04/11/2009 - Visitors are already spilling into the lovely Italian city of Verona ahead of tomorrow's opening of the Fieracavalli, the great annual festival of the horse which incorporates the elite challenge of Jumping Verona '09 Rolex FEI World Cup™.With more than 2,500 horses on show it takes a staff of 1,200 people many days of hard work to construct and perfect the 350,000 square metres of floor-space for exhibitions and shows that will attract at least 150,000 people from more than 50 different countries over four action-packed days.  In its 111th year the horse fair has learned a thing or two about what the public want to see, and apart from the high-quality goods, services, equipment and veterinary products on offer in the wide range of halls there will be breed displays by Italian, Arabian, Spanish and American horses.  These are always guaranteed to draw big crowds as each breed-type attempts to outdo the other!With so much to see and do, children enjoy the Fieracavalli as much as their parents, and this year youngsters from a number of Italian Primary and Secondary Schools are taking part in a Graphic-Literary competition entitled "My Kingdom for a Horse!".  Based on the Shakespearean quote from King Richard 111, the children have designed posters, texts and web pages to create a network of solidarity supporting young people with difficulties.  The prize for the three top schools is the adoption of a horse during Fieracavalli 2009 which will then find a home in a children's rehabilitation centre afterwards.  A great cause and a wonderful way of encouraging the younger generation to consider the needs of others.Horselyric, a spectacular organised and promoted by Fieracavalli will celebrate its third year with sold-out gala evenings during which horses, music, dancing and art combine to provide pure entertainment   However there will be no shortage of entertainment in the show jumping arena either where the best riders in the world will battle it out over three days of intense competition that culminates with the Rolex FEI World Cup™ qualifier on Sunday afternoon (€.350,000 price money, 59 riders, 111 horses).  The jumping programme begins with .Friday's Dinarobin Hotel Golf and Spa Mauritius Speed event which is followed by the Prestige Power and Speed and then the all-important Volkswagen World Cup preliminary competition which is also a Speed event.  Saturday's programme includes the BCS Ferrari speed competition, the Kep Italia Small Grand Prix and the Fondiaria SAI Joker class while Sunday kicks off with the Banca Popolare di Verona Two-Phase competition which is followed by the main event - the Grand Premio Rolex FEI World Cup™ presented by SNAI. It is nine years since the Italian leg of the World Cup series moved from Bologna to Verona, and it was Belgium's Stanny van Paesschen who took the honours in 2001 with O de Pomme while Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa was next to top the line-up with Lianos in 2002.  Rodrigo has been forced to withdraw from Jumping Verona 09 due to horse injury as has reigning World Champion Jos Lansink from Belgium, but the list of stars still remains endless with double-winners - in 2005 and 2009 - Albert Zoer and Okidoki from The Netherlands back to try to make it a hat-trick of victories.  The Italian flag will be flying higher than ever after the great end-of-season run of form which saw Italy finish second at the European Championships in Windsor, and silver medallists Juan Carlos Garcia, Natale Chiaudani, Piergiorgio Bucci and Giuseppe D'Onofrio can expect a tumultuous reception from the home crowd when they ride into the ring on Friday afternoon.  But the Verona spectators welcome all the riders of the world with almost the same degree of enthusiasm.  They are connoisseurs of good horsemanship and great competitive skills and every round will be judged for its accuracy of execution and applauded accordingly.   Italy's Minister for Agriculture, Mr Luca Zaia, will be on site all week as will FISE President Andrea Paulgross, and with American course-designer and former World Cup champion Conrad Holmfeld creating some of his show jumping fences around the themes of the great composer Giuseppe Verdi and the legendary tale of lovers Romeo and Juliet the stage is set for a breath-taking feast of all that is best in the world of the horse.