Ottawa, ON—For the third week in a row, Canadian Olympians Christilot Boylen and Evi Strasser and Olympic hopeful Cheryl Meisner competed the CDI3* Sunshine Tour held March 13–16, 2008, in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain.

In a large class of 46 entries, Boylen, riding the 14-year-old Baden-Wurttemberger gelding Gachino (Gardez x China Town), owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hermosilla, were awarded a score of 66.875% to place in fifth position in the Grand Prix. In the Grand Prix Speciale, Boylen and Gachino rode to a eighth place finish with 66.320%. The duo moved up to third place in the Grand Prix Freestyle with a strong score of 69.70%.

“My goal for Spain was to reach my qualifying scores, and ride a good Grand Prix Speciale and Freestyle, so that all the basic requirements in the criteria were met. That goal has been achieved. I am also very happy that Gachino showed his fitness to travel to Spain compete three weekends back to back, and travel home again with no physical problems,” remarked Boylen, who is the third Canadian rider to achieve the necessary qualification scores in order to be in contention for the 2008 Olympic Team. “There is time now to go over the performances in detail and make the adjustments necessary to further improve our performances for the next competitions.”

Strasser of Sainte-Adele, QC, rode her longtime partner Quantum Tyme, a 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Quattro x Argentinius), to a seventh place finish with 66.600% in the Grand Prix Speciale. Continuing their upward trend, Strasser and Quantum Tyme then scored 67.95% for eighth place in the Grand Prix Freestyle.

Riding John Risley’s Paganini, an 11-year-old bay Dutch Warmblood stallion (Havidoff x Statuar), Meisner, who hails from Halifax, earned a 10th place in the Grand Prix Freestyle with a score of 67.25%.

Again this week, all three riders also competed in the Advanced division. In the Prix St. Georges class, Boylen and Alec Murray’s 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding Don Valentino 5 (Don Primero x Corina) achieved a third place score of 67.833% in the large class of 49 entries. Meisner, riding John Risley’s 15-year-old KWPN gelding Lucky Strike (Ferro x Hestia), placed in the top 10 with a sixth place finish on a score of 67.083%. Both riders improved on their scores from the previous week. Strasser and her eight-year-old Oldenburg stallion Action Tyme (Aktuell x Aleksander) finished in 15th place with a score of 65.583%.

Boylen and Don Valentino 5 again placed third in Intermediaire I class of 36 entries with a score of 67.500%, and went on to finish fourth in the Intermediaire I Freestyle class with a score of 66.833%. Action Tyme and Strasser scored 66.500% for fifth place in the Intermediaire I class with Meisner and Lucky Strike in eighth spot with a score of 65.000%.

Also in Intermediaire I Freestyle class, Lucky Strike and Meisner finished just behind Boylen, in fifth, with a score of 66.00%.

In the FEI 6-year-old division, Strasser continued her achievements aboard her Oldenburg stallion Argo-Conti Tyme (Argentinus x Alina), a relative of her Grand Prix mount, Quantum Tyme. The judges awarded their ride in the Preliminary test with eighth place and a score of 72.00%.The pair also placed fourth in the more difficult Final test with 76.20%.

The international judging panel at this FEI competition included Isabelle Judet (FEIO—FRA), Francisco Cancella de Abreu (FEI C—POR), Barnabas Mandi (FEI O—HUN), Francis Verbeek-Von Rooy (FEI 0—NED), Francisco Guerra (FEI I—ESP), Peter Engel (FEI I—GER), Andrew Gardner (FEI I—GBR), Karen Krüger (FEI I—DEN), Victoire Mandl (FEI I—AUT), Francisco Guerra (FEI I— ESP) and Mariano Santos Redondo (FEI I – ESP).

 

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