David O'Connor Wins the Inaugural Jersey Fresh CCI**

Horse Park of New Jersey, June 12, 2003 - Gorta Glen loped around the course in the stadium phase of the inaugural Jersey Fresh CCI** like a fox hunter, said his rider, 2000 Olympics gold medalist David O'Connor.

"He's really straightforward and just goes out and gets the job done," O'Connor said of the chestnut winner of the May 29-June 1 show by 47.61 penalty points. O'Connor has been standing in for rides on the Blue Lazor-Keroque Gypsy son's usual rider, Elizabeth Iorio, who went to college.

The Virginia man needed the luck of the Irish when he was standing second after dressage to fellow Games veteran Mara DePuy and her Nicki Henley. He had a runout on cross country, putting O'Connor in the lead as the came into stadium jumping, the final phase, with a margin of just over a rail in hand. He used up almost all of that good fortune when the English-bred dropped a portion of the combination, but the pair squeaked by runner-up Jan Thompson by 3.99 penalties.

The Virginian woman and Waterfront (Kuwait Beach - Irish Whisper) moved up from fifth, maintaining their 51.60 by being one of eight to go clear on the Sally Ike-designed stadium route. O'Connor and the svelte horse seized the lead over rivals Mara DePuy and her Nicki Henley. The winner of the dressage high score award, the horse had an unaccustomed stop at the 22 of the 25 obstacles near the end of cross country at the verdant Horse Park of New Jersey.

Gayle Molander was second in the overnight standings as the Maryland woman came into the last day but her Jumbarlara dropped two rails. That opened the door for Thompson who was all smiles after her rounds which "were so fun" on her chestnut mount. "He is a cheeky little monkey who is always into everything," said Thompson, who has ridden the chestnut English-bred for Dr. and Mrs. Richard Yyny for about a year.

A top ribbon boiled down to the ones of the initial 66 entries who could remain focused to the last. Bonnie Mosser, who rode to a third (52.61) with a double clear on Kim Severson's Upper Register (Cannon Bar x High Soprano), found the stadium route "was pretty technical and you had to be on your game right from the beginning." Mosser, eighth going into stadium, moved up by being one of eight to turn in a double clear.

"I call her `truth' because everything she does is for a reason," said Mosser. The Pennsylvanian took the rides on the pretty but athletic mare a month earlier when the bay thoroughbred's 2002 World Equestrian Games owner's broken ankle grounded her.

The event was conceived by New Jersey eventer, Debbie Adams and her husband, Princeton University physicist, Tony Rosati, who decided the Garden State needed a two-star fixture to fill the void left when the Essex Horse Trials of northern New Jersey were suspended five years ago. They signed on John Williams to lay out the cross country test on the 129 acres of the bucolic park, a few miles from the infamous traffic-laden concrete canyons of the Jersey Turnpike.

His track "was conservative," said Williams, but it whittled down the field to 42 the last day. Of them, 18 came off cross country without penalties. Only four riders fell, with two down at the water complex which sported New Jersey's first "frangible" duck. A takeoff on the use of the safety pins originally used at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day event, the "duck" was a log with a likeness of a water fowl's head attached with the new pins at one end.

The Jersey Fresh experience was real "and fantastic," said O'Connor, who has ridden at the world's best events. While some startup events pose problems riders feel they must put up with, "none did here. We felt like we have been coming here forever."