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.

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