Equestrian Bowl National Dressage Championship Trophy Awarded to Steffen Peters and Lombardi II
Equestrian News Release

GLADSTONE, NJ - July 3, 2007 - For the second consecutive year and the third time in his career, Steffen Peters was the recipient of the USET Foundation's Equestrian Bowl for the National Dressage Championship. The USET Foundation presents the trophy annually to the winner of the National Grand Prix Championship. The Franklin Mint donated the elegant Equestrian Bowl to the USET in 1978 and the first recipient was Edith Master.

Peters was presented with the trophy at the 2007 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions presented by Paul Miller Auto Group, which was held June 14 through 17 at USET Foundation headquarters in Gladstone, NJ.

At the Festival, Peters, 42, of San Diego, CA, riding Lombardi II (Locato x Baroness X), a 16-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Akiko Yamazaki, won the 2007 USEF National Grand Prix Dressage Championship with an overall score of 72.084% after three rounds of competition.

"This is my third championship here. It's always very, very special," Peters said. "This arena has so much history. It's always a great accomplishment to win here and certainly the girls [Courtney King and Kristina Harrison-Naness, 2nd and 3rd respectively] gave me a good run for the money, especially today. For Lombardi, never really knowing that he would be a Grand Prix horse, I just am so excited about it and so is Akiko Yamazaki, the owner. It's just a really big thrill."

Peters earned the National Grand Prix Championship previously in 1995 with Udon, his mount for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, and then won it again in 2006 with Floriano, his mount for the 2006 World Equestrian Games and the 2007 Rolex FEI World Cup(TM) Dressage Final.

Peters and Lombardi II are currently competing at the World Equestrian Festival CDIO3* in Aachen, Germany, July 3-8.

Previous Recipients of the Equestrian Bowl

National Dressage Championship

Presented to the USET by the Franklin Mint

Edith Master

Hilda Gurney

Gwen Stockebrand

Ellin Dixon

Kay Meredith

Robert Dover

Hilda Gurney

Hilda Gurney

Tom Valter

Dianna Rankin

1988 Robert Dover

1989 Robert Dover

1990 Robert Dover

1991 Carol Lavell

1992 Carol Lavell

1993 Michael Poulin

1994 Robert Dover

1995 Steffen Peters

1996 Michelle Gibson

1997 Shelly Francis

1998 Guenter Seidel

1999 Cherri Reiber

2000 Sue Blinks

2001 Debbie McDonald

2002 Debbie McDonald

2003 Leslie Morse

2004 Robert Dover

2005 George Williams

2006 Steffen Peters

The non-profit United States Equestrian Team Foundation supports the competition, training, coaching, travel and educational needs of America's elite and developing international, high-performance athletes and horses in partnership with the United States Equestrian Federation. For more information about the USET Foundation or to make a donation, please call (908) 234-1251 or visit its website at http://www.uset.org.



PHOTO CAPTION: Steffen Peters and Lombardi II, recipients of the USET Foundation's Equestrian Bowl for the National Dressage Championship. (l-r) Shereen Fuqua of Collecting Gaits Farm; USEF Dressage Show Manager Pam Lane; Judge Hilda Gurney; USEF Managing Director of Dressage Gil Merrick; USEF Executive Director of Sports Programs Jim Wolf; owner Akiko Yamazaki; Jeff Fuqua of Collecting Gaits Farm; and Festival Awards Manager Aileen Munro. PHOTO CREDIT: Susan J. Stickle.