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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2007

By Joanie Morris

Elkton, MD - Unsettled weather continued on Friday for the second day of dressage at the USEF Eventing National CCI*** Championships at Fair Hill International, and Thursday's leader Boyd Martin (Australia) staved off challenges for almost two entire days on a score of 46.1.

It wasn't until the second to last rider of the day, Phillip Dutton, Martin's employer, put an end to his reign. Dutton, who is riding for the first year under the American flag put in a stellar test with Ann Jones' The Foreman and ended the day on a score of 42.4, the career best for the horse at this level.

The 11-year-old Thoroughbred has been relatively idle this year, battling a sore splint, but he is a seasoned veteran. Second at both the Rolex Kentucky and Burghley CCI****s in 2005, he showed his experience in the ring and put in a forward and accurate test.

"He hasn't done much this year so I'm really pleased with him," said Dutton, who won two Team Gold medals while riding for the Australian Team in 1996 and 2000, and this summer picked up Individual Silver and Team Gold at the Pan American Games for the US. "He showed a lot of maturity in there."

The main arena had plenty of atmosphere and Dutton took his time preparing the former racehorse. Dutton is based in West Grove, PA, minutes from Fair Hill and has won the event three times previously, including in 2004 with The Foreman.

Martin's score held on for second place and New Zealand rider, Donna Smith, riding Jackie Mars' 8-year-old Rocket put in a dynamite test to be third. Smith has been battling migraine headaches all week.

Becky Holder, riding her husband Tom's flashy grey gelding Courageous Comet, were the second highest placed Americans, ending up on a score of 46.7, just six tenths of a point behind Smith.

Courageous Comet is another experienced ex-racehorse having galloped confidently around Burghley CCI**** last fall. The Minnesota-based pair won the US Eventing Association's Adequan Gold Cup Series this year at the Advanced level.

Clark Montgomery won the CCI** at Jersey Fresh this spring and thought he would have a nice Advanced horse for next year in Up Spirit. The 8-year-old Irish-bred horse (owned by Holly and Bill Becker) matured by leaps and bounds over the summer and Montgomery felt he was ready for the challenge of a CCI*** this fall. He and fellow Virginia rider Mara Dean are tied for fifth on a score of 48.3.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to death that this 8-year-old went in there and performed the way he did and got that score," said Montgomery. "He's still so green. He felt so good and without a two-star championship this fall, I thought we'd have a shot at it. He stepped up to the plate. There are so many things that can get better too. Down the line I think he could score really well."

Dean recently began riding High Patriot and their partnership thrived in the dressage arena. Only nine years old, the Oldenburg gelding owned by Irish Oaks Farm didn't disappoint his new jockey.

"Considering the partnership I couldn't ask for anything more," said Dean. "He was better than I expected. He's a phenomenal jumper. He'd probably be the best jumper I've ever had and I've had some good ones."

Captain Mark Phillips, Chef d'Equipe of the US Team who commandeered a medal sweep at this summer's Pan American Games was pleased with the quality of up-and-coming horses in the eventing program at the moment and with the return to form for some of the more experienced horses.

"It's nice to see The Foreman back and he's looking like he's in good form," said Phillips. "I think we've seen the nicest collection of young horses that we've seen at Fair Hill for a long time. They are not all right up there at the moment but you've got Clark and Mara and Karen (O'Connor)'s horses, there are a lot of first time three star horses in the middle to low fifties. Allison Springer's horse (Arthur), Kristen Bond's Three Wishes and Will Coleman's horse (K. du Manoir) as well as seeing Becky's horse back on form. Hopefully some of them will be there for Hong Kong but in terms of the World Equestrian Games in 2010 and the 2012 London Olympics I think we've had one of the best days at Fair Hill we've had in years."

Cross country gets underway at 12:30 on Saturday. The newly updated track, designed by Derek DiGrazia, takes a different route through the Fair Hill Natural Resources Center than in previous years.

Top Drivers Brave Elements

Driving dressage was underway concurrently with the eventing and in the Advanced Single Pony division, Shelly Temple took a commanding lead, finishing the first phase with a score of 38.2, more than 12 points better than her closest competitor. With her 9-year-old Morgan gelding, Laramie Beeline (Cooper to his friends), she put in a very solid performance in the pony's third year at the Advanced level.

"He didn't warm up that great but he put his foot in the ring and snapped to it," said Temple. "He knows his job now and he has very good focus and I was very pleased with him. I probably could have gone for it a little bit more but I was very pleased with him."

Temple knows that Cooper is a professional now but thinks the track and the field will both be a challenge for tomorrow's marathon.

"It's a hard marathon course and there are some good marathon drivers in our class so our work is cut out for us," she said.

Cooper came from Wyoming with one of Advanced Pair Horse division leaders, Laramie Bengali. Driven in tandem with Count on Me in today's dressage by Lisa Singer the horses put in a great effort to finish less than a point in front of Larry Poulin's pair on a score of 51.33.

"It was raining and raining and then we were ready to go in and the sun came out," said Singer about the afternoon's very confused weather. "I did pretty well, I had one horse that surprised me and broke which he usually doesn't do but we fixed it and carried on."

Singer's pair have been to Fair Hill seven times and know the venue and what is expected of them. Tomorrow she will use one of the most experienced horses in the game, Avalon Avante Garde (Farm) in pair with Laramie Bengali. She also thinks that the marathon course will be a challenge.

"I think I need to go and take some Ginseng or something so my brain will work," said Singer about the course designed by Lana Wright DuPont. "It has a lot of brain issues. There are a lot of things blocking you and if you go past where you want to go you'll be going through a gate backwards. Its tough. I think your mind really has to be set as to where you are going."

This competition will be Farm's finale, as Singer will be retiring him on Sunday. The 20-year-old gelding has been a staple on the driving scene for more than a decade.

"It's going to be hard," she said. "But I think its time. He just did the championship in Poland and he's fine but I just think its time."

Bill Peacock drove his Single Advanced Horse to a commanding lead in his division, finishing on a score of 49.79, well clear of his closest competitor. In the largest division, Peacock was fourth in the ring and made his test stand up to seven more challenges.

Based in Belleville, TX, Peacock who is 61 has made his trip to the East Coast worthwhile on the first day of competition.

Boots Wright made the 1200 mile trip from her Ocala, FL base worth the drive by sitting atop the leaderboard at the end of the dressage in the Pony Team Championship on a score of 50.08. She was another one unfortunate to get caught in the rain squall. Having driven at Fair Hill since 1990, she knows her way around the showgrounds.

"I was warming up out there getting absolutely drenched, " said Wright. "I've been coming here since 1990 but this is this team's first time here. I could have driven better but the ponies were great. I could have done a better job."

Wright looks forward to counting on the experience of her marathon team around tomorrow's challenging course.

"The marathon team have been driving the marathon together since 2005 so they know what they're doing," she said. "It is just a matter of trying to go as fast as you can. Yesterday before it rained the ground was very hard. This is probably just perfect now."

The marathon starts at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning. For more information please see www.fairhillinternational.com.

ENDS
The vision of the United States Equestrian Federation(r) is to provide leadership for equestrian sport in the United States of America by promoting the pursuit of excellence from the grassroots to the Olympic Games. This is based on a foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare of horses. Embracing this vision, the USEF strives to be the best national equestrian federation in the world.