and other state-of-the-art Olympic venues like the aquatics centre. An application to stage the event at Kensington Gardens was turned down by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

The Olympic venue will be a major visitor attraction and a stunning addition to the prestigious Global Champions Tour circuit. 

Iain Graham, Chief Executive for British Showjumping, commented: “We applaud the commitment and proactivity Peter (Phillips) and his team have shown in identifying such a prestigious venue.  By identifying the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, they have not only found a superb venue to showcase our sport, but a venue which can only serve to reignite the enthusiasm the Nation embraced us with when Great Britain won Team Gold.  One of our Legacy hopes was that we would be able to bring world class Showjumping back into the heart of the city where so many Olympic dreams were made; we feel extremely fortunate to see these hopes realised.”

A grandstand for 3,000 spectators, paying between £10 and £50, will be erected around the arena with corporate hospitality marquees for 700 people alongside. A shopping village and a giant TV screen will also be available for the public. 

News provided by @FranJurga (Fran Jurga News and Media Projects).

On Facebook:  www.facebook.com/franjurga

Fran Jurga is a freelance writer/editor and web news specialist in the field of equestrianism and horse health.

photo by GinFox via Flickr

The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) wishes to remind all dressage competitors of the rule change to DR120. This change goes into effect on April 1, 2013 and necessitates the usage of protective headgear by anyone mounted on the grounds at all USEF dressage competitions.

DR120 has been amended to require protective headgear as follows:

From the time horses are officially admitted to the competition grounds by competition management, anyone mounted on a horse at any time on the competition grounds including non-competing riders, riders on non-competing horses, and those competing in all classes and tests, including Para-Equestrian tests must wear protective headgear as defined by this rule and otherwise in compliance with GR801.

Any rider violating this rule at any time must immediately be prohibited from further riding until such headgear is properly in place.

Protective headgear is defined as a riding helmet which meets or exceeds ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials)/SEI(Safety Equipment Institute) standards for equestrian use and carries the SEI tag. The harness must be secured and properly fitted.

If there are questions regarding this rule or the use of protective headgear at USEF dressage competitions please contact Hallye Griffin by email at hgriffin@usef.org or by phone (859) 225-6918.
 

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@FranJurga writes: Adelinde Corneilissen and Jerich Parzival (85.90%) debuted their new Grand Prix Freestyle in front of the home crowd in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands today. 

The biggest part of the story--and the entire three days of competition--may have been how closely Edward Gal and Undercover (85.1%) were on their heels. 

Germany's Isabell Werth was third, and compiled sufficient points to be declared the series winner for the Western Europe World Cup League. 

The Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Finals will be held next month in Gothernburg, Sweden.

The FEI video shows highlights from Cornelissen's new routine.

@FranJurga writes: Were you there? Or did you watch the livestream of the Nation's Cup from the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida last night? It was streamed lived, for free, on the USEFNetwork.com web site.

In case you missed the live action, the FEI has provided this video recap of the USA's Laura Kraut's second round ride on her gray Cedric. She sewed up the USA victory for teammates Farrington, Kessler and Maddie, so that team anchor Beezie Madden and Simon did not have to do a second round. 

Just click the "play" icon on the screen to watch the video right here in the Scoop.It window.