Upper Marlboro, MD – October 8, 2003 - Courtney McKay, 18, of Ocala, Florida, posted the best scores of her equitation career and took home the blue ribbon in the Monarch International’s Show Circuit Magazine North American Equitation Championship class. The class drew 83 entries and was just one of the highlights of the 10th Annual Capital Challenge Horse Show held September 27 – October 5 in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

McKay went into the second phase of the class ten points behind Megan Edrick of California, but after posting a 96, two 98’s and two 99’s from the five-judge panel, McKay jumped into the lead.

McKay and Edrick were asked to return to the ring, switch horses and ride the course again. With just a canter to the first jump as a warm-up, both riders found their distances and made their ride on the strange horse look simple. Edrick’s downfall, however, was a quick swap to the counter canter before the sixth fence. It was enough to keep her in second.

McKay was thrilled with her performance and couldn’t believe she scored two 99’s. “I was just talking with Elizabeth Smith who scored a 99 yesterday,” she said, “I was like, that is my dream, and the next day…I can’t even believe it happened.”

The young rider gives credit to Christina Schlusemeyer and Bob Braswell, her trainers at Quiet Hill Farm, and also credits her horse for her success.

Coming off a win in the Maclay regionals, Lauren Van Eldik of Ocala, FL, showed off her flatwork in a blue ribbon performance in the Monarch International’s Show Circuit Magazine North American Flat Equitation Championship class held on the opening day of the Capital Challenge.

“I think in order to jump well you have to have good flat work,” said Van Eldik, who sees her flat work as a strong point in her riding. The young rider has competed in the Monarch Flat class for a number of years and felt comfortable performing the dressage test required. Topping seventy riders Van Eldik clearly mastered the test.

Van Eldik, 18, trains with Don Stewart, also of Ocala, FL, and has been with the notable trainer for nearly ten years.

Another Florida-based rider to take home top honors was Robin Swinderman. Like McKay, Swinderman rides under the guidance of Quiet Hill Farm. The 34-year-old office manager from Ocala, FL, rode her Trakehner stallion to the blue ribbon in the Monarch International’s Show Circuit Magazine North American Adult Equitation Championship.

Swinderman led the two-round class posting a 87.4 average in the first round and a 86.2 in the second. Her two-round total of 173.6 was 10.6 points higher than second-place finisher Krista Hunter.

Swinderman is no stranger to leading the victory gallop at Capital Challenge. In 2002 the horse and rider combination took home the Grand Amateur Owner Hunter champion. The pair competed in the Amateur-Owner Hunter division again this year, but added on the equitation classes for the fun of it.

She said, “I wanted to do it because I thought it was fun, different than the hunters…we’re focusing on fun, that’s my goal these days, if it’s not fun I don’t want to do it.”

Swinderman picked up her second blue of the show when she bested a field of 40 to lead the victory gallop aboard Lord Byron Z in the Children’s Adult Jumper Challenge. She said, “I had a great horse show. I’m nervous to show in the hunter classes now!”

Champion of the Adult Amateur Jumper division for the second consecutive year was Julia Wiley, 21, of Venon, NJ. Wiley rode her 11-year-old Holsteiner mare Stella to two blue ribbons in the outdoor classes and a fifth-place finish in the Challenge class. The pair was the second fastest four-faulter. They finished the eight-fence jumpoff in just 34.584 seconds.

Fourth in the class, and the fastest four-fault round was the high point junior rider Tayrn Nolte, 13, of Gwynedd Valley, Pa. Nolte rode Nacho Mama, an 18-year-old black Thoroughbred mare owned by her trainer Michael Walton. The pair posted the fastest time of the night, 33.353 seconds, but pulled the top rail of the swoop jump to finish fourth.

In the professional divisions Emily Williams rode Priceless to the blue in the World Champion Hunter Under Saddle. Priceless is an eight-year-old bay warmblood owned by the Lindner family of Cincinnati, Ohio. Williams’ success was not limited to the World Champion Hunter Under Saddle. The young professional went after the win in the prestigious $15,000 World Champion Hunter Rider Professional Challenge and was pleased that she and Strapless were able to reach that goal.

“I normally don’t say anything because I don’t want to jinx myself but I wanted it so badly,” said Williams. “It is such a fun class. They make such a big deal out of it and everyone cheers everyone else on.”

Twenty-five horses and the nation’s top professional hunter riders competed for the honors and the $4500 first-place purse. Williams and the ten-year-old Danish mare were brilliant in both rounds, posting a 97.2 and a 97.6 average, showing the style and consistency that have characterized their rounds for the past three years.

Williams faced stiff competition from last year’s Chronicle of the Horse Professional World Champion Hunter Rider Peter Pletcher. The Professional Challenge was a critical event for Pletcher who went into the class just seven points shy of qualifying for the World Champion Hunter Rider Professional Finals on Friday evening. His scores aboard January’s Best, a 93.1 and a 95.4, earned him a second in the Challenge class, and he picked up enough points to earn a spot in Friday’s “Final Four” class to defend his title. The other three riders who competed for the title were Havens Schatt, Scott Stewart, and Samantha Darling.

It was a close race for the title as the four highest ranked professionals in the WCHR battled it out riding four unfamiliar horses over four courses. Stewart, as usual, opted for a brilliant final trip to nail the win. After galloping the final two oxers Stewart and “Mr.. Darci” scored an average of 98.4 from the panel of five judges (98, 98, 98, 99, 99), the highest score ever recorded in the class.

For Stewart it was the third time winning the title of Professional Rider of the Year and the fourth time out of five years he was in the race. His previous two wins were in 1998 and ‘99, followed by second place finishes in 2001 and 2002.

In the $20,000 Added Future Hunter World Championship Stewart piloted Dynamic to the blue ribbon. Owned by Mimi Tashjian of Greenwich, CT, the six-year-old chestnut Hanoverian made his first indoor appearance at the Capital Challenge.

“Escort” was imported from Europe almost a year ago and was shipped straight to Florida to show at the Winter Equestrian Festival in West Palm Beach, Fl, where he picked up the Pre Green Circuit Championship.

According to Tashjian the huge 17.1-hand gelding has loads of personality. She said, “He’s a real baby, and he makes us laugh with the things he does. He’s brave and pleasant, has a wonderful attitude and is great to work around. I ride him at home a lot and he jumps high! He clearly wants to perform for you.”

In the open jumper division New Jersey-based rider Chris Kappler started the week off right by winning the Open Jumper Stake class aboard Korina. The pair cut time with tight turns and raced across the ground to set a pace that couldn’t be touched.

Besting a field of 47 horses Kappler and Korina stopped the clock in 51.560 seconds, nearly two seconds faster than Jeffrey Welles and Equinox who posted a clean round in 53.694.

The speed class was a warm-up for Saturday’s $30,000 Ariat Congressional Cup Grand Prix, an FEI World Cup Qualifier. Kappler and Korina attempted the grand prix along with 45 other horse and rider combinations, but it was Leslie Howard who led the victory gallop for the second consecutive year.

She was the last of seven riders to tackle the jumpoff in the $30,000 class and in true Howard style the two-time Olympian nailed the twisting course and stopped the clock in a blistering 37.2 seconds. Last year Howard piloted Clover Leaf to the head of the class, while this year she rode Cocu, an eleven-year-old grey mare owned by Jane Clark.

Howard started riding the Holsteiner last winter and had never ridden Cocu indoors before. She was please with the mare’s performance.

“It worked out just like I planed,” said Howard. “I saw my distance to the Liverpool and that worried me a little. I just landed and turned and there it was.”

She added, “The first round was a little sticky in places, but she actually felt quite good in the jumpoff. She was right there for me in the turns. She waited when I asked her to wait, and she moved up when I asked her to move up.”

The rider who gave Howard a run for her money was Molly Ashe riding Lutopia. The pair finished second after navigating the Conrad Homfeld-designed course fault-free in 39.08 seconds. However, the ten-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare gave Ashe a wild ride between the first a second jumps when Lutopia cut right after the first oxer causing Ashe to lose her stirrup.

“I had a beautiful plan for a galloping sweeping turn,” she explained laughing. “Unfortunately my cutting horse had her own plan which left me doing my sweeping turn and her doing the cutting horse turn. I had no stirrup, hanging off the side of her until about a stride before the next jump. When I started kicking for the oxer somehow the stirrup ended up back on my foot.”

Virginia resident, Betty Oare, dominated the Amateur Owner Hunter division collecting the Championship in the 36 and over division, as well as the Grand Champion and the World Champion Hunter Rider national Amateur Owner title. Oare rode Harmony to the honors.

In the younger division Danielle Torano picked up the tri-color riding Lebon. The pair also topped the World Champion Hunter Rider Challenge class posting an average score of 95.2 from the panel of five judges.

Lebon is a nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion who was imported this summer. The chestnut was showing in the jumper division in Europe, but made a career change upon his arrival to the U.S. Now Lebon competes in the Amateur-Owner Hunter division as well as the Regular Working Hunters with Torano’s husband Jimmy.

Two special year-end classes held at the Capital Challenge are the State Line Tack National Children’s Medal Finals and the Ariat Adult Medal Finals. Eileen McNamara of Weston, Mass., topped a field of 32 riders to be named the State Line Tack Medal Champion. McNamara, 14, rode her 13-year-old bay gelding August to the honors.

“He was awesome,” she said. “I didn’t have to ask him for anything. I just had to think it.”

McNamara was excited about returning to the Capital Challenge after a bad showing last year in the State Line class. She said, “I went last year and crashed and burned. This year I just wanted to come back and it just so happened I came back 1st in the country…pressure! It was fun and State Line was a really good experience.”

McNamara credits her success in the class to her four trainers who train out of Holly Hill Farm in Massachusetts. “I really want to thank my trainers for being so awesome and my parents for letting me go to all these shows and missing school to come here.”

In the Ariat National Adult Medal Finals Deirdre Catani, 22, worked her way up in three rounds to be named the Champion at the Capital Challenge. Catani rode Bye The Wye and posted a 82.3 in the first round, a score good enough to return in the sixth position. Their second round score of 84.80 moved them up in to third. The panel of judges asked the top three riders to return to the ring and wait for instructions. They were required to jump a shorted course which included a trot jump and a halt. With nothing to lose, Catani tested with confidence and determination. Her test was accurate and a brilliant demonstration of her riding. Scoring a 86.8 in the work off Catani jumped to the head of the class.

“She is a risk taker,” said her New Jersey-based trainer Amil Spadone. “If you’re in third place you might as well go for it.”

Catani is a Criminal Justice major at Curry College in Milton, Mass., and plans to pursue a career as a professional rider. Her father, Carl Catani, is also a professional and has trained his daughter throughout her riding career. Unfortunately, he was unable to be at Capital Challenge due to a commitment to his other students who were competing at the USET Finals in Gladstone, NJ.

The 2003 Capital Challenge Horse Show wrapped up on Sunday, October 5, with World Champion Hunter Rider Awards given out in three divisions. The first went to Adrienne Sternlich who rode Ingenue to the top of the WCHR Pony Challenge Class. The pair posted an unbeatable 92.4.

Sternlich, 10, is from Greenwich, CT, and trains with Patricia Griffith of Heritage Acres in Katonah, NY. Her family purchased “Bunny” a year and a half ago from Maggie McAlary and only moved into the pony division last year.

The young rider admits that she didn’t have the best showing at Capital Challenge, and was just happy to qualify for the Challenge class. She said, “I just made it in yesterday. This was just for fun, and I really didn’t think I was going to win.”

Sternlich is a fifth grader who is also active in soccer and spent much of last summer at a sleep-away camp in Maine.

The rest of the pony division was dominated by Samantha Schaefer who took home the Grand Pony Hunter Champion for the third consecutive year and collected the Best Child Rider on a pony title.

In the WCHR Junior Challenge Elizabeth Coughlin rode Keep The Faith to the top of the class. The pair picked up the award after posting an 87.8 on the board. Coughlin was in the race for the National WCHR Junior title, but Nancy Amling edged her out for the award. She said, “Nancy and I were going head to head all year.”

Coughlin is a freshman at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va., and is busy working toward a double major (political science and business) while riding daily with her trainer Pam Baker and riding for Betty and Ernie Oare.

“It’s out of control,” she said laughing about her tight schedule. “I squeeze it in there somehow. I love it, though. I couldn’t live without riding.”

The last WCHR award was given out to the winner of the Children’s Hunter Finals, Taylor Brown of Palmyra, Va. "I was very happy today," said the 12-year-old who rode Land’s End Samsara to the honors.

"We got a little close to a few fences, but we worked it out," she said. Their 159-point total for two rounds edged out Paige Allardice and Rainbeau’s Reflection by two points.

Brown is currently leading USA Eq Zone 3 in the children’s pony division and earned the WCHR Region Championship in children’s hunters. She trains with Pam Freely who said Brown improved with each class at Capital Challenge. "She went in being a little nervous, and as she went along she got better and better and more confident." she said.

The Finals class was Brown’s last hoorah in the Children’s Hunter division. The young rider is moving up to the medium pony division next year.

More information, results and photos about the Capital Challenge Horse Show can be found on the official web site – www.capitalchallengehorseshow.com.