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United
States Equestrian Team Ready for Gold at Pan American
Games
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Gladstone,
NJ—August 4, 2003— The United States Equestrian Team
(USET) is ready for what it expects to be Gold Medal performances
at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic,
August 7 – 16 with powerful squads competing in both Dressage
and Show Jumping. The Dressage competition will be held on August
7, 8, and 10 and Show Jumping competition will be held on August
13, 14, and 16.
The
Dressage squad of four riders plus one alternate that emerged
from the Cosequin USET Selection Trials at the Bayer/USET Festival
of Champions Presented by State Line Tack at the U.S Olympic Training
Center in Gladstone, NJ, includes: Kristina Harrison-Naness of
Burbank, CA; 1992 Olympic Team Bronze Medalist Carol Lavell of
Loxahatchee, FL; Jan Ebeling of Moorpark, CA; and Pierre St. Jacques
of Boscawen, NH. Susan Dutta of Wellington, FL is team alternate.
In
Show Jumping, the squad was determined differently this year with
the USET and USA Equestrian approving two subjective choices.
Margie Goldstein Engle of Wellington, FL; Chris Kappler of Pittstown,
NJ; Lauren Hough, also of Wellington; Laura Kraut of Oconomowoc,
WI; plus Beezie Madden of Cazenovia, NY, as alternate; make up
the team
The United States comes into the Pan Am Games as the defending
champs in Dressage and this year’s team includes some new
names with impressive credentials.
Kristina Harrison-Naness had the biggest win of her career at
the 2003 Bayer/USET Festival of Champions Presented by State Line
Tack. With a score of 69.950% Harrison-Naness and Kantor topped
the field to win the Championship, which also served as the Cosequin/USET
Selection Trials for the Pan American Games. She and her husband,
Howard, have a six-year-old daughter, Rison.
After some time out of the spotlight, 1992 Olympic Team Bronze
Medalist, Carol Lavell has come back into the limelight with a
new horse, Much Ado. Lavell piloted Much Ado to a second place
finish in the 2003 USET Intermediaire I Championship. Earlier
in her illustrious career, Lavell and her horse Gifted were the
most recognized United States dressage pair both at home and abroad.
Along with her Olympic medal in 1992, Lavell is also a Pan American
Games Silver Medalist. In 1992, she was also named the U.S Olympic
Committee Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year.
Jan Ebeling has been a major U.S. force since the USET Intermediaire
I Championship in 1998, when he began riding as a United States
citizen. Ebeling achieved success again in 2003 at the Festival
where he posted third aboard Feleciano, which earned him the right
to represent the United States at the 2003 Pan American Games.
Today, Ebeling and his wife, Amy, own and operate their own training
and sales facility, The Acres, in Moorpark, CA.
Montreal,
Canada native, Pierre St Jacques finished fifth aboard Lucky Tiger
in the USET Intermediaire I Championship and Pan American Games
Selection trial. Originally placing 14th on the qualifying list,
St. Jacques was pulled up from the reserve list when one of the
top 12 horse-and-rider combinations could not compete. After becoming
a citizen of the United States in 1999, St. Jacques seized the
opportunity to ride at the Championships and earned the right
to ride as a member of the United States Equestrian Team for the
first time.
Qualifying
for the Pan American Games team is an even more impressive feat
since this year marks Lucky Tiger’s first year competing
at the Prix St. Georges level. St. Jacques will have the opportunity
to ride on a team with his first dressage instructor and long-time
friend, Carol Lavell. Lavell has become St. Jacques’ trainer,
“second mom” and has played matchmaker, as she introduced
him to his wife, USET dressage rider Pam Goodrich. Today, St.
Jacques and Goodrich own and operate their farm, Foster Meadow,
in Boscawen, NH. In his time away from horses, St. Jacques also
enjoys skiing.
Susan Dutta had the distinct privilege of qualifying three horses
for the USET Championship, two horses for the Grand Prix tour
and West Side Lady DC for the small tour.
The
Pan Am Dressage events take place August 7-10. Held at the Intermediaire
level, results from the Prix St. Georges will determine the team
medalists while the Intermediaire I and Intermediaire Musical
Freestyle will decide the individual winners.
In
Show Jumping, Margie Engle was chosen to compete on Hidden Creek’s
Perin, owned by Hidden Creek Farm. Engle rode Hidden Creek's Perin
to a 10th place tie in the Individual Show Jumping competition
and a 6th place team finish at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney,
Australia. She was the highest placed woman and the highest placed
U.S. rider in the individual competition.
Engle
has numerous titles to her credit and is probably one of the most
well known competitors in the show jumping industry. Some records
include: Most career wins (114), Seven-time American Grand Prix
Association (AGA) Rider of the Year and 1991 AHSA Equestrian of
the Year.
Engle
won the Pan American Games selection trials in Lexington, KY,
to earn her berth on the show jumping team representing the United
States in the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo.
Lauren
Hough was also chosen for the Show Jumping squad on Windy City,
owned by Peppercorn Ltd. Hough is the daughter of prominent hunter
judges Linda and Champ Hough. Champ was on the 1952 Three Day
Event Olympic team. Lauren kept the Olympic tradition in the family,
riding Clasiko to a 6th place team finish and a tie for 15th place
in the individual show jumping competition at the 2000 Olympic
Games in Sydney.
In
2003, Hough was one of two riders who were subjectively chosen
for the show jumping
team
representing the United States at the Pan American Games. This
marked the first time since 1990 that any places on a U.S. show
jumping team competing at a continental or World Championship
or Olympic Games went to riders chosen subjectively.
Chris
Kappler was the other rider chosen subjectively for the show jumping
team and he will compete aboard Royal Kaliber, owned by Kappler
and Kathy Kamine.
Kappler's
grand prix career began in 1984 when he placed fifth in his first
major show jumping event at the age of seventeen and he has been
setting the show jumping world on fire ever since. Kappler credits
include the title of Midwest Rider of the Year on four occasions
(1987, 1988, 1989, 1991). In 1988, Kappler was the recipient of
the USET’s Lionel Guerrand-Hermes Trophy, awarded to the
young rider exemplifying outstanding sportsmanship and horsemanship.
In 2003, Kappler made history when, on consecutive weekends, he
won the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational and the AGA Show
Jumping Championships. He was the first ever to sweep these two
events back to back.
Laura
Kraut, the fourth member of the Show Jumping squad was chosen
to compete at the Pan American Games on Anthem, owned by The Summit
Syndicate. Kraut has experience at two Summer Olympic Games. Kraut
was a member of the show jumping team in the 2000 Olympic Games
in Sydney and Kraut was the first alternate for the 1992 Olympic
Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain.
In
2003, Kraut was the top placed American at the 2003 Show Jumping
World Cup Final in Las
Vegas,
Nevada. Out of a total of 41 starting horse-and-rider combinations
from seventeen countries, Kraut tied for the fifth position overall.
She then earned a place on the U.S. team for the 2003 Pan American
Games in Santo Domingo.
Beezie
Patton Madden was chosen as the alternate on Conquest II, owned
by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Patton. In 2003, Madden won several show
jumping events and was a member of the U.S. team that won the
Samsung Nations' Cup in Wellington, Florida. Madden also competed
on the USET's sixth place team at the 2002 World Equestrian Games
in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
There is a good deal of pressure on the U.S. Show Jumping team
at the Pan Ams. For the second time in two decades, they will
be using these games as a qualifier for the Summer Olympic Games,
as they still need to qualify for next year’s Games in Athens,
Greece. The gold and silver team medalists at the Pan Ams will
earn a spot in Athens, while the country with the best score counting
all four team member performances will also qualify. The competition
will be fierce as six nations will be fighting for a trip to Greece.
Show jumping events will take place from August 12-17 with Mexico’s
Javier Fernandez serving as course designer.
For more information and results of the equestrian events at the
Pan American Games, please visit www.usocpressbox.org and www.uset.org.
The United States Equestrian Team is a non-profit organization
that selects, trains, equips and finances equestrians of the highest
possible standard to represent our country in major international
competition, including the Olympic Games and the World Championships.
To accomplish this, the USET seeks out and nurtures the development
of talented athletes - riders, drivers and horses - and provides
the support and guidance they need to help them attain their fullest
potential. For more information on the USET, please call (908)
234-1251, or visit USET ONLINE at www.uset.org
.
