Jill Henselwood Top Canadian at 2008 World Cup Final

Ottawa, ON-Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, ON, and Darrin Dlin, originally of Calgary, AB, and now residing in Wellington, FL, represented Canada at the 2008 World Cup Final held April 24-27 in Göteborg, Sweden.  Following two days of competition, Henselwood placed 28th overall while Dlin finished in 34th position.

The first round of competition held Thursday was a speed phase.  Henselwood, the Canadian World Cup League winner, finished in 28th position with a time of 81.49 seconds riding Black Ice, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Stacie B. Ryan and Juniper Farms.  Dlin, riding Odyssey Venture Inc.'s Catwalk, a 10-year-old Canadian-bred Oldenburg mare sired by Rio Grande, had a time of 91.69 seconds for 36th place.

Both riders carried their scores forward to Friday's jump-off competition where Henselwood and Black Ice incurred nine faults. Dlin and Catwalk incurred 24 faults.

At the top of the leaderboard heading into Sunday's Final is Ireland's Jessica Kürten with Castle Forbes Libertina.  Americans Rich Fellers riding Flexible and Peter Wylde riding Esplanade 7, are in second and third position respectively.  Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum is in fourth position with Shutterfly while defending champion Beat Mändli of Switzerland and Ideo du Thot round out the top five.

Canada has claimed the annual World Cup Final on three occasions, setting records in the process.  Mario Deslauriers of Bromont, QC, remains the youngest rider to ever win the World Cup Final, claiming victory riding Aramis in 1984 at the age of 19.  Ian Millar of Perth, ON, and his famous mount, Big Ben, became the first horse-rider combination to win back-to-back World Cup Finals in 1988 and 1989.

For more information and results from the 2008 FEI Jumping World Cup Final, please visit http://en.goteborghorseshow.se/pages/menu/1.

The Canadian World Cup League closed on March 30, 2008, when the final World Cup qualifying events in the U.S. West Coast League and U.S. East Coast League were held.  The 2008 World Cup Final is being held in its birthplace of Göteborg, Sweden, from April 24-27, 2008.