February 27, 2006 – Wellington, Florida – CSI5* Wellington held March 1-5, 2006, will kick-off the 3,000,000 euro Global Champions Tour (GCT). Founder of this new jumping series is Jan Tops, 1992 Barcelona Olympic Team Gold Medallist, top horse dealer, and organizer of CSI Valkenswaard (NED) for the past 12 years. His goal in creating the Global Champions Tour is to dramatically improve show jumping with a simple, attractive and competitive concept.

“It is important for our sport to combine some of the quality competitions with higher prize money,” says Tops of his motivation. “At this time, show jumping falls far behind tennis and golf and we have to change that.”

The FEI (Féderation Equestre International) approved Global Champions Tour links six of the world’s most prestigious outdoor horse shows on two continents. Each event distributes a minimum of 330,000 euro in prize money, with at least 150,000 euro dedicated to the Grand Prix. The Global Champions Tour will pay an additional 600,000 Euro in prize money bonuses to the best eight riders in the overall Tour. The results of the Grand Prix will count towards the GCT ranking, recorded based on prize money won.

The following six shows comprise the Global Champions Tour:

CSI Wellington (USA) 01 - 05 March 2006
CSI Cannes (FRA) 08 - 11 June 2006
CSI Monte-Carlo (MON) 22 - 24 June 2006
CSI Estoril (POR) 21 - 23 July 2006
CSI Valkenswaard (NED) 17 - 20 August 2006
CSI Lanaken (BEL) 15 - 17 September 2006

The main sponsor of the Global Champions Tour is CN, a leader in the North American rail industry and title sponsor of the $1 million CN International held at Spruce Meadows (CAN).

“CN is proud to expand the scope of its involvement in the sport by linking the world’s most elegant competition venues together for the Global Champions Tour and offering unprecedented prize money,” explains Hunter Harrison, President and CEO of the Canadian National Railway Company (CN).

CN entered the international arena last year with its new subsidiary company, CN WorldWide, which is headquartered in Rotterdam (NED) and provides door to door international freight forwarding services. “Our partnership with the Global Champions Tour is a natural fit. Like the GCT competitors, our new international service focuses on world class performance, agility and precision to deliver our customers’ shipments and do what we say we are going to do.” says Harrison.

To market the television rights of the GCT, Jan Tops assigned CHUM International. “CHUM is one of the biggest companies in this field. Through them, we can reach a worldwide audience,” the founder believes.

The GCT is also proud to partner with JustWorld International (JWI), a charity organization helping underprivileged children and communities in the developing world. The Global Champions Tour looks forward to helping to promote JWI within the equestrian world and gain further support for its projects.

The Tour Guide of the Global Champions Tour can be found at www.globalchampionstour.com.

For more information on CN and CN WorldWide, visit www.cn.ca and www.cnworldwide.biz.

For more information on JustWorld International, visit www.justworldinternational.org.

For more information on CSI Wellington, visit www.stadiumjumping.com.