Once again, the nation’s best equestrians will converge on Wellington, FL, for the 123rd National Horse Show and Family Festival, beginning on November 29, 2006. The show is proud to host the best of the best, the cream of the crop, from the amateur-owner jumper and junior jumper divisions.

The top-ranked riders from the year-long Show Jumping Hall of Fame Series (SJHOF) have once again been invited to compete in a head-to-head battle in Florida in their special year-end championships at the 123rd National Horse Show and Family Festival. The Show Jumping Hall of Fame Junior and Amateur-Owner Jumper Championships each offer $15,000 in prize money. Each division, with three classes, offers a total of $25,000 in prize money.

The Show Jumping Hall of Fame final year-end standings determine the entries for the championship.

The Amateur-Owner Jumper Division starting list is highlighted by the top two riders in the SJHOF Eastern Conference, Cara Cheska from Waukesha, WI, and Whitney Weeks of Southport, CT. Cheska will have her top horse, My Fair Lady, at Wellington, and Weeks will compete on Subliem, the horse she rode to the hard-fought victory in last year’s SJHOF Junior Championship at the National Horse Show. Northbrook, Illinois’ Chloe Wormser, fifth in the national standings, will toss her hat into the ring with Modra, and eleventh- and twelfth-ranked riders Charlie and Louis Jacobs of East Aurora, NY, are also slated to compete.

In the junior division, it’s another battle of the top two-ranked national finalists with Julie Welles of West Simsbury, CT, and Haylie Jayne of Elgin, IL, topping the charts and set to go head-to-head in the extremely competitive section for the young riders. Jayne finished third in last year’s contest. Paige Andros of Pebble Beach, CA, fourth-ranked in the Western Conference, will make the journey to Wellington this year. Other top-ranked juniors vying for this year’s title are seventh-ranked Aimee Aron of Keswick, VA, and Julianna Fischer, eleventh-ranked, and home-based in nearby Lake Worth, FL.

Over $30,000 in prize money is up for grabs as the best of the junior and amateur-owner jumpers take the field at the 123rd Annual National Horse Show and Family Festival. The Welcome Stake for each division will be held on Friday in the DeNemethy Arena. This is followed by the Speed Stake for each section in the Internationale Arena on Saturday. The final showdown is on Sunday morning in the Internationale Arena at 8 a.m., beginning with the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Junior Championship and followed immediately by the amateur battle.


~~~