O’Connor Wins USET Eventing Fall Championship at Fair Hill International

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.