The very big news today is the CN International. McLain Ward has been wanting to win this class for years and today was his day. He and his amazing mare Sapphire had two clear rounds as did Eric Lamaze on his equally amazing stallion Hickstead. Ward had to go first in the jump-off and had a clean round that was deceptively fast.

Then Lamaze put in a very quick clean round to great cheering, but looking at the clock, everyone suddenly realized that Ward had just edged out Lamaze by .02 of a second! That's about as close as it gets.

Ben Maher of Great Britain placed third on Robin Hood W. This was only Maher's second trip to Spruce Meadows and he was thrilled with his placing in the big Grand Prix.

I caught a glimpse of Barnmice's own blogger Tim Stockdale cheering on his British teammates in the CN International. Not only did Ben Maher place third, but Geoff Billington was 9th on Rosinus and Peter Charles placed 10th on Murkas Pom D'Ami.

I have lots more pictures from the week's competitions, and some interesting tips from Tim Stockdale and some other big names in show jumping so stay tuned - I'll be posting more when I get home.