Tampa, Fl - March 24 - It was d��j�� vu all over again at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Tampa, Florida as Georgina Bloomberg edged out Beezie Madden for the second week in a row in the WEF Challenge Cup. The $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round Eight was Thursday's featured event at the Tampa Bay Classic during the eighth week of competition at the nation's largest and longest running equestrian showcase.

Seventy five entries went to the post in the 1pm main event. The $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Class was scored under FEI article 238.2.2, Time First Jump-Off. Bloomberg and Madden were two of only seven riders that mastered the first round course designed by Michel Vailancourt of Canada. The tremendously challenging course of 14 numbered obstacles and seventeen jumping efforts saw one rider come home with a single time fault, fifteen riders score four faults for a single knockdown and seventeen riders rack up eight faults. Twenty eight competitors had nine or more faults.

The course saw knockdowns at every obstacle but the tail end of the course, from the triple combination at ten through the final fence at fourteen, produced a total of 110 knockdowns. Fifty of those came at the triple combination, 25 at the third element.

Today's class was one of the final two qualifying classes for the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational, to be held Saturday, April 2, at 7pm at Raymond James Stadium.

Lauren Hough and Clasiko, owned by the Clasiko Group, was the first to master the course, riding out of the fourth spot in the jumping order. Riding ninth, Paige Johnson on Salamander Farm's Kadena R, produced the second fault free performance of the afternoon. Twenty one competitors later, it was Alison Firestone on Sansierra, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Bertram R. Firestone, adding her name to the jump-off roster. The fourth clear of the afternoon came five horses later when the Full Cry Farm's Naomi, piloted by Molly Ashe went clean. Then it was a stretch of thirty five horses before Gregoire Oberson of Switzerland, aboard Jean Lanoire's Cartoflex Gazelle de Beauval, became the fifth to master the Vailancourt designed course. Rounding out the field for the upcoming tiebreaker were the eventual first and second place finishers, Georgina Bloomberg on Nadia from the Gotham Enterprises, in the eightieth spot, and Beezie Madden and Judgement from the Iron Spring Farm, riding eighty-third.

In the jump-off, the course was shortened to a quick eight jumping efforts beginning with fences 1 and 2 and finishing with a right turn that took the riders over the treacherous final part of the original course utilizing fences 10a, 10b, 11, 12, 12 and 14.

Lauren Hough and Clasiko returned first for the encounter against the clock. Hough had a knockdown at fence 12, the big oxer in the center of the ring and came home with 4 faults in 37.70 seconds. Paige Johnson and Kadena R faded fast, finishing with 12 faults and a jump-off time of 39.40 seconds.

Sansierra and Alison Firestone were the third challengers back and produced the first clear jumping effort in the jump-off, however, Firestone's careful pace cost her a time penalty. She took over the early lead with 1 fault in a time of 40.47 seconds. Firestone would eventually sink to fifth place as the final four riders to return would all produce clear rounds.

Molly Ashe and Naomi followed Firestone into the ring and were clear and took over the top spot, crossing the finish line in 36.70 seconds. Gregoire Oberson and Cartofelx Gazelle de Beauval were clean, but their finish time of 38.36 seconds, fell short of the pace set by Ashe.

It was down to a battle of the top two finishers of Round Seven of the WEF Challenge Cup series, the final Challenge Cup in Wellington, Florida on March 10. In that class, Georgina Bloomberg topped Beezie Madden by one and a half seconds for the victory.

Today, the city was Tampa, Florida and the margin of victory was only 7/10ths of a second but the finish order remained the same.

Bloomberg and Nadia turned in a electrifying performance as she whipped around the tiebreaker in 35.21 seconds. Madden had the cat bird seat as the last to go, but again fell short of the mark, cruising home with Judgement in a time of 36.00 seconds.

Bloomberg described her winning effort. "It was not the kind of jump off course where there were a lot of places to gallop or make up time like we're used to coming from Palm Beach," she said. "You had to be a little bit quicker on the turns and take a bigger shot at the jumps than usual, so I tried to do that every place I could, at the same time not risking too much. And today, I got away with it."

Madden admitted that she knew she was too slow. "I was alright from one to two and then I didn't catch a forward stride to the double. Then, after the double, those six strides were just too slow for me because he has such a big stride. And then again, I didn't catch a great stride to the oxer in the center of the ring. And then finally, to the last fence I was fast," Madden laughed. "But, that was a little too late to catch Georgina."

"It was a pretty difficult course," admitted Bloomberg. "I think a lot of horses had trouble with this ring. I know Nadia, last year, hated this ring. You never know how the horses are going to react to it. It's just a very different setting than we're used to," she said. "So, I think that might have been the biggest factor, a lot of horses had trouble coming inside especially after jumping for seven weeks outside on the big field in Palm Beach. I'm just really lucky that Nadia has grown up a lot. She really adapted to the ring very well and it rode very easy for her today."

Madden agreed with Bloomberg's assessment. "I thought it was tough," she said. "You know, he (Vailancourt) had so many horses in it, so he did what he had to do today. I think it was tough, but fair tough," Madden conceded. "There wasn't any one particular spot, other than the triple, where any one had real problems, the faults were spread out. It was just a difficult course to jump clean. It took an experienced horse to do it today; one that's been showing and especially one that's in a groove," she said.

Bloomberg said the course today, especially the triple combination that produced so many faults, was perfect for Nadia. "That was perfect. That's the type of combination that if it doesn't suit your horse you're going to get in trouble there and there's not much you can do about it," she explained "So, I was lucky that it suited Nadia perfectly. She's a very careful jumper but she's also got the scope to handle a situation like that."

Madden said she was well prepared for the triple combination, as well. "You know we practice that with him a lot because he is so big and has such a big stride," she said. "We use a lot of gymnastics with him to quicken him up and make him more clever. He's really pretty good at the triple combinations."

Course Designer, Michel Vainancourt talked about today's challenge, especially the final seven fences. "It's a little tougher coming home," he said. "I set enough problems for them out there that by the time they headed home, especially through the triple combination, they've lost a little ride-ability and I consider that last line to be a real rider's line," Vailancourt said. "It was more of a rider test than a horse test. The triple was very short. It was oxer, vertical, oxer and very short and the reason I could allow myself to do that it because the dimensions of the fences are not that big. Because the size wasn't there, I could become much more technical through the triple," he revealed. "And, the vertical before the triple sets up the combination. I think the riders that had problems, came in too strong. Those that jumped in too big never had a chance. So it came down to the horses that could be patient and the riders that could find the right spot, letting their horse back u p and curl up over the first element and then power out over the oxer at C," he said.

Coming in to today's class, Bloomberg was already one of the top qualifiers for the Budweiser American Invitational. "Yeah, that was great. Knowing we were going to make the cut for the Invitational, we came in much more relaxed. Even Jimmy (Doyle, her trainer) came in today relaxed, and that's saying a lot," Bloomberg laughed. "We were ok with whatever happened today, so to get the win was great."

Sunday's $75,000 Grand Prix of Tampa, presented by Kilkenny/ICH is the final qualifier for the Budweiser American Invitational and is the first of two remaining qualifiers for the 2005 Budweiser World Cup in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 20th.

Bloomberg and Madden are tied for eighth spot on the World Cup Qualifying list. Seven riders plus one "wild card" rider get to make the trip to Vegas. What do these two have planned for Sunday? "I'll use Authentic, and see what happens," stated Madden. "I'll use Riviera," countered Bloomberg. "He's a bit more experienced than Nadia, and it's time for Riviera to step up to the plate."

Official Results - $25,000 WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round VIII, FEI Art. 238.2.2 - 03-24-05 - Covered Arena

1 - Nadia, Georgina Bloomberg - 0-0/35.21

2 - Judgement, Beezie Madden -0-0/36.00

3 - Naomi, Molly Ashe - 0-0/36.70

4 - Cartoflex Gazellede Beauval, Gregoire Oberson - 0-0/38.36

5 - Sansierra, Alison Firestone -0-1/40.47

6 - Clasiko, Lauren Hough -0-4/37.70

7 - Kadena R, Paige Johnson - 0-12/39.40

8 - Sun God, Nona Garson - 1-83.18

9 - Caya, Sheila Burke - 4-75.96

10 - Constantin 24, Markus Beerbaum - 4-77.41

11 - Couletto K. James, Kim Frey -4-77.60

12 - Harlem de Mescam, Judy Garofalo -4-78.33

The Budweiser American Invitational Qualifying List as of 3/24/05 - 7:00pm

Place Rider Total qualified 2004 Olympic Team

Chris Kappler $15,356 qualified 2004 Olympic Team

Beezie Madden $24,406 qualified 2004 Olympic Team

McLain Ward $12,600 qualified 2004 Olympic Team

Alison Firestone $1,925 qualified 2004 American Invitational Winner

Norman Dello Joio $3,675 qualified 2004 Olympic Team Peter Wylde $0

7 Laura Kraut $76,650

8 Ramiro Quintana $39,300

9 Laura Chapot $38,675

10 Anne Kursinski $38,575

11 Kent Farrington $33,700

12 Georgina Bloomberg $24,456

13 Margie Engle $23,581

14 Eric Lamaze $23,125

15 Markus Beerbaum $21,706

16 Cayce Harrison $20,750

17 Lauren Hough $20,675

18 Ellen Whitaker $14,500

19 Ian Millar $13,531

20 Kevin Babington $13,200

21 Cara Raether $13,000

22 Jeffery Welles $12,425

23 Paige Johnson $12,000

24 Jimmy Torano $9,950

25 Ken Berkley $9,356

26 Schuyler Riley $8,106

27 Christine Tribble $7,906

28 Mac Cone $7,675

29 Joe Fargis $6,981

30 Candice King $6,450

31 Herve Godignon $6,356

32 Ainsley Vince $6,000

33 Nona Garson $5,375

34 Kate Levy $5,250

35 Philippe Putallaz $5,000

36 Kimberly Frey $4,925

37 Keean White $4,750

38 Molly Ashe $4,500

39 Sheila Burke $4,350

40 Peter Leone $4,250

41 Todd Minikus $4,031

Hunter Champions through Thursday - Tampa Bay Classic

Pre-Green Hunter

Ch - Ashton, Karen Long Dwight - Ken Berkley

Res - Game Face, M/M Don Stewart - Elizabeth Towell

Pre-Green 3 and 4 Year Old

Ch -Daria, Anne Rinaldi - Amanda Lyerly

Res - ATM, Centennial Farm, Debbie Stephens

Pre-Green 3'3"

Ch - Marshall, Meralex Farm -Amanda Lyerly

Res - Fountainbleu, Jennifer Stefanik - Ken Smith

Green Conformation

Ch - Granted, Scott Stewart - Scott Stewart

Res - Game Plan, Nancy Breedlove - Penny Lombardo

Second Year Green

Ch - Noir, Mrs. Quentin Alexander - Ken Smith

Res - White Heart, Isabella Luhrs - Amanda Lyerly

Tampa Fast Facts

WHAT: The world's largest and longest-running equestrian sporting event, this event awards more than $3 million in prize money and features more than 1,000 horses and the world's best riders including Olympic members of the U.S. Equestrian Team.

WHEN: March 23 - April 2 (closed March 28)

Beginning daily at 8:00am.

Four rings daily at the Bob Thomas Equestrian Center on the Florida State Fairgrounds.

ADMISSION:

March 23-27 (Wednesday-Sunday) Tampa Bay Classic, CSI-W

Wednesday - Sunday FREE

March 29-April 2 (Tuesday-Saturday) Tournament of Champions CSI-W

Tuesday - Saturday FREE

HIGHLIGHT: The 33rd Annual $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational presented by Publix and The Tampa Tribune

The top thirty riders including riders from the U.S., Canada, Germany, Argentina and France compete for $200,000 in prize money one night only at Raymond James Stadium. In addition to the defending Invitational champion, invitations are issued to the current top four American Grand Prix Association riders, the team silver medalists from the Athens Olympic Games, plus the top riders based on prize money won from the nine week long Winter Equestrian Festival tour.

Saturday, April 2

Raymond James Stadium

7:00 p.m.

Walk the course from 5:30-6:15 p.m.

Advance ticket prices are $25-35 and family four packs $65 (Day-of-show $30-40 tickets and family four packs $75). Service charges apply.

Tickets available through TicketMaster (813) 287-8844, (727) 898-2100 or ticketmaster.com

TicketMaster outlets accept only cash on the day of show.

The event benefits the Tampa Police Mounted Patrol.

STADIUM JUMPING, INC.: Corporate Office- 1301 Sixth Ave West, Suite 406, Bradenton, FL, 34205; Tel: 941-744-5465; Fax: 941-744-0874; Website: www.stadiumjumping.com