Fair Hill, Maryland-October 17, 2004-Two-time Olympic team Gold Medalist Phillip Dutton of Australia won the Fair Hill International CCI*** Three-Day Event for the third time at the 16th annual Fair Hill International Festival in the Country, presented by Dansko.

Kim Severson of Scottsville, VA, winner of individual Silver and team Bronze Medals at this year's Athens Olympic Games, came in second after dropping a rail in the concluding show jumping phase to surrender the lead she had held after the dressage and cross country phases. Severson finished with a final score of 48.0 faults on Royal Venture, just behind Dutton's score of 46.2 on The Foreman. Severson's finish was good enough to give her the U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF) Three-Star Fall Championship as the top-placing U.S. rider.

Canadian Olympic veteran and new U.S. citizen Stuart Black of Bluemont, VA, riding Fleeceworks Blackout, finished third with 54.2 penalties. Amy Tryon of Redmond, WA, Severson's Athens Bronze Medal teammate, finished fourth with a score of 58.0 on My Beau.

Dutton was the only rider to finish on his dressage score, going clear within the time allowed in cross country and then putting the pressure on Severson by going clear in show jumping as well. With a lead of only 2.2 penalties, Severson entered the ring knowing that she would need a clear round to hold on to the win. Although Royal Venture did drop one rail for four penalties, Severson expressed no disappointment in her 14-year-old Thoroughbred who has successfully recovered from three colic surgeries just a year ago

"He has a whole new lease on life," said Severson who won the USEF Four-Star Championship last April on Winsome Andante at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. "He is thrilled to be here and I would have been happy no matter how he did. I didn't know quite what to expect from him this week but he is an amazing horse and I am as happy as I can be."

Dutton said that he too was not quite sure what to expect from his mount. "He was very tired yesterday on cross country and I really had to push him, but he came back great today," said Dutton who won at Fair Hill previously in 1996 and 2000. "He is a good horse and today is the best he's ever been. It's really rewarding for me because I've had him since buying him off the racetrack when he was three-years-old."

The 2004 Fair Hill International Festival in the Country, presented by Dansko, benefited Christiana Care Health System, one of the Chesapeake region's largest not-for-profit health care providers. Christiana Care, which began in 1888, serves the people of Delaware, as well as neighboring areas of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. It maintains a teaching hospital which specializes in cardiology, cancer and women's health services, and has trauma and neonatal intensive care units that offer an exceptional degree of care.

This year's Fair Hill International sponsors included American Home & Hardware; Bit of Britain; Cosequin/Nutramax Labs; County Banking & Trust Co; Dansko; The Equiery; Glenmede Trust Company; Goldman, Sachs & Co.; The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation; Jeff D'Ambrosio Chevrolet; Maryland Horse Industry Board; M. H. Eby, Inc.; Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit; Primedia Equine; Rice, Unruh & Reynolds; Stancill's; The Stewart Foundation; Summit Aviation; Thoroughbred Charities of America, Ltd.; Wachovia; Walnut Green Bloodstock; and Wilmington Trust.

Further information is available by calling 410-398-2111 or by visiting http://www.fairhillinternational.com/.