Blainville, PQ – Pan Am Gold medalists Lauren Sammis and Sagacious HF, an 11-year-old KWPN gelding owned by Al Guden, made a spectacular return to the Grand Prix ring at the Blainville CDI3* in Quebec. After time away from the CDI show ring due to muscle soreness, Sagacious was back in winning form earning a second place in the Grand Prix with a 66.681% and a second place in the Grand Prix Freestyle with a 73.200%.
“Lauren and Sagacious won blue ribbons in their return to the ring, unfortunately they were in Canada where blue is second place,” joked Guden, who bought Sagacious as a four-month-old colt in Holland. “We were pleased with Lauren’s performance. She was striving to ride a quiet, accurate test to assure that Sagacious was fine with showing again. As a pair, both Lauren and Sagacious have proved they are consistent under pressure. They both seem unfazed by the competitive environment and that really helps them succeed,” added Guden.
The talented gelding proved to be in competitive form, and Sammis said she is looking forward to competing him at the Grand Prix Dressage Selection Trials for the World Equestrian Games at Gladstone in August. “I rode Sagacious in reserve in Blainville, in a dress-rehearsal type way,” Sammis said. “I know when it comes down to it I can ask for more and he will be brilliant.”
Sammis was thrilled with her new musical freestyle that she debuted at Blainville, choreographed by Marlene Whitaker. “My part is understanding, shaping and delivering Lauren’s vision and brilliance,” Whitaker said, adding that most of the music in the freestyle is by Yanni and John Tesh. “It was an honor to work with Lauren and Sagacious and I hope the music inspires them also. I am often still moved to tears and never tire of hearing it.”
Sammis said Blainville was her first time to ride through the new musical freestyle. “I opted out of a few things on the test because I wanted to keep it low key for our first time back,” she said. Sammis’ strategic ability to gauge Sagacious’ performance in competition has consistently served them as the successfully came up the levels into the international arena. They won the Team Gold Medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio in the Prix St George and the Individual Silver Medal for the US. In 2009, they made the successful transition to the Grand Prix winning 10 out of 12 CDI competitions entered. And their success in Grand Prix at Blainville is testimony to this pairs potential as this season progresses.
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