Representatives for the Jersey Fresh Three-Day Event have announced additional prizes for this year’s event. The new High Performance Challenge will give CCI** riders a $25,000 incentive to not only win their division this year, but also return to the Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown in 2012 and chase the CCI*** title.

The horse’s owner will receive half the cash prize, and the remaining 50 percent will be awarded to the rider of the horse that wins the two-star and the three-star consecutively. The owner of the horse may change from year to year, but the horse-and-rider combination must remain the same.

The High Performance Challenge, which is sponsored by a local equine veterinary practice, B.W. Furlong and Associates, aims to encourage riders to move up levels as well as promote eventing in New Jersey.

“I practice in New Jersey, and I’d like to keep the event going,” said Brendan Furlong, MRCVS. “You can’t have three-star horses without two-star horses, so this is also some incentive to keep them moving up the ranks. When we think about how eventing in America really almost started in New Jersey around Gladstone, and Essex used to be such a big deal, we want to see it keep going in our state.”

The 2011 event will be held May 11-15.