On Feb. 13, the U.S. Equestrian Federation Ad Hoc Committee on Selection named Beezie Madden and Authentic and McLain Ward on Sapphire to the short list for the show jumping team for the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong.

The remaining eight horse-rider combinations to complete the 10-horse short list will be chosen during Selection Trials on Feb. 27-March 9 in Wellington, Fla. Following the trials, the short list of 10 horse-rider combinations will be divided into Group A and Group B.  Both teams will compete at Super League shows in Europe, and the selection committee officials will name a final team of four riders and one alternate by July 15.

Both Ward on Sapphire and Madden on Authentic were members of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the silver medal-winning team at the 2006 World Equestrian Games (Germany), where Madden was the individual silver medalist as well.