France got the best starting position when the draw was made for the second leg of the Samsung Super League which takes place at the Piazza di Siena in Rome tomorrow (23 May 2003). Already holding the whip hand after their impressive opening victory in La Baule 11 days ago the reigning World Champions are in top form, but they were not firm favourites with all the Chefs d’Equipe who today made a forecast of the line-up at the end of tomorrow’s competition. Despite the fact that the Italians finished bottom of the order at the French fixture Britain’s Derek Ricketts, Belgium’s Lucien Somers, Sweden’s Sylve Sondestrand, and Germany’s Peter Weinberg all tipped the home team. Ireland’s Lt Col Mullins however said the French would be the ones to beat and French Chef d’Equipe, Jean-Maurice Bonneau, was confident that his side could make it two-in-a-row. "We have the luck of the draw" he said, "but we will be hoping to reverse the positions you see on the board today". The draw is as follows: Holland Ireland Italy Sweden Belgium Germany Great Britain France. Monsieur Bonneau predicted that France would come out on top with Italy in second place and Belgium in third, and with things going very much his way at the moment he can afford to be confident. Holland’s Bert Romp, on the other hand, could only be philosophical. "I thought we had a bad draw in La Baule when we were second to go but this is even worse – however as I said then I will be happy if we finish in the position in which we are drawn!" Italy’s Duccio Bartalucci was slow to anticipate how things might turn out. "I don’t like to make predictions" he said, "but I would hope that Italy will win and France can be second". The second leg of the Samsung Super League series will begin at 15.30 tomorrow, Friday 23 May 2003. The website for CSIO Rome is http://www.piazzadisiena.com . SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE TABLE – AFTER FIRST LEG AT LA BAULE 1. France - 10 points 2. Germany - 7 points 3. Great Britain - 5 points 4. Sweden - 3.5 points 4. Ireland - 3.5 points 6. Holland - 2 points 7. Belgium - 1 point 8. Italy - 0.5 points. YOU CAN SEE IT ON TV! The second leg of the Samsung Super League series, which takes place in Rome on Friday May 23, will be broadcast as follows: Eurosport - Wednesday 28 May 22.00 – 23.00 Thursday 29 May 9.00 – 10.00 (Repeats) Equidia - Friday 23 May 18.00 – 19.30 Saturday 24 May 11.00 – 12.00 (Repeats) Sunday 25 May 23.00 – 00.30 (Repeats) TV4 - Wednesday 28 May (no time confirmed) M-Net - Friday 13 June (no time confirmed) CNBC Sports CNBC Europe (GMT)- Saturday 7 June 13.00 – 14.00 CNBC Asia (HKT) - Saturday 7 June 15.00 – 16.00 ESPN Star Sports Star Asia - Wednesday 4 June 18.00 – 19.00 Sunday 8 June 5.00 – 6.00 Star SE Asia - Wednesday 4 June 17.30 – 18.30 Thursday 5 June 6.00 – 7.00 Star India - Friday 6 June 15.30 – 16.30 Saturday 7 June 5.00 – 6.00. Want to know more? You can check the full rules for the Samsung Super League Series on the FEI website, section reference – rules http://www.horsesport.org/fei/reference_03/ref_03_02.html. For more information: FEI Communications Muriel Faienza m.faienza@horsesport.org or consult FEI website www.horsesport.org