Roberta Sheffield of Lincolnshire, GBR, showed that she and her mare, Fairuza, are ready for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games with top-three finishes at the NAF Five Star Hartpury Festival of Dressage CPEDI 3*, held from July 7-11, 2021, in Hartpury, GBR.
Sheffield, who made her Paralympic debut at the Rio 2016 Games, is provisionally nominated to compete at Tokyo 2020 with the 12-year-old affectionately known as “Wonky”. They started their Grade III competition strong on July 7, scoring 70.500% in the Team Test for third. The next day in the Individual Championship, a score of 71.677% landed the pair in second place. Sheffield and Wonky’s scores rose yet again in the Freestyle on July 9, where they finished the week with 72.600% for another second-place finish.
“I am so excited with how Fairuza went this week,” said Sheffield. “We presented our personal best performances in each test but what really gave me goosebumps was that we upped our game every time we went in the ring. It has felt like an age since our last CPEDI 3* back in October 2020 but we have been training super hard with [Equestrian Canada Para-Dressage High Performance Technical Leader] Clive Milkins. Now, I have enhanced feedback from five international judges to kick it up another notch. It was the perfect preparation towards the Paralympics.”
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