Kevin Staut of France celebrated his one-year anniversary as a JustWorld Rider Ambassador with 11 'top five' finishes at the St. Tropez Horse Show in France. Photo by Sportfot

June 16, 2007 – St. Tropez, France – A rising star on the international show jumping scene, Frenchman Kevin Staut celebrated his first anniversary as a Just World Rider Ambassador with an incredible steak of success at the two-week St. Tropez Horse Show in France.

During the first week of competition, Staut enjoyed no fewer than eight 'top five' finishes during the CSI2* tournament. On opening day, Staut won the Big Tour with Jo de Labarde, placed third in the Medium Tour with Cold As Ice Z and was second in the Small Tour riding Paradiso 21. The following day, he was double clear to win the Medium Tour riding Paradiso 21, placed third in a young horse class riding Tiffany B, a seven-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare owned by Christian Hardmeyer, and fourth in the Big Tour with Jo de Labarde. On Sunday, he rode Paradiso 21 to a second place finish in the €6,000 Medium Tour Final before placing second in the €25,000 Grand Prix with Jo de Labarde.

The following week during the CSI3* tournament held June 8 to 10, Staut continued his incredible success story by placing third and fourth in two of the €1,500 VDL Groep Young Horse classes with Tiffany B and earning third in the €2,000 1.40m Medium Tour with Paradiso 21. To conclude his two-week stay in St. Tropez, Staut enjoyed a top ten finish in the €20,000 Prix de la Ville de Sainte-Maxime riding Jo de Labarde.

In the weeks prior to St. Tropez, Staut made his debut in the Samsung Super League Tour representing France in Nations' Cup competition in La Baule (FRA) and Rome (ITA) where France tied for second place. Based in Switzerland for the past six months, Staut is now looking forward to the Nations' Cup in Aachen (GER) where he will again ride the nine-year-old selle francais stallion, Kraque Boom Bois Margot. While Kraque Boom enjoyed a rest in preparation for Aachen, Staut rode his other Grand Prix mount, Jo de Labarde, in St. Tropez.

"I took my second horse to St. Tropez and I think that he is going to be a good one," said Staut of the bay selle francais stallion owned by Guy Miejean Schuster and Sophie de Lavalle. "He is 10 years old, but he is not experienced at all. I really wanted the opportunity to concentrate on him in St. Tropez, and I think he will be a super second horse. He is very careful with a lot of scope, and he jumped very well. I am very happy."

Staut was equally happy to have enjoyed so much success in St. Tropez as it was there, exactly one year ago, that he decided to become a Rider Ambassador for JustWorld International, a not-for-profit, humanitarian organization founded to work as a catalyst for positive change in the developing world by helping underprivileged children.

"There are times when you are focusing on yourself and your job and all the other things that are going on in your life, and then you realize that it is just as important to think about other people," explained Staut, 26, whose father and stepmother adopted a child, now six years old, from Cambodia, which is one of the countries where JustWorld International has project sites. "It was one year ago in St. Tropez that Jessica (Newman, Executive Director of JustWorld International) explained to me what JustWorld was all about and all the things that it is accomplishing, and I thought it was a good thing. Maybe before I was a little bit too young to think about things like that, but now I realize I need to think about other people. I got involved because I wanted to do something to help, to communicate with other people about the work that JustWorld is doing and give them the idea to get involved as well. A lot of people have come to me and asked about it. I haven't had a chance yet to travel to one of the project sites, but I have seen a lot of photos and am really looking forward to it."

"Kevin is truly an up and coming star on the international show jumping scene, and we are proud that he has chosen to be a Rider Ambassador," said Jessica Newman.

Staut joined several other JustWorld Rider Ambassadors who were competing in St. Tropez including Rutherford Latham (ESP), Ludo Philippaerts (BEL) who won the €3,600 1.50m Big Tour class during the second week riding Calle II; Philippe Rozier (FRA) who won a 1.40m class riding Ideal de Roy, as well as Amateur Ambassadors Isabelle Baillet (FRA) and Maria Newman (USA) who placed eighth in the 1.25m Special Invitational riding Romeo.

On Sunday, the €30,000 Grand Prix was sponsored by Chesapeake Petroleum and the Davis McCullough Foundation for the benefit of JustWorld International. Four JustWorld Rider Ambassadors enjoyed top 12 finishes including Philippaerts who placed seventh riding Calle II; Rozier who finished tenth with Ideal de Prissey; Latham who was eleventh riding Guarana Champeix and Staut who placed twelfth with Jo de Labarde.

On the same day, Baillet, 25, won the €3,000 Invitational Grand Prix after posting the fastest clear round of the day riding Electra d'Amaury, a 15-year-old selle francais mare by the legendary Quidam de Revel. She also placed seventh with Ebene who, one day earlier, had claimed the €1,200 1.35m Special Invitational.

"All of our ambassadors had a great weekend!" noted Newman. "It was wonderful to be there and be a part of their success."

Founded in 2002, JustWorld International raises awareness and funds in the equestrian community to support humanitarian projects that benefit impoverished communities and children in the developing world. Cooperating with local partners, JustWorld International implements sustainable, culturally sensitive education, health and vocational projects. For more information on JustWorld International and its upcoming fundraising events, please visit www.justworldinternational.org.