Ottawa, Ontario—Canada’s three time Olympian Ashley Holzer and her Olympic mount Pop Art scored another double victory in the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle at CDI—W 3* WEF Dressage Classic at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center held March 11 to March 15, 2009, in Wellington, FL, USA.
Holzer, originally from Toronto, ON, but now a current resident of New York, NY, started the competition off by winning the Grand Prix class riding Pop Art (Amsterdam x Cabochon), a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Rusty Holzer and Ian and Moreen Nicoll. Their score was 72.511%. Holzer or Pop Art continued to dominate in the Grand Prix Freestyle with a 77.350%, the high score of the competition.
“I was thrilled to do so well this weekend. Poppy’s freestyle was one of his best performances,” said Holzer, who is currently in 12th spot on the FEI Dressage Riders’ World Ranking List. “He almost got an 80 from one judge. My son put it so well when he said, ‘Mom, that was awesome. Why didn’t you do that at the Olympics!’ You have to love the honestly of children.”
These results have the pair securely ranked first in the FEI North American World Cup Dressage League standings assuring Holzer and Pop Art a trip to the prestigious FEI World Cup Finals held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, NV, April 15–19, 2009.
The international judging panel at the CDI—W 3* WEF Dressage Classic included Gary Rockwell (FEI O—USA), Cara Whitham (FEI O—CAN), Kurt Christensen (FEI I—DEN), Jean-Michel Roudier (FEI O—FRA) and Lorraine MacDonald (FEI I—CAN).
Across the country at the The Dressage Affaire CDI—W/Y/J 3* held March 13–15, 2009, in Del Mar, California, Lorraine Chappell of Aldergrove, BC, and her 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding, Carpatino, represented Canada in the Grand Prix and finished in fifth place in the Grand Prix Freestyle with a score of 65.500%.
Canadians Crystal Kroetch of Calgary, AB, riding her eight-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Lymrix, and Joni Lynn Peters of Armstrong, BC, with her nine-year-old Canadian Warmblood gelding Travolta, also competed in the Prix St. Georges and Intermediaire I classes. Peters and Travolta won the Intermediaire I Freestyle with a score of 64.800%.
Canadian FEI Junior Rider Monica Houweling of Delta, BC, scored 64.350%, good for first place, in her Freestyle test for with her horse Stentano, a 10-year-old Dutch warmblood gelding.
The international judging panel at the The Dressage Affaire CDI—W/Y/J 3* included Liselotte Fore (FEI I—USA), Joan Macartney (FEI I—CAN), Bo Jenå (FEI I—SWE), Gabriel Martin Armando (FEI I—ARG) and Jacques van Daele (FEI I—BEL).
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