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Twenty-one horse and rider combinations did their Dressage in the CCI***, on an unseasonably hot Thursday afternoon - temperatures were 92 or 93 degrees. Twenty others will ride on Friday afternoon.

Mara Dean, riding Nicki Henley, blew the competition away, like the storms that are predicted for this Friday afternoon! (Mara and Nicki Henley are pictured at the right.) Their score of 40.9, received for a lovely and accurate test, was 9.3 faults better than her nearest competitors Canada's Mike Winter with Kingpin, whose score was 50.2. Kingpin's halts were exceptionally good, on the mark every time and consistently square. (Mike and Kingpin are pictured at the left below.)

Jonathan Holling and Lion King II are in third position on 51.5. Both Mike and Jonathan are refugees from the Lexington CCI****. Both had minor problems at Kentucky on the Cross Country and did not mess around; but, retired immediately. Surely they had planned ahead that the CCI*** at Jersey Fresh would be their back up and quickly opted to save their horses for this later competition.

Buck Davidson and New Moon are in fourth place on 51.7, .7 of a fault ahead of Great Britain's reigning Olympic Gold Medalist Leslie Law, who rode Another Garrison to a score of 52.4 and fifth place. Leslie had entered his Athens Games Gold Medal partner Shear L'Eau, another Lexington refugee; however, the latter has been withdrawn.

Canada's Karl Slezak with Foxwood Spencer and Darren Chiacchia riding Gaspar II are tied for sixth on 52.6. 1.1 faults separate third from sixth place.

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CCI**

Two ladies who have both had a very successful springs at Intermediate lead the CCI** after the first half of the Dressage phase.

Becky Holder, from Minnesota, and Glorious Joy lead Kim Severson, who lives in Virginia, with Tsunami by .9 of a fault - Becky is on 43.5 and Kim is on 44.4. Interestingly both Glorious Joy and Tsunami are mares.

Glorious Joy is 10 years old and is owned and was brought on by a student of Becky's named Jill Gill. Jill took the mare to her first few preliminaries and did the CIC* at Wayne (Illinois) with her. "It's taken us a while to trust each other. She's careful and a bit hot; but, very fast and has super foot work . . . " on the Cross Country. Glorious Joy has won the CIC** at Poplar Place and was second at The Fork. She also won the OI at Pine Top. Becky is planning to take her Advanced at the Maui Jim Wayne Horse Trials, in July. Becky and Glorious Joy are pictured at the right above.)

Tsunami is a seven year old. Kim found her at Penn National through Mix and Match which is run by Shelly Mix and her partner. These two know lots of trainers and try to put sellers together with people who would like to buy horses off the race track. Tsunami's registered name was Tsu Tsu Rhu. Tsunami was second in the CIC** at Poplar Place behind Becky and Glorious Joy. (Kim and Tsunami are pictured at the left.)

Kim says of Tsunami, "She just wants to please." Sometimes she gets upset because she does not always understand what her rider wants. She gets saying, "What do you want? What do you want?". Today Tsunami certainly understood what Kim wanted in the Dressage Ring.

Kate Ditchey and Belmont are in third place on 48.8. She and Becky and Kim are the only three with scores in the forties. America's favorite Australian, Phillip Dutton, is in fourth place with his own Tru Luck on a score of 52.3.

16 competitors did their CCI** Dressage on Thursday. All the others have scores in the sixties and seventies.

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A Heads Up to Competitors: The Horse Park of New Jersey, competition management for the Jersey Fresh CCI**\CCI*** Three Day Event, was Censured and Fined by the US Equestrian Federation for failure to pay prize money for the 2005 competition, ". . . within 30 days of the last day of the competition." Refer to the April, 2006, issue of Equestrian Magazine (the publication of the USEF), page 98.