The Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix has been the talk of the town this winter as the excitement amongst the world's top riders is on the rise in anticipation of qualifying for this unprecedented event. Over the course of the HITS Winter Circuits, 159 top Grand Prix riders took advantage of 35 HITS Pfizer Million Qualifiers as they vied for $1.5 million in prize money and one of 40 coveted slots on the Pfizer Million Eligible Rider Rankings List. The Winter Circuits in Thermal and Ocala produced 45...

Jimmy Fairclough Threads the Needle (Joanie Morris/USEF) Ocala, FL – An exciting day of marathon driving at Live Oak International presented by US Trust showcased some of the very best in the US vying for USEF National Championship honors for both Single Horses and Four-in-Hands. Jimmy Fairclough drove like a man on mission – and his perseverance prevailed. Driving Jane Clark’s team, the New Jersey driver started out confidently in the first hazard and got better and better as he guided his...

Lebanon, OH-based Wilhelm Genn has done it again, winning both the $25,000 Nordic Lights Grand Prix and the $25,000 Budweiser Grand Prix during the fifth week of the 2010 Gulf Coast Winter Classics. International great Dave Ballard took up the reins of course designing for the double prix week. For Thursday’s $25,000 Nordic Lights event the co-creator of the 2008 Olympic layouts built a 15-effort test full of curves that had some riders struggling to keep the horses balanced, add to this...

Nicole Shahinian Simpson and Tristan (Randi Muster/Mustphoto.com) Wellington, FL – Twenty-two horses remained in the USEF Selection Trials for the US Show Jumping Team for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and they contested their fifth and final Trial as part of the $150,000 CN US Open at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival. A total of 55 horses tackled Guilherme Jorge’s course in the second feature event of CSIO Wellington week and the competition proved fierce. A difficult related...

Photo by Randi Muster (Pablo Barrios and Simply The Best) Pablo Barrios of Venezuala was able to score two wins on Wednesday, February 17, at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in the Young Jumper Championship (YJC) classes in two age divisions. When up on Simply The Best, owned by Joaquina Barrios, he was victorious in the $1,000 YJC Five-Year-Old Time First Round. Asta Torokvei of Toronto, ON, Canada, and Chabadue, owned by Westhaven Farm, led the way in the $1,500 YJC Six-Year-Old Time...

Lexington, KY – There were a handful of changes on the leaderboards today as the marathon proved a fair but demanding challenge at the 2009 USEF National Driving Championships at the Kentucky Cup and Lexington Driving Classic which is also serving as a test event for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The USEF National Four-in-Hand Championship remains in Chester Weber’s grasp, after a second place marathon performance – less than a point behind Australia’s Boyd Excell – was good...

Two Champions "Three-Peat" as Breed Show Wraps Up When individual breed classes took center stage on day three of Dressage at Devon 2009, two horses who had dominated the news in the prestigious show's first two days continued to grab headlines. Perfect Qredit, a yearling colt by Quaterback, added an 83.80% win in the Oldenburg (GOV) division to his Grand Championship, Young Horse Championship, Colt Championship, and Yearling Colts and Geldings title for owner Michelle Coursin, an air-traffic...

The Showplace Fall Classic Championship Horse Show came to a close on Sunday at the Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL. Saturday morning began with an exciting victory going to Maggie Jayne and Thomas Edison in the $25,000 Tapestry Farm Leading Rider Series Final Grand Prix. The top three open jumper riders in the 2009 Showplace Leading Rider Series battled against the clock as the only entries to qualify for the jump-off, and Jayne was the fastest by almost four seconds to take the top...

Jeffery Welles Claims $7,500 Prudential Douglas Elliman 1.45m Open Jumper Win Jeffery Welles did it again, winning his second major class this week at the Hampton Classic Horse Show. Welles, of Wellington, FL, piloted Tango to top honors in the $7,500 Prudential Douglas Elliman 1.45m Open Jumper class. On Tuesday, he won the $7,500 1.40m Open Jumper Class aboard his veteran mount, Armani. The 34th Hampton Classic, one of the nation's premiere show jumping competitions hosted hunter/jumper...

Team Gold medalists—Zone 8—from the Team Jumper competition. (USEF Archive/Randi Muster) Lexington, KY —Last night the joint was, as they say, jumpin’. Day three of the five-day USEF Pony Finals National Championships kicked off this morning with Phase I for the Regular Pony Hunters (model and under saddle), moved on to the Small Pony over fences class, and segued by sunset into the rousing 2009 USEF National Pony Jumper Team Championship. This year’s Small Pony Hunter title...