FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Johnston
jeff@greystone-project.com
914-466-0363
October 27, 2009 (Syracuse, NY) --George Morris, U.S. Equestrian Team coach, who was scheduled to present at Wednesday night’s prestigious clinic at the Syracuse Invitational has cancelled due to illness. Ian Millar and Courtney King-Dye will appear as scheduled. Morris is replaced by noted rider Anne Kursinski who is a veteran of three Olympic Games and two World Championships and has two Olympic team silvers to her credit along with a Pan American Games team gold.
“We are disappointed that George cannot be here, but are delighted that Anne Kursinski was available to replace him,” said Tournament Organizer John Madden. “Anne is one of George’s most successful and prominent protégés and is one of the finest clinicians I know.”
The clinic is entitled “How It’s Done – Dressage and Jumping, Presented by Practical Horseman Magazine”. Its focus will be to illustrate the relationship between dressage, the foundation of all equine sports, and show jumping, and will give riders and fans alike the opportunity to see the inherent relationship between these disciplines demonstrated by world-class riders in each field.
The clinic begins at 7 p.m. on October 28 in the War Memorial in Syracuse, NY. Over $10,000 worth of merchandise from Back on Track Horse Products will be given away to spectators. Tickets for the event are $25 available through the Oncenter Box Office, 315-435-2121 or through Ticketmaster.
For more information, visit the Syracuse Invitational web site, www.syracuseinvitational.com
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About the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament: Each fall, the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament welcomes the top-ranked equestrians from across the US and the world to downtown Syracuse to compete at the War Memorial Arena in the Oncenter Complex. The event features a full slate of high-level competition, entertainment, shopping and exhibitions and runs October 28 to November 1, 2009. A 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, the Syracuse Invitational benefits Cornell University Equine Hospital and Vera House.
About Ian Millar: Known as Captain Canada Ian Millar’s long and much decorated career includes nine Olympic games dating to 1972, a record for any Olympic sport and matched only by Hubert Raudaschl of Austria, a sailor. He is Canada’s most medaled equestrian, including 9 Pan Am Games, more than any other show jumper in the world, and won back-to-back World Cup Finals in 1988 and 1989 riding the legendary horse Big Ben. A native of Nova Scotia, Millar operates Millar Brooke Farms near Perth, Ontario.
About Courtney King-Dye: At 31 Courtney King-Dye’s show record includes a 6th place finish in her first appearance at the World Cup Finals. Riding Idocus, she competed against a field of 30 of the world’s best riders. Later that year, the pair competed in the USEF National Grand Prix Championships at Gladstone, New Jersey, finishing second. In 2008 King-Dye made appearances at both the World Cup and Olympic Games in Hong Kong, representing the United States aboard Harmony’s Mythilus. Known for her grace in the saddle, King-Dye is based at Bell-Aire Farm in Millbrook, New York.
About Anne Kursinski: Anne Kursinski is a show jumping legend. A member of three Olympic Teams: 1996 Atlanta Games (Individual Silver); 1992 Barcelona Games (fourth-placed team); and the 1988 Seoul Games (Team Silver and fourth-placed individual). She was perhaps best known for her consistent brilliance with Starman, her mount for three Nations Cup wins in 1987, the Team Silver medal in Seoul, and her win at the CHIO in Aachen in 1991 which made her only the second woman to ever win the prestigious event. Also in 1991, the United States Olympic Committee named Kursinski as the female Equestrian Athlete of the Year.