The line-up for the final of the 2009/2010 FEI World Cup™ Dressage series, which will take place at 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, March 25-27 has been revised. The USA and Canadian Federations have confirmed that, due to health issues for either horses or riders, there will be no representatives from the North American League, so the two available slots will now be taken by reserve riders Tinne Vilhelmson Silfven from Sweden and Poland's Katarzyna Milczarek, who previously applied for any available extra starting places.
Both of these riders became eligible through meeting the criteria laid down for participation at the final, which includes the necessity to have competed in at least three qualifiers and the achievement of a score of at least 68.0% on each occasion.
As the reigning Olympic and nine-time World Cup title-holder Anky van Grunsven from The Netherlands has not qualified this year and the 2008/2009 FEI World Cup™ Dressage series winner Steffen Peters of the USA has decided not to defend his title, a new champion will be crowned in the Brabanthallen at 's-Hertogenbosch in two weeks time.
The full list of participants is now as follows:
The Netherlands - Edward Gal, Adelinde Cornelissen and Imke Schellekens-Bartels
Germany - Isabell Werth, Matthias Alexander Rath and Carola Koppelmann
Sweden - Patrick Kittel and Tinne Vilhelmson Silfven
Poland - Michal Rapcewicz and Katarzyna Milczarek
Australia - Brett Parbery
Belgium - Jeroen Devroe
Hungary - Acs Robert
Denmark - Nathalie Zu Sayn Wittgenstein
Brazil - Luiza Tavares de Almeida
FEI World Cup™ Dressage, the only worldwide series in this discipline, has entered its 25th season. The series, created in 1985, comprises four leagues: Western European, Central European, North American (including Canada) and Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, Asia). Each FEI World Cup™ Dressage qualifier consists of a Grand Prix test, which in turn is a qualification for the Freestyle to music competition, where league points are accumulated towards places in the Final. 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.
Technical Note: The FEI World Cup Dressage™ Champion does not earn points in his/her starts but is automatically qualified to the next Final with two FEI World Cup™ Dressage qualifiers completed. Riders not belonging to the Western European League (WEL) or Central European League (CEL) cannot earn points in the WEL unless they have declared to compete in the WEL 2009/2010. These riders may however transfer the results from a maximum of three WEL qualifiers to their own League. Points earned by CEL riders will be transferred to the CEL standings.
THE complete rules can be downloaded at www.feiworldcup.org.