Olympian David Marcus of Campbellville, ON, helped lead a Canadian domination of the CDI-W NEDA Fall Festival held September 19-22 in Saugerties, New York.
Marcus and Chrevi’s Capital, owned by Deborah Kinzinger, placed second in both the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special behind their 2012 London Olympic teammate, Ashley Holzer riding Jewel’s Adelante. Marcus posted a 69.30% in the Grand Prix to Holzer’s 71.14%, and scored 71.08% in the Grand Prix Special to Holzer’s winning score of 71.56%.
“It was a great weekend for Canada, and Capital was great all weekend,” said Marcus in praise of the 13-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding (Chrevi’s Cavallo x Weinberg). “I had one big mistake in the beginning of the Grand Prix test; he broke in the extended trot which resulted in scores of two’s and three’s for that movement from the whole panel.”
Each movement in dressage is judged numerically on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest score possible. Scores are then averaged together for a final percentage.
“It was totally my fault, I got brave and wanted to go for it, but it backfired,” explained Marcus. “I always tell my students that you don’t get anywhere unless you take a risk. You have to take a risk when you can in order to up your game, and my goal this year is to up the game with Capital. It’s a huge testament to the horse that he can still get almost 70% with such a huge mistake.”