By Amber Heintzberger for DressageDaily.com

It was a bit of a showdown at the Eastern Championships for Six-year-old dressage horses sponsored by Markel, held June 3-5, 2005 at the Hunt Horse Complex in Raleigh, NC. The two horses that represented the US as five-year-olds last year in Verden, Germany were back to duel it out again: Sir Sinclair, a KWPN stallion by Lord Sinclair out of Krishna, ridden by Dorie Addy-Crow and owned by Iron Spring Farm, and Royal Prince, a Hanoverian stallion by Lord Sinclair out of Piri Piri, ridden by Susanne Owen-Hassler and owned by Hilltop Farm.

Sir Sinclair won the preliminary test on Friday, which counted for 40 per cent of the final score. He was energetic but steady and impressed the judges with his fluid gaits. Royal Prince, despite also having lovely gaits, decided to have a little private rodeo when something startled him, and then bucked intermittently through the test. His rider laughed later that he had felt tired that morning, so she only asked about fifty per cent of him in their warm up.

"It was his first showing time indoors," she reasoned. "The stadium at Verden last year was outdoors and more open."

Still, her horse's exuberance on Friday did not keep her from riding forward in Sunday's final. The heat and humidity that developed over the weekend may have also contributed to his more demure attitude in the final, but he performed like a professional and impressed the judges so much that they awarded him with a perfect ten for his walk and an overall score of 9.0.

"If we can't give that walk a ten, then we might as well go home. From our scores, it looks like she's on her way to Europe again," said the commentating judge.