So much has happened today I'm not sure where to start. This morning started with another run on the strip. More illicit activities witnessed and I was a little later so there was loads more activity. Made for some quick thinking at times.

Back to the venue… the day got off to a very disappointing start for the dressage riders, my heart just broke for Jan Ebeling and Leslie Morse, both had huge disappointments. Jan's mare, Rafalca, simply couldn't take the atmosphere and decorations in the arena and poor Leslie: Kingston went inexplicably lame in the beginning of the test and was excused.

Not a good way to start the day.

This also meant that there was lots of pressure on Steffen Peters. The King of Cool put in the best test of the Ravel's career, there was nothing but brilliance. Steffen beat two of the very best (Anky and Isabel) but his win was undeniable.
If you want more news see: www.usef.org. I'm done with the news.

Ravel's connections were thrilled and tears flowed in the tunnel after the test. I owe Akiko Yamazaki (Ravel's fabulous owner) a MASSIVE apology for spelling her name wrong in the press release, there is no excuse, it was a full blown screw up. Sorry and no disrespect Akiko!

I feel like there is some justice in the world, as my personal opinion is that Steffen was robbed of a medal in Hong Kong, today that wrong was righted and he truly is on top of the world.

Needless to say today was a roller coaster (as big as the one on The Strip) in US Dressage Land. I spent a lot of time talking to the press to get all the facts sorted… there weren't too many people disappointed to see Steffen win.

Ravel was a study of class during the prize giving. There was a whole lot of atmosphere (lets just say the day started with real fire works in the arena) as you would expect in Las Vegas. Ravel stood like a stone, in the spotlight with a huge horsey smile on his face.
The horse brought his rider to tears.

I went to see Ravel after his test and there was winner written all over him as he stood on the cross ties waiting for his groom Rafa to finish up doing him off. He begged handfuls of treats from whoever walked by and was pretty darn proud of himself. He is after all, a horse, he jumped into his feed tub nose first by the time I left and was happy as could be.

A few numbers from today:

500: steps from the elevator to the shuttle, all inside the MGM Grand, and no I didn't count, an Aussie lady I met on the bus did.
42 text messages waiting for Steffen on his iphone after his test; more than 100 emails
14: dollars Shannon Peters spent on the most fabulous bag at Marshall's yesterday
1: real Rolex watch won by Steffen, the copy watches of Hong Kong are a thing of the past!

It is fantastic to have Jessica Ransehousen back on the job, she is a great legend of the sport and has made such an impact on American dressage. She is acting as Chef d'Equipe. Fiercely enthusiastic and determined, she was great fun to be around this afternoon. After Steffen rode we all traipsed to the press conference, which involved an elevator. Both Anky and Shannon are fiercely either claustrophobic or elevator phobic which made for a tense few moments after we all piled in and went to the wrong floor. We all survived and then the press had a great time with Steffen.

More Scene and Heard around the Venue:

The popcorn must be good here at Thomas and Mack, I just saw British Show Jumping phenom Ben Maher and his girlfriend eating a bucket.

I felt like I could have been at a Red Sox game, there were ticket scalpers outside and the traffic to get in was amazing. How great is it to have sold out crowds??

The jumping is about to start, more on that when it is over. In the mean time, I got Sapphire in the pool totally by luck.

FINGERS CROSSED and TOES TOO for all the US riders!