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Debbie
McDonald Named Champion of 2003 Dressage World Cup Final
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Gladstone,
New Jersey—November 13, 2003—Debbie McDonald of Hailey,
ID, has become the first U.S. rider to hold the title of Dressage
World Cup Champion. McDonald, who originally placed second to
German rider Ulla Salzgeber in the 2003 World Cup Dressage Final
in Gothenburg, Sweden last March riding Mrs. Peggy C. Thomas’s
Brentina, became the 2003 World Cup champion when Salzgeber was
disqualified from the championship by the FEI (International Equestrian
Federation) Judicial Committee after it determined that her horse,
Rusty 47, had been given Testoterone Propionate.
McDonald’s
championship adds a new honor to her already-impressive string
of successes. At the 2002 World Equestrian Games, McDonald and
Brentina helped the U.S. dressage squad capture the team Silver
Medal, marking the best finish ever for a United States dressage
team in any World Championship or Olympic Games. Individually,
McDonald had this country’s best Olympic or World Championship
performance in history by coming in fourth. McDonald also rode
Brentina to individual and team Gold Medals at the 1999 Pan American
Games.
“This
is yet another great day for U.S. dressage,” said Jessica
Ransehousen, U.S. Equestrian Team (USET) Vice President for Dressage.
“The performance turned in by McDonald and Brentina last
spring was certainly a championship effort and this is a great
honor for her and for all supporters of dressage in this country.”
U.S.
Equestrian was formed through the combination of USA Equestrian
and the United States Equestrian Team. The vision of U.S. Equestrian
is to provide leadership for equestrian sport in the United States
of America, promoting the pursuit of excellence from the grass
roots to the Olympic Games, based on a foundation of fair, safe
competition and the welfare of its horses, and embracing this
vision, to be the best national equestrian federation in the world
.
