Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – July 30, 2003 - With the opening of the 2003 Pan American Games now just days away, the pressure is heating up for competitors in the equestrian discipline of show jumping.

More than medals hang in the balance at the show jumping events to be held August 13-16. With eight nations competing, only three will qualify for berth at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Under recently approved FEI criteria, the gold and silver medal teams will earn their ticket to Greece while a third country will qualify by totaling all four team members scores. Without the luxury of a drop score, the bronze medallists may not necessarily be the ones headed to Athens. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico and the United States will be fighting for the three places available while Chile and Guatemala will be there for the valuable experience.

The defending Pan Am Champions, Brazil, will once again be without one of the world’s best, Rodrigo Pessoa. Earning a place on the Pan Am Team by winning the National Championship in May before also topping June’s Selection Trials, two-time Olympian Alvaro ‘Doda’ Miranda will be leading the Pan Am charge for Brazil. A member of the defending gold medal team, Miranda will be riding Oliver Metodo, a Brazilian-bred out of Quidam de Revel. Joining him will be Cesar Almeida and Chapman Rouge, second in the Selection Trials, and subjective pick, the Pessoa-trained Bernardo Alves, 26, riding the 10-year-old French-bred gelding, Fort de Neauville. While Brazil easily laid claim to the gold in 1999, will they be able to repeat their effort?

The United States will give them the best run for their money with a team comprised of internationally seasoned competitors. Three 2000 Sydney Olympians – Selection Trial winner Margie Goldstein-Engle, Laura Kraut and Lauren Hough will be joined by subjective pick, Chris Kappler and Royal Kaliber. And, in the event that any of those four are not up to the task, Beezie Madden, currently the number one ranked female rider in the world, will be on call.

Canada, the bronze medal winner four years ago, will be back with half of its 1999 Pan Am Team. Defending Champion Ian Millar, who easily topped the Selection Trials, will be aboard Promise Me, his nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, while Eric Lamaze will be riding Mill Creek Rosalinde, an eight-year-old Hannoverian mare whose sheer talent makes up for any lack of international exposure. Karen Cudmore and Conejo, Mark Samuel and Darios V, another Quidam de Revel son, and 20-year-old Keean White and Arriscraft Rocca will round out the Canadian squad.

A seasoned Mexican Team consisting of veterans Federico Fernandez, Gerardo Tazzer, Antonio Chedraui and Santiago Lambre will be knocking hard on the door after being shut out of the medals by the narrowest of margins in 1999. And the strength of Colombia, led by four-time Olympian Manuel Torres, should not be discounted, nor Argentina, who are well-mounted and may prove that horsepower can prevail over experience.

Mexico’s Javier Fernandez will act as course designer for the show jumping events while respected Colombian course designer and architect by trade, Juan Carlos Tafur, will design and construct the jumps. Footing expert Hugh Kincannon of the United States, renowned for his work at the Kentucky Horse Park, has been retained to ensure that the arena surfaces are truly of an international standard. Sydney Olympic course designer Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela will be the Technical Delegate and has been heavily involved in the design of the newly constructed equestrian venue that will host both the dressage and show jumping competitions. At a recent test event for dressage held July 11, the preparations of the facility were met with approval.

"The facilities are in the final stages of being finished,” says Palacios. “The technical delegate for dressage, Maribel Alonso de Quinzanos, reports that both the footing and the facilities in general are good, and I also hear the same conclusions from our course designer, Javier Fernadez. Personally, I am of the opinion that the Organizing Committee and the Dominican Equestrian Federation are putting forth all the efforts required to host a first-rate Pan Am Games."

Officiating over the show jumping events will be Francois Ferland of Canada, President of the Ground Jury, joined by Colombia’s Yolanda Matallana and Bernardo Lopez Davidson of El Salvador.

For further information on the equestrian events at the Pan American Games, please visit the Dominican Republic Equestrian Federation’s website at: www.ecuestrerd.com and the official 2003 Pan American Games website at www.santodomingo2003.com.