Clayton Fredericks Wins 2005 FEI Eventing World Cup Finals

At the end of a thrilling Jumping phase, Australia’s Clayton Fredericks came out as the worthy winner of the 2005 FEI Eventing World Cup Final. Performing a magnificent clear round, he retained his overnight score of 42 penalties. The 2nd place goes to yet another Australian, Andrew Hoy, who had one rail down and one time penalty to finish on 44.3. Piia Pantsu follows in 3rd position only 0.1 points behind Hoy (44.4). A total of SEK 630,000 (EUR 68,000) was distributed in prize money, SEK 175,000 (EUR 19,000) of which going to the winner.

Canada's Hawley Bennett finished an impressive 15th with her Athens Olympic partner, Livingstone.

The Jumping course matched up entirely the World Cup standard allowing for only six clear rounds. With 12 fences (15 jumping efforts), it proved interesting asking challenging questions and clearly showing the direction for the future.

“At the moment I have five three-star level horses but Ben Along Time is definitely my favourite, especially after what he did today,” Fredericks declared. “I’ve had him since he was four and we established a special partnership from the very beginning. He is relatively mild tempered but has a little twist which makes him so special.” An interesting story lies behind the horse’s name. ‘Ben Along’ is the name of an aboriginal mission in Australia; Clayton added a little rock-n-roll touch to it: “Ben a long time since I had some…success”. And so it became Ben Along Time. Clayton’s ambition is to make the Australian team for the World Equestrian Games next year with this horse and, with hard work and luck, go to the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong. This will be particularly satisfying for the horse’s owner A. McAuley, who is from Hong Kong and who has been particularly supportive to the rider.

Andrew Hoy was pleased with Mr Pracatan as well. “He made only one mistake during the entire weekend. I’m ecstatic.”

Karuso will be on holiday for two weeks while Piia Pantsu is off to France practicing her Jumping. Then they will be bound to Blenheim where the FEI European Eventing Championship will take place in four weeks time.

The 2005 edition of the FEI Eventing World Cup was a fantastic one. It offered excellent sport and was enthusiastically acclaimed by 18,000 spectators. The organising committee, fully supported by the City of Malmö, lived up to the expectations and are looking forward to doing even better next year. Even nature joined in the celebrations as yesterday’s cold wind and rain were replaced by a glorious sun.

The complete results are available on http://www.equipe.nu/MeetingDetails.aspx?mId=268

The FEI Eventing World Cup is the sport’s first linked series. The 2005 season consists of 17 qualifiers and a Final to be held in Malmö (SWE) from 11 to 14 August. It is organised at the highest level of the sport using the format without steeple chase. The series is designed in manner to encourage the participation of the world’s best riders and horses and thus promote such emblematic values of Eventing, as the constant quest for harmony between physical skills and mental balance, contact with nature, precision, stamina, agility and insightful training. The FEI Eventing World Cup is a showcase of a sport resolutely turning to the future.