Up to 100 Junior Riders to be Selected to Compete in Madison Square Garden

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. (Sept. 13, 2000) – Regional qualifying began Sept. 9 and will continue through Sept. 24 in seven cities nationwide as top junior riders attempt to make the field for the Stablegate.com ASPCA Maclay National Championships at the 117th National Horse Show, Nov. 4 and 5 in New York City. Regional championships took place over the weekend in Port Jervis, N.Y. and Monroe, Wash. and will continue this weekend in Atlanta, Ga.; Parker, Colo. and San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Qualifying concludes Sept. 24 in Westbrook, Conn. and Lexington Ky.

More than 250 contestants, 17 years of age and under, qualified for the seven regional finals by winning local preliminary events. Approximately 90 finalists chosen proportionately based on the number of entrants in each regional competition will advance to the National at Madison Square Garden.

For the first time this year, additional positions in the national finals will be made available to contestants who may fail to qualify at the regionals, but place in the top positions in the American Horse Shows Association (AHSA) Hunter Seat Medal Finals at Harrisburg, Pa., the Washington International Horse Show Equitation Finals and the United States Equestrian Team Finals on both the east and west coasts. Thus the competition for the Alfred B. Maclay Trophy is enhanced this year beyond its traditional status and is billed as the “championship of champions.”

The national championship for the Maclay Trophy will commence on Saturday morning, Nov. 4 at Madison Square Garden, with the over-fences phase of the competition. As many as 100 -more- contestants are permitted to compete in the finals this year, up from 75 a year ago. The flat phase, which counts 50 percent in the judging, will be held on Sunday morning, Nov. 5 at the Garden and will be followed by the exciting final ride-off before the traditional Sunday matinee audience where the Maclay Trophy is awarded to the top rider of 2000.

The ASPCA of New York City is the trophy presenter at the National on behalf of the late Alfred B. Maclay, Esq., who donated it in 1933. Maclay was once president of the National Horse Show, the ASPCA and the AHSA, the national equestrian federation of the United States, under whose rules the competition is conducted. All competitors are required to be junior members of the ASPCA and AHSA.

For more information, contact Mark Riggs at 919-832-6300 x. 31.