SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA-September 26, 2000-Robert Dover of Flemington, NJ and Sue Blinks of Wellington, FL led the U.S. Equestrian Team (USET) to third place at the end of the first of two days of the Olympic team dressage competition.

Dover rode first for the USET and he received a score of 67.12% (1678 points) from the five-judge panel for his ride on Ranier, a 9-year-old, Oldenburg gelding owned by Jane Clark. Blinks was the final rider of the day and she scored 69.00% (1725 points) on Flim Flam, a 13-year-old, Hanoverian gelding owned by Fritz Kundrun and the Dressage Sponsor Corporation.

Their score combined to place the USET third with a total of 3403 points, trailing only perennial powers Germany (3765) and The Netherlands (3661).

Individually, Blinks stands sixth and Dover is ninth. Germany's Isabell Werth leads with 76.32% (1908 points) on Gigolo. Anky Van Grunsven of The Netherlands is second with 75.00% (1875 points) on Bonfire and Alexandra Simons de Ridder of Germany is third with 74.28% (1857 points) on Chacomo.

"Both of our riders performed very well here today," said USET chef d'equipe Jessica Ransehousen, a three-time USET Olympic veteran. "Robert's horse is still green at this level and Sue's is more experienced, but I think both riders got the most of their horses today."

Dover, competing in his fifth consecutive Olympic Games, felt that his horse performed as well as he could have hoped. "For where he is in his career, he was fabulous," the Chicago native said. "This was his first time in a big arena like this and I think he was a little tight. Overall, though, I couldn't have asked for more and I think he got our team off to a very good start."

Blinks, who won the USET dressage championship on Flim Flam last May, was very pleased with her long-time partner. "He always comes up big when it's most important," she said. "I was quite fortunate to have help from Steffen Peters and Jane Savoie in addition to all that Jessica does, and I think we were well prepared. I didn't watch any rides today except Robert's as I wanted to be as focused as I could. I was happy with his general energy level and his extensions felt great. I would have to say that I'm very happy with my horse."

The second half of the team competition is Wednesday. Riding for the USET will be Guenter Seidel of Del Mar, CA at 1:00 pm local time on Foltaire, a 13-year-old, Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Dick and Jane Brown; and Christine Traurig of Carlsbad, CA who will ride at 3:15 pm local time on Etienne, a 12-year-old, Westphalian gelding owned by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Haas.