Public and Media Invited to Attend the USET Foundation Dressage Festival of Champions, Featuring the 2005 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Grand Prix and Intermediaire I Dressage Championships, presented by Paul Miller, Inc.

Lexington, KY – Equestrian stars will light up the arena in Gladstone, June 16-18, as one of the nation’s premier dressage competitions unfolds in New Jersey. The 2005 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Grand Prix and Intermediaire I Dressage Championships, presented by Paul Miller, Inc., will take place at the famed Hamilton Farm, historically known as a training center for some of the nation’s most distinguished equestrian athletes.

To qualify for the Championships, rider and horse combinations compete in a series of USEF High Performance Qualifying Events throughout the country from summer/fall of 2004 through June 5, 2005. For the Grand Prix Championship, athletes have to compete in a minimum of two USEF qualifying competitions; completing the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special in one qualifier and the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle in another qualifier. For the Intermediaire I Championship, athletes have to compete in the Prix St. Georges and the Intermediaire I in a minimum of two USEF qualifying competitions. In addition, combinations have to complete one Intermediaire I freestyle at a qualifier.

Following the completion of these qualifiers, the top 12 ranked riders in each of the divisions, Grand Prix and Intermediaire I, are invited to compete. Some of this year’s notable entries will include husband and wife competitors Steffen and Shannon Peters, George Williams, Kathleen Raine, 1992 Olympian Charlotte Bredahl Baker, Arlene Page and Katherine Bateson. To see the updated list of rankings, log on to www.usef.org, click on high performance (on the left) and then dressage.

The Championships themselves are rich in history—now a tradition 15 years in the making. Throughout that history, these Championships have been used to select international teams for international competition, including the 1992, 1996, and 2004 Olympic Games, the 1998 World Equestrian Games, and the 1999 and 2003 Pan American Games. Past Championship winners include decorated Olympians Robert Dover, Debbie McDonald, and Guenter Seidel.

This year’s Championships have been made possible by the sponsorship of Collecting Gaits Farm, owned by Jeff and Shereen Fuqua, and by Paul Miller, Inc.

General admission is free. To reserve VIP seats for the 2005 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Grand Prix and Intermediaire I Dressage Championships, presented by Paul Miller, Inc., June 16-18, visit the following link: http://www.usef.org/documents/highPerformance/dressage/2005SponsorTent.pdf.

Media interested in attending should contact Sarah Lane, by phone at (859) 225-6974, or via e-mail at [email protected].
~~~