November 1, 2008 (Syracuse, NY): Christine McCrea bests all to secure win in $100,000 Budweiser FEI World Cup Qualifier of Syracuse.  For the first time in Syracuse Sporthorse tournament’s 6 year history, there was no jump off needed to secure the win.  McCrea was the sole rider to successfully clear the entire world cup class within the tight time allowed of 72 seconds. The pair jumped in amazing form, brave and forward to all the fences.  Second place finisher, Todd Minikus rode immediately before McCrea.  He rode Pavarotti brilliantly and while leaving all the rails up, the pair passed through the timers just .2 of a second over the time allowed, coming home in 72.23.  Rider after rider tried valiantly to conquer Leopoldo Palacios’ formidable course only to be denied.  Ben Maher had a fantastic round with Robin Hood W jumping incredibly high over every fence.  The crowd cheered when the pair cleared the final fence, but they earned one time fault, stopping the clock at 75.35.  Ian Millar secured 4th place with the lone four fault round within the time limit.  The bogey fence for many was the tricky, triple combination along the rail.  The fence that brought the worst heartbreak of the night was the final fence on the course. With its natural colored rails and position just past the ingate, it was the nemesis of several riders, just as predicted by commentator Melanie Taylor-Smith.

Harry Smolders of the Netherlands is the prince of speed in Syracuse.  For the second consecutive year he out-raced competitors, winning the 6th annual $15,000 TK 99 Speed Derby.  Smolders galloped his mount Riovanna through the timers in 55.40 seconds, edging out Callan Solem on Mianta by just .2 seconds.  When asked if he came to the class confident of a victory, the young Dutchman replied that “you never know, there are so many good competitors at the Syracuse horse show.”  Third place Henk Van De Pol on Tennessee W had the fastest time of the evening 52.61 but a rail down added four seconds, leaving him with a total of 56.61.  Hillary Dobbs and Marengo were 4th with a time of 56.94. In this, its debut event, over $20,000 was raised by the Riders for Research initiative which benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.