La Baule, France, May 13, 2005 — The U.S show jumping team handily won the first Samsung Super League Nations’ Cup of the season May 6 in La Baule by four faults over Great Britain. Team members also won three other classes and placed well throughout the show.
At the end of the four days of competition it was the United States’ youngest team member, New York City’s Georgina Bloomberg, 22, who was the event’s leading rider. Joining Bloomberg on the team were Laura Kraut of Oconomoc, Wisc., Schuyler Riley of Wellington, Fla., Anne Kursinski of Frenchtown, N.J., and Beezie Madden of Cazenovia, N.Y.
The team won three speed classes three days in a row. May 6 became “ladies’ day” when the Prix Conseil General de Loire Atlantique was swept by the U.S. riders, all aboard mares, with Kraut on Milonk (10 years old, KWPN mare owned by Happy Hill Farm and Peter Wetherill) grabbing first place; rookie Bloomberg in second on her reliable Nadia (10 years old, DWB mare owned by Gotham Enterprises); and veteran Kursinski third on Roxana 112 (11 years old, Hessen mare owned by Scott Hakim).
That afternoon the team captured the important first leg of the Samsung Super League in a performance that did not even require the last rider, Kraut, to complete her final round for the U.S win. Double clear rounds, one of only two for the day, by Schuyler Riley on Ilian (15 years old, KWPN gelding, owned by Wolfstone Stables) had already assured the victory.
Kursinski then grabbed the Prix Cap Atlantique on May 7 on Lorenzo (12 years old, KWPN gelding, owned by Market Street, Inc.). On May 8 Bloomberg won the Prix PMU on Nadia, with Madden fourth on DeSilvio (10 years old, KWPN stallion owned by Abigail Wexner) and Kursinski fifth on Lorenzo.
“This is a very competitive team on very competitive horses,” said Chef d’Equipe George Morris. “They (the riders) were outstanding and this was a great group of horses, very careful. You have to have the right string of horses to be competitive in Europe.”
The next Samsung Super League competition is May 26-29 in Rome, Italy.
