Lexington, KY - A trio of American show jumpers will spend the night of Thursday, April 24 in the top 10 spots at the Rolex FEI World Cup Final in Goteborg, Sweden. 39 horses entered the ring for the first leg of the Final - the speed class - 10 of which were American.

Oregon rider Rick Fellers blazed into fourth place with Harry and Mollie Chapman’s Flexible. The 12-year-old Irish-bred stallion finished the first leg of the Final with a time of 70.40, just over two seconds behind leader Heinrich Hermann Engemann from Germany, who rode Aboyeur W into the top spot.

Less than a second behind Fellers was his teammate, Peter Wylde. Riding Louisburg Farm’s Esplanade, the Wellington, FL rider (who was a member of the gold medal winning team at the 2004 Olympic Games) put in an impressive effort considering he was a late substitution to the U.S. squad at the Final.

Rounding out the top 10 was Mandy Porter on Wild Turkey’s Farm Summer. A Californian, Porter and the 11-year-old mare finished the first round with a time of 72.46.

Chef d’Equipe, George Morris was thrilled with the U.S. squad’s effort, and feels that going forward in the Final speed will be second to scope over the big courses.

“We have a very good group of riders and some nice horses,” said Morris. “I’m very pleased to come to Europe - and right from the start - have the overall performance be very consistent and competitive. It is a good group. From now on it will be a question of scope.”

The competition continues on Friday with the second leg at 6 p.m. local time.

For complete results, please visit http://events.horses.nl/2008/goteborg/results/001-res.htm.

For more information, please contact Joanie Morris at [email protected].