Allen and Severson-Vinoski have a weekend to remember at Morven Park CCI*

"He's such a ham," said Allen after her clean show jumping round that clinched the win. "When he gets in the ring he's a real showman, he just comes up to you and shows off."

Allen moved in to third after cross-country, when 4th placed Ashley Johnson with Welton Venture retired at the second water, and third placed Denise Rath with Just Talk incurred a stop on the steeplechase phase. Her bold cross-country performance came in spite of being held for four minutes before fence five following the crashing fall at fence 7 of Xpress Mocha and Alison Haase (horse and rider proved to be unhurt, just winded).

Despite those tense moments, Allen described her cross-country round as an "Absolute Blast!"

Severson-Vinoski, sporting her newly earned USET coat, was the picture of concentration as she put in a flawless performance aboard her new star, Aces High.

The fence that seemed to cause the most problems throughout the day was fence number four, the Palisade drop. Some horse declined to leap off the drop fence, while some riders seemed to have a hard time "sticking their landing" and remaining on their horse.

The overnight dressage leader in division two was Mark Weissbecker, aboard the handsome black gelding High Mountain Road. Weissbecker and High Mountain Road put in a clean and fast cross-country performance, easily retaining their lead, but sadly Weissbecker did not present High Mountain Road for the final veterinary inspection, eliminating them from the competition. Weissbecker's withdrawal left Allen in second going in to show jumping behind Canada's Andrina Calder and the Trakehner mare Herzprinz.

"I was so nervous all day," admitted Allen. "Especially after Mark withdrew-that really put the pressure on."

The show jumping track was deceptively challenging, and featured a lot of distances where the rider had to land and commit to a forward stride, or take back for shorter distance. Rails were spread pretty evenly around the course, but a consistently challenging line was the triple combination set on the diagonal followed by either a tight five, or a long four strides later to a narrow vertical on an angle. In addition, the tight time allowed didn't allow for slow, considered riding-you had to keep coming forward or incur time penalties.

The narrow, decorated in a patriotic flag theme, gave announcer Brian O'Connor the chance to tease the competitors. "Knocking that fence down will be considered unpatriotic, and you will be asked to leave," he joked.

Every Wish rattled a few fences, but left them all standing to put the pressure on Calder. Herzprinz rattled a few more, and eventually dropped one, plus had an additional 8 time faults, to drop to 5th and giving Allen the win. Doug Payne would move up to take second on Rise Above (he would also win highest-placed Young Rider), with third going to Ziggy and Clark Davis, who would win the highest-place adult amateur trophy.

Every Wish was bred by his owner, Dr. Michael Strider of Leonardstown, Maryland, and is an American Thoroughbred by the West Virginia stallion Weshaam, out of Strider's mare Every Jet. Allen competes at Intermediate on another Strider-bred horse, the mare Get The Hell Outta Dodge, whom she purchased from them. Strider foxhunts Every Wish during the off-season, while Allen competes during the rest of the year.<

"He's a wonderful horse to ride," said Allen. "He's very rhythmic to the jumps, almost like a show hunter, and he's very light in the bridle and adjustable. He's cool because he thinks-he's bold, but not so bold that he jumps crazy, nor is he tentative, he just takes a second to size things up, and then he does them."

Allen hopes to take Every Wish intermediate, but says the future depends on the wishes of the owner, and the recommendations of her coach, Jimmy Wofford. Allen runs a teaching and training business out of Cremona Farm, and teaches primarily kids, and breaks a lot of race babies for the track. She has no shortage of fans though, as 11 people, led by friend Annie Compton, came out to help her on cross-country day.

"I have to thank all of them for helping me get here," she said.

Every Wish also took the trophy for best-conditioned horse.

Being at the top of the leader board is nothing new for Scottsville, Virginia's Kim Severson-Vinoski, fresh off her gold medal performance at the World Equestrian Games, but her consistency is due in no small part to her work developing the youngsters that will be her stars of the future. Current rising star is the bay Thoroughbred Aces High, who showed his worthiness with a wire-to-wire victory in the CCI*, division 1.

Severson-Vinoski has had the 7-year-old approximately a year, after her friend Rainey Sealey had called and said she had seen a very nice youngster in the barn of fellow eventer Teresa Loughlin. Before coming to Loughlin, the leggy gelding had been bounced around after washing out as a show hunter.

Following a smooth dressage performance, Aces High held the lead by more than two points over second placed Fine China with Vicki Baker.

"He's never won the dressage before, so for him to be very mature and that rhythmic was a big thing," said Severson-Vinoski.

She put in a typically fast and clean cross-country performance, though she did opt to take the longer option at Fence 6, the first water. "He was pretty good on cross-country-he always wants to jump if he understands the questions. I went long at the first water because you needed a good ride there, and I wanted to make sure he had a positive experience. But he was really good everywhere," she finished.

On show jumping day, the pressure was on as the five riders behind Severson-Vinoski all jumped double clear. Without a rail in hand, they would have to be double clear to maintain their lead. Aces High jumped spectacularly though, airing out over several of the fences and never rattling a fence. He crossed the timers under the time allowed to give Severson-Vinoski the win.

"He jumped out of his skin in there," laughed Severson-Vinoski. "He doesn't want to hit anything, now we just have to work on that technique. Tone him down a little bit.

Baker and Fine China held on to take second, and Weissbecker took third with his other mount Swayne.

Despite his winning performance, Severson-Vinoski describes Aces High as "a little interesting."

"You get on to work him and he's very good, but then walking back to the barn he'll be totally silly. He wants to learn and work, but he keeps you on your toes," she said.

She hopes to do some more work on jumping and technique over the winter, and then move him up to intermediate in the spring.

"He's a bit immature mentally and physically for 7-he needs some time to catch up," she said.

Despite that, Severson-Vinoski is clear in her high regard for the quirky youngster. "I think he's very, very special," she said. "He's definitely a keeper."

In addition to the CCI*, advanced horses and riders preparing for the Fair Hill CCI*** had a strong horse trial run at Morven over a challenging track.

In advanced division 1, Peter Green and Mind the Gap moved up to take the win after dressage leader Beale Morris and Eastern Shore incurred a stop on cross-country. Mind the Gap only added 4.4 time penalties on cross-country, and one rail in stadium, the clinch the blue over Phillip Dutton and Nova Top in 2nd and Better I Do It and Dianne Roffe in third.

In division 2, highest-placed American at the WEG John Williams won with his up-and-coming star Sloopy. Sloopy had started out the weekend tied for 2nd with Darren Chiacchia and Power Ty, and behind Dutton on Dusky Moon. He acquired 6.8 time penalties on cross-country, but Chiacchia has 9.2, leaving Williams firmly alone in second. When Dutton had one rail to drop to fourth, Williams clinched the win with his clean show jumping. Chiacchia and Power Ty were second, and Carl Bouckaert and Welton Molecule were third.

In division three, young Will Faudree won with his Antigua. Faudree had been second after dressage behind Chiacchia and the stallion Windfall, but moved up to tie with him after a speedy cross-country that added only 1.6 time penalties to Windfall's 2.0. In the show jumping though the black stallion dropped one rail to give Faudree the win with a clear round. Chiacchia took second, and Heidi White took third with Northern Spy.