OTTAWA, ON – April 15, 2007 – Albert Kley of Calgary AB considered by many as the Grand Master of Canadian Show Jumping, lead the field of thirty one competitors to win the $75,000 ATCO-KUBOTA CUP Centennial Grand Prix, premiere event of the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair. Kley and Daiquiri SM, a 16 year old Hanoverian gelding, lead the victory gallop in front of the packed stands in the Keystone Centre, in celebration of 100 years of Agricultural Excellence in Brandon Manitoba.

Co-sponsor of the Grand Prix ATCO Group, celebrating their 60th anniversary and a long standing supporter of the Brandon Royal Horse Show, assisted in presenting the highest purse money ever offered at a Manitoba Grand Prix event. Mr. Kley, Head Riding Master at Spruce Meadows, tallied up the winning points in the ATCO- KUBOTA CUP Centennial Grand Prix to jump start his lead in the 2007 Kubota Cup Western Division with 180 qualifying points and ten bonus points for the first Grand Prix win of the Series.

Numbers which represent significant milestones during a centennial celebration had the singular number three play the supporting role in 2007. In their third year as Title sponsor of the Light Horse Show at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, Kubota Canada Ltd was pivotal to the success of the show. Co-sponsor of the Centennial Grand Prix, Kubota Canada Ltd also begins their third year as title sponsor of the Kubota Cup Canadian Show Jumping Series.

Continuing with the theme of ‘significant numbers’, Kley and Daiquiri SM rode first into the arena for a three horse jump off after many colleques had ridden with various degrees of success over Danny Foster’s challenging jump course. An excited Daiquiri SM lost attention to the Master’s touch three strides before the first element, knocking the rail and finishing in a time of 38.646 seconds which left the arena door open for speed and power to overtake them.

Gary Brewster, (West Vancouver, BC) and Hurricane rode with whirlwind power with the horse in great form and then Gary repeated history in the compact arena over riding the turn to the last line and due to an unsafe take-off was forced to circle away before finishing the course. With the resulting eight faults keeping them from the win and, in Gary’s words, “things were great until I took the ‘stupid’ turn”. Thus they ended their round with 170 Kubota Cup points and 2nd overall in the Grand Prix

Third horse in the jump off was the queen of speed herself, Karen Cudmore (Omaha, NE) and the stallion Ocelot. Known to put all it on the line Cudmore had history from the past rise up and repeat three rails down. As a result of speed through tense corners twelve disappointing faults in a time of 36.208 dropped them into a respectable third place with 165 Kubota Cup qualifying points.

Albert Kley and Daiquiri SM accepted first place money and the winner’s cooler sponsored by ATCO Group and Kubota Canada Ltd; an impressive Trophy Jacket was presented to Albert by Greg Carpenter of Traditional Horsewear; and in recognition of the enormous contribution to the win, Daiquiri SM was awarded a complete therapeutic bedding system from SOFTSTALL.

Riding strategically into fourth place was Carla Diewert (AB), on Revelation earning 160 Kubota Cup points. Two -Time Kubota Cup Western Champion, Tamie Phillips and Lucas have once again, for the third year in a row begun the chase with 155 qualifying points

New to the Kubota Cup Canadian Show Jumping Series is the presentation of the CAVALOR MVP Athlete of the Grand Prix Award. Competitors and peers of the sport will vote for a horse or human athlete at every Kubota Cup Grand Prix and this Most Valued Performer will be awarded the CAVALOR MVP Athlete Award during the event. Receiving the MVP Athlete of the ATCO-KUBOTA CUP Centennial Grand Prix was Karen Cudmore as a result from the tally with over 60% of the 160 votes recorded in her name. Presenting Karen Cudmore with her award and gift of a leather garment bag was Stephanie Poupart, Marketing / Sales of Cavalor Canada.

Another highlight of the Kubota Cup Grand Prix Series this year will be the presentation of a 'Portrait by Jozef', commissioned by Equine Lifestyles Magazine and sponsored at this first Kubota Cup Grand Prix by ATCO GROUP. The acrylic painting was presented to defending 2006 Kubota Cup Grand Prix winner, Emily George in recognition of her dedication to equestrian sport. This is the first portrait to be presented for the 2007 Wall of Fame for Winners of the Kubota Cup Grand Prix National Series.