Day two saw a varied and interesting program of the best and most seasoned performers in the country along with some outstanding young horses taking part in the Novice classes.

At The Sydney International Equestrian Centre at Horsley Park there are two separate competition areas - the main arena which had rings 1A and 1B and an adjoining area which had rings 2 A & 2 B. The organisers cleverly scheduled the Novice 2F to take part along side the Advanced 5E. This gave spectators a very interesting contrast between the test of the trained horse about to enter the FEI ranks, from the talented youngster with years of training ahead of it and mostly raw natural talent to show today.

The standout winner of the Novice classes was Claudia Harper's gorgeous imported mare Cinderella by Carbid. She was expertly ridden by Matthew Dowsley and scored 74.00% in the 2F and 72.53% in the 2D - naturally she took out the Novice Championship with an averall score of 60 (30 points for a win in each class).

Matthew also rode the second placegetter in each class the elastic and fluent Argentinus gelding Astonish.

Victorian horse Belcam Aarchon won the Advanced 5E. His owner and regular rider Emmie Schmul could not be in Sydney for the Chamionships and the horse was very well ridden by Rodney Martin.

Alongside the 2D ring was the Young Rider Challenge. The young riders did a great job and proved to the knowledgable crowd that the sport is in 'good hands'. These rider rode the demanding FEI Team test which requires not only talent and skill on the part of the rider, but a horse who is supple, well trained and a good competitor. Congratulations must go to the winner - Queensland's Karen Bell on Glencoe Athens - a lovely big chestnut by Aachen (this bloodline is really making an impact in the dressage arena.

The Grand Prix was a great event with the 'cream' of Australia's best educated dressage horses taking part. It was great to see two of our Olympic representatives one year on. The eventual winner was Rachael Sanna (formerly Downs) - not only has Rachael been busy getting married to Australia's showjumping great George Sanna, but she has been making great progress with her talented horse Yardley Aphrodite. The horse has consolidated very nicely and did some wonderful work. This highights were the fluent half passes and sensational straight and big flyng changes. The piaffe which was the weak link has strengthened considerably and Rachael told me later that she was thrilled to have achieved quite a few sixes for them. They scored 65.85% - Well done Rachael!.

Snowy River Blackwood is always great to watch, his piaffe and passage is so well established. Di Jenkyn rode very well with no major errors. They scored 64.78%. Sue Hearn on her wonderful Australian Thoroughbred Manhatten put in a very nice performance for third place on 64.59. GV Stirling Stilton is the real improver - Heath rode with his usual flair and 200% effort. Stilton has such expression and "look at me" quality. There was just a little bit of irregularity which would have been costly. It seemed that Stilton sometimes tried a little too hard and lost some balance. Interestingly Dr. Dieter Schule had him the winner of the Intermediate 2 class yesterday. It was an exciting test.

Limbo and Mary Hanna were fifth. The piaffe was not as strong as the four already mentioned, but there were some lovely highlights in the test. It is also interesting to note that Dr Schule has Limbo the winner of this class on 275 9 marks ahead of his next horse - Aphrodite.

Sixth was HP Finagin and Judy Dierks. This horse can really piaffe and passage but the weak link was the extended trot. He was very steady in the frame and as he is only 8 - has tons of time to improve.

Victorian newcomers to Grand Prix Pretender and Rasputin both worked very well but small mistakes revealed the lack of experience at this top level.

It was a long day but most rider took the opportunity to take part at the Riders' Meeting. Mary Hanna is the EFA Riders' Representative. Meeting formalities were taken care of and some proposed new rule changes discussed. Mary Hanna retired as the Riders Representative and after receiving two nominations, Rozzie Ryan accepted the position for the next period.

By Berni Saunders