Canada’s John Pearce Finishes 14th at 2007 World Cup Final

Las Vegas, Nevada — John Pearce rode Archie Bunker to a 14th place finish in the 2007 Rolex World Cup Final of Show Jumping held April 19-22 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pearce of Stouffville, ON, was ranked 22nd coming into Sunday’s two-round final. Having jumped clear in the first round, Pearce returned to the Thomas and Mack Center to post a five-fault effort in the second round – four faults for a fallen rail and one fault for exceeding the time allowed. Archie Bunker, Pearce’s nine-year-old Oldenburg gelding, was not able to cover the width of the triple bar set at fence six, and brought down the back rail. Set at two meters in width, it was a fence that proved influential in deciding the winner as two of the top-ranked combinations, Leopold Van Asten of the Netherlands and Swiss rider Steve Guerdat, saw their bid to win the World Cup Final come to an end at that fence.

Winning his first World Cup Final was Beat Mandli of Switzerland riding Ideo du Thot. Germany’s Daniel Deusser was the runner-up riding Air Jordan Z, a horse that Pearce developed before selling him back to Europe as a seven-year-old. Markus Beerbaum of Germany riding Leena and Guerdat finished tied for third. Much to the surprise of the 9,321 spectators, the leader coming into Sunday’s final and the favourite to win, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum of Germany, fell off Shutterfly and was eliminated.

Competing against the top horse-rider combinations in the world, Pearce was pleased with his 14th place finish with Archie Bunker who, at nine years of age, was the youngest horse in the field.

“The rail that we had down in the second round was my fault,” said Pearce, a 2000 Olympian who moved up from 30th position following the opening round on Thursday evening. “He was really tired in the second round, and I just couldn’t get him boxed up right to get over the width of that jump. Archie has never jumped that much in a week in his life! I couldn’t be happier with him.”

Pearce, 46, who also competed at the 1992 edition riding Super Trooper and in 1999 riding Vagabond, was making his third World Cup Final appearance.

Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, ON, also qualified for Sunday’s Final. However, difficulties on course saw Henselwood retire after Callisto, a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare owned by Equine Canada, refused at the ‘b’ element of the triple combination set at fence 7. Instead of attempting to jump the triple a second time, Henselwood recognized that it was not meant to be her day and elected to retire. Henselwood finished in 28th place overall from the field of 42 starters in her fourth World Cup Final appearance.

Both Pearce and Henselwood had good luck in the $75,000 Las Vegas Grand Prix held on Saturday afternoon. Using their second horses, both Canadians were among the five riders that advanced to the jump-off. Riding Urioso, his 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding, Pearce was double clear in a time of 36.97 seconds to finish second to Great Britain’s Michael Whitaker riding Portofino and collect $16,500 US in prize money. Henselwood, who was aboard Black Ice, a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Stacie Ryan, had a fast time of 36.52 seconds but incurred four faults in the jump-off to finish fourth overall.

Televised all around the globe, the 2007 Rolex World Cup Final is scheduled to air in Canada on CBC television on April 28 and 29. Check local listings for details.

For more information on the 2007 Rolex World Cup Final including complete results, please visit www.worldcuplasvegas.com