Posted March 30, 2006

Eliza Shuford and Plenty Win $30,000 WEF Challenge Cup Final

Ballard, Morrissey and Torano Book a Last Minute Ticket to Ride at Invitational

Tampa, FL – March 29, 2006 – For North Carolina’s Eliza Shuford, Wednesday’s hard-fought victory in the $30,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series Final was just additional proof that she has found the right combination to unlock all of the potential of her talented young equine partner, Plenty. Meanwhile, for second and third place finishers Michael Morrissey and Erynn Ballard, their pressure-packed performances on Wednesday earned them a right to compete on show jumping’s greatest stage on Saturday night.

The $30,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series Final, scored under FEI Table A, Art. 238.2.2. Time First Jump-Off, was the final chance to qualify for the 34th Annual $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational, presented by The Tampa Tribune and Kash n’ Karry, Saturday night under the lights at Raymond James Stadium. Olaf Petersen, Jr. of Germany designed the test for today’s main event.

Forty starters took the field for the 1p.m. feature, with many in the line-up and some sitting on the sidelines hoping that this class would be their stepping stone to the big dance. A number of competitors needed a top finish today to break into the standings (based on money won throughout the circuit), while others could only sit by and hope those top finishes would not be the ones that would bump them from the list.

Of the forty competitors that started, nine qualified to jump again in the speed phase with an initial clear go. Ten riders had a single knockdown, nine had two down, and ten had twelve faults or more or were eliminated.

Five of the first seven in the ring went clear and among them were much needed clutch fault free rides for Erynn Ballard, Michael Morrissey and Danielle Torano. All three were below the cut coming into today’s final qualifier.

Erynn Ballard led the way back for the tiebreaker with Paradigm. The duo went clear a second time and tripped the timers in 44.39 seconds, a time that would hold up for a key third place finish.

Georgina Bloomberg followed Ballard with four faults with Don Cesar, and Candice King followed her with a clear go with Caliskan. King’s time was 44.52 seconds, off the pace set by Ballard by just 1/10th of a second.

Following King, Morrissey and Crelido grabbed the lead, flying across the finish line in 43.93 seconds. Danielle Torano followed Morrissey with a clear round that moved her into the fourth spot.

Eliza Shuford and Plenty then tore up the track in 43.45 seconds for today’s WEF Challenge Cup win.

“Fantastic!” Shuford said following the win. “Plenty’s a young mare I got just a year and a half ago. I’ve been taking it real slow with her. Last year in Florida, I just did the Seven Eight Year-Old classes and this year did a couple of grand prix classes in Raleigh before coming south,” she explained. “This year at WEF, I didn’t do anything big with her, just the 1.40m. I spent time getting her rideability under control. I got a new bit for her after she ran away with me on the big field at Wellington,” she laughed. “Once we got that all figured out, it was great, and the last day of WEF in Wellington I moved her up to the last 1.45m class. Here in Tampa, she was great last week, went well in the WEF Challenge last Thursday, and was great today.”

Shuford said she was very happy with the progress she has made since the start of the Florida tour. “I didn’t do much early money-wise at Wellington because I was dealing with bit issues with all my horses. The first few weeks, I was a little lost out there trying to figure it all out, but we were pretty consistent once we got it all organized,” she said.

Finishing fourteenth overall on the money won list was a pretty impressive feat, explained Shuford, especially the way things went early on. “I have great horses. I definitely wanted to try and qualify for the Invitational. I got pretty down on myself after the first couple of weeks, so being that high up on the money list is pretty cool considering how we got started,” she admitted. “We finally got it together, and we were very consistent as the weeks went on, but in the beginning, I would have never guessed we could have finished that well.”

For Canadian rider Erynn Ballard, today’s much needed third place finish earned her $3,900 and brought her season total to $7,350, enough to ride again at Raymond James Stadium. “I won the Junior Invitational the year they had that event at the stadium, so maybe that will be good luck for me. I’ve been looking at the postings every single day. It came right down to the wire, but it’s been an amazing winter for me for sure,” she said.

Speaking of her partner Paradigm, Ballard said, “I just got him the last week of the circuit. He belongs to a girl in our barn who showed him in the High Amateurs for the first five weeks. Her deal with her parents was that she’d do five weeks of showing and then would go home and graduate from Cornell. So I have the horse through May.”

Michael Morrissey earned $6,600 for his second place finish, enough to put him just ahead of Ballard when they ride on Saturday night. Knowing he needed a top finish going in today, was Morrissey nervous? “A little bit. But, I came out with all the big guns smoking today to try and get in,” he laughed.

Crelido is just making his comeback, according to Morrissey. “He’s a 10 year-old gelding that we got last fall. He pulled a muscle just the week before circuit started, so I didn’t get to show him in Palm Beach at all, and that was very disappointing,” he revealed. “But he feels great now. Slowly we’ve been moving up, and he feels fantastic. He’s been in eleven classes and has jumped ten clear rounds. He’s only had one rail down since he’s come back. He’s a pretty amazing horse.”

“This will be my first trip to the Invitational. I’m very excited.” Whether he will be nervous showing in America’s greatest show jumping event, Morrissey said, “I’m sure I will be. It hasn’t set in yet though.”

The 34th Annual $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational, presented by The Tampa Tribune and Kash n’ Karry, the showcase event of the Winter Equestrian Festival, takes place this Saturday, April 1, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. under the lights at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. The event, the richest and most prestigious outdoor show jumping event in the United States, will feature top riders from around the world.

Results of Class 101 $30,000 WEF Challenge Cup Final – CSI- FEI Art. 238.2.2. –Covered Arena – 3/28/06 -Tournament of Champions CSI

• 1 110 ELIZA SHUFORD USA PLENTY 0.00 78.31 0.00 43.45 $9000 ELIZA SHUFORD
• 2 509 MICHAEL MORRISSEY USA CRELIDO 0.00 76.97 0.00 43.93 $6600 EUGENE R. MISCHE
• 3 830 ERYNN BALLARD CAN PARADIGM 0.00 76.16 0.00 44.39 $3900 ASTA TOROKVEI
• 4 690 DANIELLE TORANO USA CAPITANO 0.00 77.82 0.00 44.72 $2400 SIR RULY
• 5 238 CANDICE KING USA COCO CABANA 0.00 79.24 0.00 45.04 $1800 LOUISBURG FARM
• 6 226 IAN MILLAR CAN IN STYLE 0.00 77.46 4.00 44.18 $1500 SUSAN GRANGE
• 7 243 CANDICE KING USA CALISKAN 0.00 78.82 4.00 44.52 $1200 LOUISBURG FARM
• 8 72 GEORGINA BLOOMBERG USA DON CESAR 0.00 79.98 4.00 48.58 $900 GOTHAM ENTERPRIZES
• 9 554 JAIME GUERRA MEX RMW POWER POINT 0.00 78.80 12.00 47.00 $900 ROCKYMT WARMBLOODS
• 10 134 LAURA CHAPOT USA SAMANTHA 4.00 74.73 $600 SUNDANCE GROUP
• 11 694 DANIELLE TORANO USA PANDOER 4.00 75.68 $600 JIMMY TORANO
• 12 506 MICHAEL MORRISSEY USA CRABAMBOLI 4.00 76.43 $600 EUGENE R. MISCHE

PHOTO CREDIT: Eliza Shuford and Plenty win $30,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series Final at Tampa. Photo by Randi Muster.