Wednesday May 19, 2004

2005 FEI World Cup Jumping and Dressage Finals Awarded to Las Vegas

The Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) announces today that the 2005 FEI World Cup Jumping and Dressage Finals will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) from 20 to 24 April 2005. It is the first time that these Finals, two of the world's most prestigious equestrian events, will be organised concurrently in one location.

The FEI World Cup Jumping series, created in 1978, comprises today 13 leagues on all five continents. It consists primarily of indoor competitions and is open to individual competitors qualified on the basis of the FEI Gandini World Jumping Ridersí Ranking List. In the 26 Finals held through to 2004, the USA are the nation with the most victories, American riders having won the title seven times.

The 2005 FEI World Cup Jumping Final will be the sixth to be held in the United States, following Finals in Baltimore, MD (1980), Tampa, FL (1989), Del Mar, CA (1992) and the highly acclaimed FEI Budweiser World Cup Jumping Finals which took place in Las Vegas in 2000 and 2003.

Initiated in 1985, the FEI World Cup Dressage consists of a series of qualifying leagues encompassing Western and Central Europe, North America, Canada and Australia. The first official freestyle to Music competition was launched during an FEI World Cup Dressage.

Judged on both technical and artistic merit, the FEI World Cup Dressage combines art, sport and partnership between horse and rider at the highest level and consistently proves a winning formula with audiences all over the world.

The FEI World Cup Dressage Final has been held in the United States only once, in 1995 in Los Angeles. The USA won their first title in 2003 when Debbie McDonald emerged as the FEI World Cup Dressage Champion riding the magnificent mare Brentina.

The return of the FEI World Cup Dressage Final to the United States 10 years after Los Angeles will no doubt have a very positive impact on the future of the discipline, just as the 2000 and 2003 FEI World Cup Jumping Final helped increase the sportís popularity in the country.

Both events will be organised by Las Vegas Events, Inc., a non-profit company whose mission is to produce and sponsor events that attract tourism to Southern Nevada.

Image copyrighted: Dirk Caremans

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