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Anna McWane and Alexa Weeks Lead Strong American Contingent at Monaco.....Kenneth Kraus reports for PhelpsSports.com
Monaco, MC – June 26, 2006 – While the third stop on the Global Champions Tour took center stage in Monaco, a number of the American riders on hand dominated in their competitions. Anna McWane and Alexa Weeks led the way for the United States with two wins apiece during the four days of competition at Jumping International de Monaco 2006, staged outdoors on the quay of the famous harbor.
Riding her eight year-old Dutch mare Rusi, McWane posted wins on Thursday and again on Saturday. Thursday’s win against the clock was a two second victory over France’s Jessica Arene on Isatis D’L’Herbage. McWane cruised home with a clear go in 46.68 seconds. Arene’s clear round time was 50.69 seconds. On Saturday, the class was scored under the one jump-off format, but the results were again the same. McWane and Rusi topped Arene, who for this class, was aboard Igor D’Aron. Both posted first round clears, but in the tiebreaker McWane tripped the timers in 40.42 seconds, 8/10ths of a second faster than Arene, who finished in 41.23 seconds. McWane also picked up a third and fourth place finish in the 1.35m Invitational competition with Vincent.
Alexa Weeks was victorious on Thursday and Saturday as well. Her two wins were part of a four day total that included four top placings at Monaco. On Thursday, Weeks and her nine year old mare Riane raced past Jane Davies of Great Britain for the win. In the one round speed event Weeks broke the beams in 50.37 seconds, almost two seconds faster than Davies and Tulipe VD Heffinck, who crossed the finish line in 52.43 seconds. On Saturday, Weeks finished first and sixth in the 1.35m Time First Jump-off class. The win came aboard the eight year-old Dutch gelding Rowan. The duo was double clear and posted a jump-off time of 35.24 seconds. Well off the pace in second place was Italy’s Silvia Albanese aboard Jabdullah. They were clear in 37.50 seconds.
Other top American ribbon winners during the four day run included Donald Little, Jessica Speiser, Amhed Alali, Diana Callaghan, Maria Newman and Peter Rieman.
New York’s Georgina Bloomberg and Nadia, her 13 year-old Dutch mare, finished third in the Thursday main event, the Prix de la Federation Equestre de la Principaute de Monaco. Ireland’s Jessica Kürten on Castle Forbes Maike was the winner, almost a full second faster than runner-up Gregory Wathelet of the Ukraine and Ceasar.
Ludo Philippaerts and Parco emerged victorious in the grand finale, the Grand Prix du Prince de Monaco presented by the J&S Group and sponsored by CN and CN WorldWide. The class was scored under FEI Art. 273.2.2+3.1 1.60m. Two rounds and One Jump-Off. The top four finishers all went triple clear, including the jump-off. Philippaerts topped fellow Belgian Francois Mathy, Jr. and Ivoire Du Rouet for the win. Richard Davenport of Great Britain was third on Nelson Z and Philippe Leoni of France aboard Cyrenaika FRH was fourth. The top American finisher, in twelfth place, was Cannes Grand Prix winner Michael Morrissey and Crelido. Morrissey was clear in the first round and returned with four faults in round two. Georgina Bloomberg finished seventeenth with Riviera.
The Global Champions Tour resumes on July 21-23 at Estoril, followed by a stop in Valkenswaard on August 17-20. The final event on the tour is at Lanaken on September 22-24, 2006.
For complete results from Monaco, please visit: http://www.scg-nl.nl/
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