DressageDaily: WEG Silver Medallist, Debbie McDonald, To Perform Dressage At 2003 Budweiser World Cup Show Jumping Finals

Friday March 21, 2003

WEG Silver Medallist, Debbie McDonald, To Perform Dressage At 2003 Budweiser World Cup Show Jumping Finals

McDonald at the Weg Peggy and Parry Thomas will send their superstar mount, Brentina, ridden by Debbie McDonald, to perform a special dressage exhibition at the Budweiser World Cup 2003.

The Budweiser World Cup 2003, the Show Jumping World Cup Final, will be held April 16-20, 2003 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Started in 1979, the World Cup Final is an annual showdown among the world's best jumping horses and riders. Approximately 45 riders qualify from 13 leagues around the world. In the 24 World Cup Finals held through 2002, United States riders have emerged with the most titles, having won seven championships. Riders from Austria have won four world titles and riders from Great Britain and Canada have three victories apiece.

Riding the Thomas’s Hanoverian mare Brentina, McDonald led the U.S. Equestrian Team to its best finish ever in the Dressage World Championships held at the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain. Led by McDonald and Brentina, the U.S. won the team Silver Medal. Additionally, McDonald and Brentina finished fourth individually, the best U.S. finish ever.

In 1999, McDonald and Brentina won the team and individual Gold Medals at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada. It was the United States’ first Pan Am team Gold Medal in dressage since 1983. McDonald was also the first U.S. Individual Gold Medalist since Carole Grant in 1983.

At Budweiser World Cup 2003, McDonald, a wife and mother from Hailey, ID, will perform on Saturday afternoon aboard her flamboyant 16.2-hand chestnut mare.

“This will be really fun for Parry,” said McDonald, explaining that Thomas and his former partner donated funds for the arena to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. “The organizers invited us to perform at the World Cup in 2000 and we all enjoyed it so much. Brentina has developed into one of the world’s best horses and I know Parry will be thrilled to have his horse ride in the arena that bears his name."

Tickets available at: http://www.worldcuplasvegas.com