Day two of the opening week of the 2020 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) heralded the first Friday night under lights of this competitive season at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in Wellington, Florida. AGDF covers 12 weeks and runs through March 29.
The result in the FEI Dressage World Cup™ Grand Prix Freestyle, presented by Lövsta, was an exact repeat of the previous day’s results, with three Canadian ladies, all trained by Ashley Holzer, filling the podium. They were led by Jill Irving on her own long-time partner, the De Niro gelding Degas 12, who scored 76.06% — a personal best score. Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu rode All In to second place (75.74%), while 23-year-old Naima Moreira Laliberte filled third with 75.645% on Statesman.
“Degas is 18 this year so I’m thrilled with his energy,” said Irving, who rode to a Beatles compilation. “His piaffe and passage felt great. He’s really flexible and, with age, he’s become less nervous, which used to be an issue. I was super thrilled with him and it’s really fun to be part of all this at Global. It takes a village to make this sport roll.”
Fraser-Beaulieu, who is back riding after the birth of her first child in the summer of 2019, said: “This is my second competition back and he’s the type of horse that needs to be in the ring a fair amount, so yesterday in the Grand Prix I felt he was a little sticky and unsure. Today he came out ready to rock. The beginning of my test felt incredible — the best feeling I’ve ever had on him. Then I had a mistake in my ones, which was a pity.”
Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu (CAN) and All In finished as runners-up in the Grand Prix Freestyle.
Laliberte was riding in her first Friday Night Stars class, a long-held dream of hers. She said: “I’m really happy to finally be competing here. I thought Statesman did a great job in there; it’s a different atmosphere and apart from one rider mistake, the rest felt quite amazing. We’re still newcomers; I’m happy to break the ice.”
This is her third season with the 13-year-old Sandro Hit gelding, and only their seventh grand prix competition together. They were part of the gold medal winning Canadian team at the Pan American Games in July 2019 and this was their first show since then.
Judge Bill Warren was impressed with what he saw: “To sit at Global at C and see the quality of horses and riding was just thrilling. I’ve judged Jill and Brittany many times over the years and I’ve seen the relationships develop with their horses, and it’s been really gratifying to see where they’ve come from and where they are now.”
The class was sponsored by Lövsta, who have been supporting dressage in Wellington for 10 years.
“In the early years there were very few entries and we didn’t know whether dressage was going to take off in Wellington,” said owner Antonia Ax:son Johnson. “It’s been an amazing trip.”
Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén, a regular rider at AGDF but also affiliated with Lövsta for the past 20 years, added: “It’s been an amazing journey, with all the developments here. This show gives riders the super opportunity to get your best horses out, your young horses and the newcomers. This place is just made for horses.”
Lövsta have this year introduced a developing grand prix horse circuit at PBEC. The Lövsta Future Challenge offers a weekly Intermediate II level qualifying test for aspiring grand prix horses, and culminates in a showcase class in week 12 of AGDF (March 25-29).
“It’s a big gap from small tour to big tour,” added Vilhelmson Silfvén, “and this is a way to try to help everybody to take that step up into grand prix. So we thought it would be a great opportunity to try to do it here.”
The 2020 season’s first small tour class, the FEI Prix St Georges CDI3* presented by Triple Crown Nutrition, went the way of the Canadians, with Ariana Chia returning to Wellington with Fiderflame for the second year running and winning their first class of the show. The 10-year-old gelding by Fidertanz was the only one to break the 70% watermark, scoring 71.47%. This is Chia’s fourth year in a row competing at AGDF.
In the FEI Prix St Georges CDI1* class, all three top finishers of the nine starters scored over 71%, with the winner’s sash going to Great Britain’s Susan Pape and Harmony Sporthorses’ Bourani. The nine-year-old gelding by Belissimo M had not competed internationally in a year, and this was his first ever plus-70% score. Hot on his heels was Lövsta Stuteri’s breeding stallion Bon Coeur 1389. The eight-year-old by Benetton Dream FRH was ridden to 72.529% by Sweden’s Caroline Darcourt. Katie Johnson (USA) and Paxton rounded out the top three.
In the para equestrian division, Grade II rider Beatrice De Lavalette (USA) topped the leaderboard with 68.398% riding Sky High 15 in the individual test and then pulled off a 71.569% victory riding her other horse, Duna, in the championship test. This followed a disappointing performance the previous day, when she finished third on Duna with 68.2%.
“Today my coach Shayna Simon really told me to push her, to keep her upright — and she was right,” said the 21-year-old of her own 12-year-old KWPN mare by Vivaldi. “I worked very hard during the test to make sure that she wasn’t too far down and that she was active. It was hard, but definitely worth it.”
De Lavalette was the most critically injured survivor of the Brussels Airport terrorist bombing in March 2016. She suffered partial paralysis and lost both her lower legs, making the accuracy with which she rides particularly impressive.
“I was very proud of my eight-meter circles today, because those are hard. Overall, it was a very good test, so I am happy,” added De Lavalette, who has only been riding Duna since July, having bought her from Judy De Winter in the Netherlands. Previously, she had been competing a PRE, so switching to a warmblood was a major change.
“When we first started with Duna it was a completely new, different horse. I had never had a warmblood before so we were able to explore those new sensations and paces,” she concluded.
At Grade I, home rider Roxanne Trunnell continued her sizzling form on Dolton, scoring 81.964% to lead the class by a clear 10% over the budding talent of David Botana and the grand prix-trained stallion Lord Locksley. She has, this week, become one of very few riders worldwide to achieve scores of over 80% in a non-freestyle class, where the scores are typically higher.
Kate Shoemaker (Solitaer 40) once again posted an impressive score in the Grade IV division. The USA rider scored 74.634%, picking up two eights for her riding of the consistent 13-year-old black stallion by Sandro Hit. Grade V rider Lee Garrod (CAN) improved on her previous day’s score, landing a win with Question, a 12-year-old gelding by Quaterback, with 69.087%.
Action in week one of the AGDF continues on Saturday with two Intermediate I classes and the FEI Grand Prix Special, where Steffen Peters (USA) will be looking to repeat his winning ways from earlier in the week.
FEI Grand Prix Freestyle CDI-W, presented by Lövsta
1. Jill Irving (CAN) on Degas 12, her own 18yo Hanoverian gelding by De Niro: 76.4, 75.8, 75.65, 76.775, 75.675, 76.06
2. Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu (CAN) on All In, her own 15yo KWPN gelding by Tango: 77.8, 73.75, 76.9, 75.75, 74.5, 75.74
3. Naima Moreira Laliberte (CAN) on Statesman, KML S.A.R.L’s 13yo Hanoverian gelding by Sandro Hit: 76.225, 74.1, 75.85, 76.075, 75.975, 75.645
4. Heather Blitz (USA) on Semper Fidelis, Rowan O’Riley’s 14yo Oldenburg mare by Sir Donnerhall: 73.925, 72.775, 76.375, 78.35, 74.2, 75.125
5. Rebecca Waite (USA) on Doktor, Patricia Stempel’s 17yo Oldenburg gelding by Diamond Hit: 74.5, 73.3, 74.4, 72.55, 75.15, 73.98
6. Lindsay Kellock (CAN) on Sebastien, Enterprise Farms LLC’s 14yo Rheinlander gelding by Sandro Hit: 75.75, 71.925, 73.875, 72.875, 72.85, 73.455
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