Sunday December 5th, was Saint Nicholas day in the Netherlands. The children set their shoes outside the doors before going to bed, and "Saint Klaas" traveling the country on a white horse, fills the shoes with candy to be discovered in the morning.

By successfully negotiating the Grand Prix course at the 1999 Show Jumping-Amsterdam, riding her white KWPN Dutch stallion Mr. Blue (x Couperus), twenty-year-old Elise Haas from the United States, won the first Grand Prix of her career. There were more firsts; the first American, the first woman, and the youngest rider ever to achieve the crowning moment since Jumping Amsterdam's Grand Prix began in 1958.

"When I brought Blue into the warm up in the early morning to have our first ride of the day, the security people at the barn had a photo of Saint Nicholas on a white horse. They had written my name along with the other riders in the class who had white horses. It was the first I learned of Saint Nicholas Day, the day of the Grand Prix." It was just the beginning of a day filled with special magic and joy for the young American woman who had yet to win a Grand Prix in her life, let alone in Amsterdam among the greatest jumper legends in Europe.

As the second horse on the Grand Prix course at the RAI Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Haas made it look easy as she piloted Mr. Blue to a clear round. It hasn't always been that way. "It's taken me a bit longer to click with him than other horses I have ridden," admitted Haas. Fellow USET Developing Rider, Alison Firestone joined her in the jump off with another clear round for the Americans. Haas and Mr. Blue were first to go in the jump-off. They were clear and fast and held the lead, with Firestone and a Selle Francaise mare Arnica De la Barre (x Jalisco) placing second.