The 2011 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions will take place in Gladstone, N.J. on Sept 8-11. The competition will play host to six U.S. Equestrian Federation National Dressage Championships and will also serve as the selection trials for the Pan American Games dressage team.

The list of riders competing for the Grand Prix National Championship, in order of ranking, are:

Steffen Peters/Ravel
Tina Konyot/Calecto V
Shawna Harding/ Come On III
Lauren Sammis/Sagacious HF
Elisabeth Austin/Olivier
Shannon Peters/Odyssey
James Koford/Rhett
Arlene (Tuny) Page/Alina
Susie Dutta/Currency DC
James Koford/Pharaoh
Arlene (Tuny) Page/ Wild One
Melissa Taylor/Schumacker Solyst
David Wightman/Partous
Catherine Morelli/Be Se
Kathleen Raine/Breanna
Susie Dutta and Manette DC

Many of the top-ranked Grand Prix combinations in the nation will not be competing for various reasons.

Guenter Seidel, who was ranked No. 5 with U II, has parted ways with his longtime sponsors, Dick and Jane Brown, and he no longer has the ride on U II. However, he’ll attend the Festival to support his fellow Californians.

Pierre St. Jacques, who was ranked No. 8 with Luck yTiger, has decided to sit this one out.

“When I started thinking about what my fall season would entail and what Lucky Tiger needed to do, I realized that the 2011 Festival Of Champions probably was not on the ‘need-to-do’ list,” said St. Jacques. “High on the list of things that I needed to do this fall was spend some time with my wife and new son. Stirling was born on June 30 of this year, and he is a blessing and a joy. To get to Gladstone this year would mean a lot of time away from my family to train and compete, and so I made the decision to decline my invitation to the Festival.”

While Catherine Haddad Staller, who was the reserve rider for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games team with Winyamaro, won’t be competing, she will be performing test rides at the Festival with Winyamaro and Cadillac.

A place on the U.S. Pan American dressage team is at stake for competitors in the Intermediaire I division. The competing riders, in order of rank are:

Steffen Peters/Weltino’s Magic
Heather Blitz/Paragon
Cesar Parra/Grandioso
Shawna Harding/Rigo
Marisa Festerling/Big Tyme
Jan Ebeling/Rosenzauber 8
Tami Batts/Ranko
Lisa Wilcox/Pikko Del Cerro HU
David Blake/Lord Albert
Heather Mason/Warsteiner
Tom Noone/Fred Astair
Jan Ebeling/Sandrina
Endel Ots/Toscano
Claire Darnell/Calimar
Chris Hickey/Witness Hilltop
Carolyn Adams/Winterprinz

In addition to the Grand Prix and the Intermediaire I championships, the best young adults, young riders, juniors and pony combinations will also be competing for national titles.

The Chronicle will be bringing you complete online coverage of the event, beginning the evening of Sept. 8 on www.chronofhorse.com.