Aachen, Germany - June 20, 2003 - In the midst of fierce competition, US competitors continued to demonstrate their strength today at CHIO Aachen, Germany, where the jumping team (Lauren Hough/Windy City, Chris Kappler/Royal Kaliber, Laura Kraut/Anthem, and Peter Wylde/Fein Cera) finished in third place tying with the host country. Ireland won the competition and is now only half a point behind France on the Samsung Super League Leaderboard. Ireland also won the Nations’ Cup class at St. Gallen (SUI) several weeks ago.

Chris Kappler on Royal Kaliber, a brown Dutch Warmblood stallion (Ramiro x Feidonja, by Voltaire) secured the team’s 3rd place finish with 2 clear rounds in the famed arena known for its size, seating capacity for 40,000 spectators and spectacular range of obstacles. Kappler, who competed at Aachen in 1995 and Jos Lansink (BEL) were the only two riders who achieved double clear rounds. “The show is bigger and better than ever and is phenomenal” commented Kappler. We’ve been having a great show and 3 out of the 4 team members are on the Pan Am Team so it’s nice to be able to compete together and get to know each other”. The US was invited to Aachen on a wildcard. Frank Chapot is serving as the Chef d’Equipe.

Yesterday, the US dressage team took the silver medal and Lisa Wilcox on Relevant an Oldenburg chestnut stallion (Rubinstein I x Havanna, by Goldloewe), finished in 2nd place and Debbie McDonald only slightly behind in 3rd position abroad Brentina (Hanoverian: Brentano II x Lieselotte). Laura Kraut won the Nordrhein-Westfalen-Prize competition on Allegiance (Dutch Warmblood: Animo x Gosseline) while Chris Kappler and Peter Wylde finished in the Top 10. Clare Bronfman finished in second place in a hunting competition on speed horse Lord William (Holsteiner: Lord Caletto x Rocky). James Fairclough, the only four-in-hand driver representing the U.S. this year, earned a respectable 6th place finish out of 23 starters in the Dressage Competition – Freestyle to Music.