Yann Candele Currently Top Canadian in World Cup Standings

Yann Candele of Caledon, ON, closes out the 2010 season currently ranked as the top Canadian in the North American World Cup League standings.

In Toronto at the Royal Horse Show, Candele collected 10 points for his seventh place finish in the $100,000 World Cup Grand Prix held November 10 riding Susan Grange’s Pitareusa, a 13-year-old mare, bringing his overall total to 56 points. Tani Zeidler of Calgary, AB, is the second highest placed Canadian rider with a total of 47 points. With the best nine World Cup Qualifier results for each rider to count towards the final standings, the top two Canadians at the end of the season will be invited to contest the 2011 World Cup™ Final in Leipzig, Germany, next April.

Candele’s top finishes in World Cup qualifying competition include a victory in the $65,000 International Bromont World Cup Qualifier riding Susan Grange’s 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood, Game Ready, earning 20 points. Candele and Pitareusa also finished second, for 17 points, in the $65,000 Esso Challenge during the CSI4*-W Spruce Meadows “Canada One” Tournament in Calgary, AB.

Consistent results have put Zeidler in the hunt for the second Canadian spot at the 2011 World Cup Final. Riding Loving Dancer, an 11-year-old German-bred gelding, Zeidler enjoyed two top 10 finishes in World Cup qualifying competitions so far this season, including a seventh place for 12 points in the $55,000 British Columbia Open Grand Prix at CSI 2*-W Thunderbird BC Open in Langley BC. With Ranville, Zeidler Farm Canada Ltd’s 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Zeidler placed third, earning seven points, in the $75,000 Keg Steakhouse & Bar World Cup Grand Prix in Langley, BC, and finished fifth, for 12 points, in the $50,000 World Cup Grand Prix at the CSI2*-W Blenheim Fall Tournament in San Juan Capistrano, CA. At CSI2*-W The Las Vegas National, Zeidler and Ranville placed sixth overall in the $50,000 The Las Vegas Grand Prix for 15 points.

Sitting in third in the standings is Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, ON with 38 points. Canada’s representative at the 2010 The Rolex FEI World Cup™ Final in Geneva, SUI, Karen Cudmore, originally of Victoria, BC, and now based in Omaha, NE, currently sits in fourth place in the standings with 37 points.