Calgary, AB, Canada – June 18, 2010 – G&C Farm, owned by Gustavo and Carolina Mirabal, is pleased to announce their new sponsorship at the Spruce Meadows Tournaments. This sponsorship is vital for international jumping riders, in that it will raise the prize money in competitions. This in turn will allow the classes to keep their ROLEX ranking status through the FEI, the international governing body of equestrian sport.

“It is very important for North American riders and riders on this continent to have the opportunity to ride for ROLEX ranking points in competitions here,” said Gustavo Mirabal. “We want riders here to have an equal opportunity to those in Europe to gain these valuable points. We also want to promote equestrian sport on this continent.”

G&C Farm owner Gustavo Mirabal with Linda Southern-Heathcott, 

Spruce Meadows President and CEO

Through their sponsorship, the prize money was raised from $25,000 to $31,000 in 10 classes during the Spruce Meadows Tournaments, which run from June 9-July 11.

By increasing the prize money, the classes will now qualify monetarily since the FEI changed the exchange rate against the Swiss Franc instead of Euros last December. The $25,000 classes would have been disqualified because the prize money was too low based on the new exchange rate.

“I don’t know why the FEI wouldn’t have fixed that themselves but it’s really nice that G&C Farm did that,” said Canadian Olympic gold medalist Eric Lamaze.

Top American grand prix rider Georgina Bloomberg noted, “It’s what we need more of in America too. We need more classes for the ROLEX World ranking points.”

G&C Farm is working with the “Friends of the Meadows” group to ensure FEI World Ranking classes at Spruce Meadows are kept intact.

G&C Farm also created the $50,000 G&C Farm Rider Cup, which will give points to riders who place in the 29 of the eligible FEI events this summer through the North American Tournament, which ends July 11. The top rider will receive $25,000, the second place rider wins $15,000, and the third place rider gets $10,000.

G&C Farm and Pablo Barrios are competing this week at the Continental Tournament at Spruce Meadows, on June 16-20, 2010.

Please visit www.farmgc.com for more information on G&C Farm, their riders, and their horses. You can also find out more by visiting the G&C Farm page on Facebook or follow G&C Farm on Twitter.

G&C Farm brings exceptional horses and top Venezuelan jumper riders to the highest levels of competition. Their state-of-the-art, full-service facility is located in Wellington, FL.

The vision of G&C Farm is to improve the instruction and training of their top jumper riders and horses in order to seek a place on the Venezuelan team for all high level tournaments and top competitions, including the World Equestrian Games and Olympic Games. G&C Farm sponsors top grand prix rider Pablo Barrios of Venezuela, as well as other up and coming riders. The technical advisor at G&C Farm is Olympic Games course designer Leopoldo Palacios.

For more information on G&C Farm, please visit www.farmgc.com.

Photo Credit: G&C Farm owner Gustavo Mirabal with Linda Southern-Heathcott, President and CEO of Spruce Meadows. Photo courtesy of Spruce Meadows. This photo may only be used in relation to this press release and with full photo credit.