Wellington, FL – October 20, 2004 – Stadium Jumping, Inc., producer of the 121st National Horse Show & Family Festival in Wellington, Florida, has announced that corporate sponsors are supporting a host of classes and divisions at this year’s event. Scheduled for November 30 through December 5, 2004, at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club, the six-day competition features topnotch hunters, jumpers, and equitation riders in contention for national titles. The 121st National Horse Show and Family Festival also includes the 3rd Annual Zada Enterprises, LLC Dressage at the National competition. In addition to competition sponsors, the show has support for entertainment at the show – for the second consecutive year, Wellington Show stables will sponsor the Children’s Fair Celebration scheduled for Saturday, December 4.

Heading up the roster of supporters for the 121st National Horse Show & Family Festival is Chesapeake Petroleum, which is sponsoring four competitions: The $10,000 Chesapeake Petroleum National Speed Stake; The $25,000 Chesapeake Petroleum National Speed Classic; The $100,000 National Horse Show Jumper Championship presented by Chesapeake Petroleum; and The 2004 $100,000 AGA Championship presented by Chesapeake Petroleum.

Victoria McCullough, 41, of Wellington, Florida, heads up Chesapeake Petroleum. She has been a rider most of her life, an active competitor since 1979, and has participated as an exhibitor in 17 National Horse Shows. Her father, Lexford A. Davis, fully supported her riding avocation and when he passed away in 1988, she established a foundation in his name. In 2002, when the National Horse Show moved from Madison Square Garden to Wellington, she turned her focus to sponsorship at a horse show for the very first time.

“I found the National Horse Show appealing to me because firstly it’s a charity,” explained Ms. McCullough. “And secondly, it was an opportunity for me to speak to Gene Mische [president of Stadium Jumping]. I was interested in how he planned to keep the history and the genteelness of this particular horse show in tact and how I could participate in his plans for the future.” That first year for the National Horse Show in Wellington, Chesapeake Petroleum was a sponsor for the Children’s Fair and a Speed Class.

“Chesapeake Petroleum is a distributor of petroleum products in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and my territory is the mid-Atlantic. I don’t have any clients whatsoever in Florida, so I don’t have an agenda business-wise. It’s solely to contribute, to give back,” explained Ms. McCullough. “I have always loved the National Horse Show. I loved Sally Wheeler [long-time financial supporter of the event who died in 2001] and I thought in some way I can be a younger version of her, and I can help Gene Mische. That’s really how I arrived at this level of sponsorship.”

Going into her third year as a sponsor, Ms. McCullough is pleased with how the 121st National Horse Show & Family Festival has developed in Wellington, from the perspective of an exhibitor as well as a sponsor. “I really love it. The community in Wellington is so geared to making life easy for the exhibitors. Competing outdoors is fantastic. The show is run beautifully. The relationship that I have with Gene Mische is extraordinary. He allows me to have a say in what I would like. He allows me to be involved with some of the meetings. I’m actually growing in my sponsorship and my participation each year and I feel that in the long term I will be there for Gene as long as he does this.”

Ms. McCullough specifically chose to sponsor this year’s $10,000 Chesapeake Petroleum National Speed Stake and $25,000 Chesapeake Petroleum National Speed Classic. “I participate in the speed division myself, so I loved those,” she said. “Gene was kind enough to invite me to be a sponsor of the Grand Prix classes. I’ve never shown in a Grand Prix.” The $100,000 National Horse Show Jumper Championship presented by Chesapeake Petroleum is one of the main events of the 121st National Horse Show & Family Festival, scheduled for Friday night, December 3, as the highlight of “Jumping Under The Stars.” Ms. McCullough is also serving as co-chairman with Mason Phelps, Jr. of that night’s black tie gala in the Diamond Horse Shoe Club. The 2004 $100,000 AGA Championship presented by Chesapeake Petroleum is the finale event of the 121st National Horse Show & Family Festival, scheduled for Sunday afternoon, December 5.

Even with her horse show commitments, Ms. McCullough maintains a work schedule at Chesapeake Petroleum that demands a frequent two-hour commute from her home in Wellington to her office in Washington, DC. She also manages to ride and compete, and operate her eight-stall barn on the five-and-a-half-acre farm she purchased five years ago. It is located within hacking distance of the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club where both the National Horse Show & Family Festival and the Winter Equestrian Festival are held. She owns four horses: Stuff To Do, a stallion imported from Holland; Copper Moon, her new speed horse; Stewart Little, a young Thoroughbred jumper; and Java, her polo pony that she rides bareback and stick-and-balls with her polo pals.

How does she do it all? “I’ve learned that the secret is to just make sure you have as much fun as you can with the horse show world,” explained Ms. McCullough. “That’s what it’s supposed to be – fun. My farm is a little piece of paradise. I can drive in the archway and it’s heaven. I’ve been told it’s one of the neatest barns in Wellington. It’s very different and it’s very unique. Since purchasing it I know what it’s like to be in Wellington year-round. Wellington is a small town, it’s friendly and it’s home.”

Ms. McCullough has found the experience of sponsorship an enlightening one. “Being an exhibitor and then being on the other side as a sponsor, it’s quite different and quite unique. I know what things cost now. If the horse show is going to succeed it takes people like myself and all of us to make it work, not just one person. We all think Gene Mische magically turns the lights on. When people take the opportunity to find out how it really works, more people will do what I do and become sponsors. It’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve learned so much.”

Many local Wellington businesses are also supporting the 121st National Horse Show & Family Festival and are title sponsors of classes and divisions.

121st National Horse Show & Family Festival Sponsor List: