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O’Connor
Wins USET Eventing Fall Championship at Fair Hill International
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Gladstone,
NJ—October 27, 2003—Karen O’Connor of the Plains,
VA, won the United States Equestrian Team (USET) Eventing Fall
Championship and Fair Hill CCI*** Championship after she completed
show jumping with no faults to finish the three phases on her
dressage score of 52.8 on Grand Slam.
“He
has always tended to be a little flat in show jumping,” said
O’Connor, the three-time Olympic veteran who previously won
the Championship at Fair Hill in 1989. “I’d have to
say that this was the best he has ever show jumped in a three-day
event.”
O’Connor entered the show jumping phase in second place behind
Kristin Schmolze of Montville, NJ who had led with a score of
50.6 on Cavaldi. Schmolze, who won team Gold and individual Silver
medals at the North American Young Rider Championships in Quebec
in August, had one rail down for four penalties, dropping her
to second place. Schmolze, age 20, still won the USET Markham
Trophy as the highest-placing Young Rider (up to age 21) to go
with the Markham Trophy she won in the USET Spring Championship
last April.
“We
just got in a little too close,” said Schmolze who said she
has benefited greatly from the Amanda Warrington training grant
she received from the USET earlier this year. “Coming here
I would have been thrilled to be anywhere in the ribbons so I
am still extremely happy overall.”
Julie Richards of Atlanta, GA finished with 57.0 penalties to
take third place on her 2000 Sydney Olympic mount, Hyde Park Corner
who was competing in his first three-day event since Sydney.
The
United States Equestrian Team is a non-profit organization that
selects, trains, equips and finances equestrians of the highest
possible standard to represent our country in major international
competition, including the Olympic Games and the World Championships.
To accomplish this the USET seeks out and nurtures the development
of talented athletes - riders, drivers, vaulters and horses -
and provides the support and guidance they need to help them attain
their fullest potential. For more information on the USET, please
call (908) 234-1251, or visit USET ONLINE at www.uset.org.
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