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On October 19-22, 2006, the prestigious Fair Hill Festival in Elkton, MD, hosted the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) CCI*** championship, which is one of two three-star competitions in the country. The highest placed American rider at Fair Hill was awarded the Gladstone Trophy by the USET Foundation. The top young rider at the USEF CCI*** Championship is awarded the Markham Trophy, which went to Emilee Libby on Bahir, who finished 12th in the CCI*** event.

The winner of the USEF CCI*** Championship was Gina Miles of Creston, California. She rode McKinlaigh, a 12-year-old, 17.2 hand, Irish Sport Horse gelding co-owned with Thomas Schulz and Laura Coats.

"I was extremely thrilled to win the USEF Fall Championships at Fair Hill," Miles said. "It was especially meaningful as Fair Hill was where I competed in my first three star five years ago. I started riding McKinlaigh when he was five years old. He had just been imported from Ireland. I had done my first two Advanced horse trials in 2001, first for both myself and McKinlaigh, and then we went to Fair Hill where we jumped clean cross-country."

At only seven years old, McKinlaigh competed at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI**** and the World Equestrian Games (WEG) in 2002, but it was not smooth sailing from there. "After showing such promise as a young horse, he then had a couple of physical setbacks, requiring a tie-back surgery in 2004 and experiencing a pulmonary bleed at Rolex in 2006, which kept him from going to both the Athens Olympics and the Aachen WEG this summer," Miles explained. "After these setbacks, I made it my goal to get him healthy again and then win the USEA Gold Cup series, which I did, and be successful at Fair Hill, which we were!"

Like all of the USET Foundation trophy winners, Miles noted that it was more than just her and McKinlaigh that produced success. "I am very pleased that we were able to take in all the great help we have gotten from Mark and Sandy Phillips, Robert Dover and many others and put it all together for a winning weekend," she commented. "I look forward to continuing on next year with the goal of representing the U.S. again at the Pan Am Games in 2007 and the Olympics in 2008."

This year the Markham Trophy was awarded to 19 year old Emilee Libby of Branchville, NJ. Libby rode Bahir, a ten year old Irish Sport Horse that she has owned for five years. The pair finished twelfth at Fair Hill in their second time at the competition. It is their top finish at Fair Hill and is only their fourth three-star competition together. Their best finish came earlier this spring, when they finished eighth at the Jersey Fresh CCI***.

The trophy is named for Markham, a 16.2 hand black Thoroughbred gelding donated to the USET by Mr. and Mrs. Charles D. Plumb. Their son Mike qualified for the 1964 Olympic Games on Markham and was scheduled to ride him in Japan. When Markham had to be put down because of the long trip, the Olympic team alternate rider William Haggard offered to loan his horse, Bold Minstrel. The horse was then flown to Japan and Plumb rode him as a member silver medal winning three-day eventing team and placed 15th individually.

Libby and Bahir have grown up together and have been "preparing for awhile." Libby pointed out, "He didn't know anything when I got him. He's jumping great now and knows how to keep the rails up [in stadium jumping]." Winning the Markham Trophy became a goal this year for Libby, who wanted to win the award before she aged out of the young rider competition. "I don't think it's hit me yet," she acknowledged. "I knew it was an important trophy because of all the big names on it. I work with Buck Davidson, who won it three times. I wish I could win it three times!"

Libby feels that winning the Markham Trophy will give her confidence to achieve one of her "top goals," which is representing the United States.

The United States Equestrian Team Foundation supports the competition, training, coaching, travel and educational needs of America's elite and developing international high performance horses and athletes in partnership with the U.S. Equestrian Federation.

For more information on the USET Foundation, please visit www.uset.org .