American rider Phillip Dutton was awarded the United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation’s Pinnacle Cup Trophy on Sunday afternoon at the 2007 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI****, Presented by Farnam, held April 26-29, 2007. The Pinnacle Cup is given to the highest-placed American rider.

Riding Connaught, owned by Bruce Duchossois of Aiken, SC, Dutton earned second place overall. The competition marked the first big outing for Dutton since he changed his citizenship from Australia to ride for the United States.

“I’m very proud to be the highest-placed American rider,” Dutton explained. “I guess it’s a bit of mixed emotions with me to see all the Aussie (riders) here...But, I’m really excited about the help and the opportunities that I can get riding for America.”

Connaught, also known as “Simon,” was Dutton’s mount for the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Aachen, Germany, and placed fourth at Rolex in 2006. He was also fourth at the Red Hills World Cup Qualifier CIC-W*** in March 2006.

At Rolex, Dutton commented on his horse’s performance. “I would have liked to have won, but I’m very pleased for Connaught. It’s his highest placing, and I think he’s still got a lot of improving to go,” he said.

In 2006, the USET Foundation awarded a grant of $2 million to the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) for its high-performance programs, which helped the teams achieve the most successful WEG in U.S. history. This year, the foundation plans to increase that figure and award an additional $125,000 to provide for the high-performance athletes and support staff that will be traveling to the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in July.

The USET Foundation supports the competition, training, coaching, travel and educational needs of America’s elite and developing international high-performance horses and athletes in partnership with the USEF. For more information on the USET Foundation, please visit www.uset.org.

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