Pop Art and Ashley Holzer Score a Double Victory at CDI-W Gold Coast Opener

you're listening to an article from horse sport.com. pop art and ashley holzer score a double victory at cdi-w gold coast opener. ottawa, ontario—canadian double olympian ashley holzer, a current resident of new york, ny, won both the grand prix and the grand prix special at the cdi-w gold coast opener, held january 25–27, in loxahatchee, fl, usa. riding pop art (amsterdam x cabouchon), an 11-year-old dutch warmblood gelding owned by holzer and ian nicoll, holzer scored 72.042% in the grand prix test. the duo then performed a spectacular grand prix special test to earn 73.600% for the double victory. “i am thrilled with our results. it was a very proud canadian day—we had great team support which resulted in wonderful performances from all the canadians,” remarked holzer, who is currently the highest ranked canadian rider in the fei’s dressage riders’ world ranking list in 25th position. “poppy was wonderful. he really pulled off an incredible test. i am so proud of him. he is just an incredible horse, and i am lucky to be the person who gets to be his partner.”. advertisement scroll to continue with content jacqueline brooks from mount albert, on, and gran gesto (grannox x goldstern), an 12-year-old oldenburg gelding owned by brinc ltd. and anne welch, earned a sixth place finish in the very competitive grand prix (67.750%) which included many american olympic hopefuls. brooks went on to compete in the grand prix freestyle where their popular program based on the music from the major motion picture alexander, earned them 72.500% and fourth place. the grand prix test also saw tina irwin, of lakefield, on, and her long-time partner amicelli (amigo x calypso iii), a 12-year-old holsteiner gelding finish with 64.458%. irwin also chose the grand prix freestyle in order to earn valuable world cup points, and did so by placing 7th with 67.700%. competing in their first cdi level grand prix competition together, denielle gallagher of saint john, nb, and gallaway’s abrikos, her 17-year-old russian-bred stallion, showed that they are a new pair to watch by riding to a score of 64.083%. the international judging panel included stephen clarke (fei o—gbr), peter engel (fei i—ger), cara whitham (fei o—can), liselotte fore (fei i—usa), marian cunningham (fei i – per) and gary rockwell (fei o—usa).