Ashley Holzer & Sir Caramello Win Wellington CDI3* Grand Prix Special for 1st Big Tour Victory

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Ashley Holzer and Sir Caramello inthe Global Dressage Festival CDI3* Grand Prix Special. © 2018 SusanJStickle.com

WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 3, 2018–Ashley Holzer and Sir Caramello claimed their first victory in winning the Adequan Global Dressage Festival CDI3* Grand Prix Special Saturday in only their fourth Big Tour start.

Ashley, based in New York in summer and Wellington in winter, and the 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding scored 70.149 per cent, the first score of at least 70 per cent for the three-time Canadian Olympian who now rides for the United States.

Katherine Bateson Chandler of Wellington and Alcazar were second on 69.979 per cent with Canadian Olympic rider Megan Lane on Zodiac MW third on 67.915 per cent.

“I’m speechless,” Ashley said of the victory. “This horse has been on the most incredible journey. Never in a million years did I think he’d win. I thought we might do a 65 per cent test. But I’ve just watched the video back and some of the things he did in that test were unbelievable. And he whinnied at me for this first time in his life this week; I’m feeling very emotional about it.”

She described him as “a power machine… challenging to bring on.”

“It’s been hard for him to balance his huge gaits and then close up again for the collected work,” she said. “That’s taken a long time to develop. I also got some last-minute advice from Robert Dover and Carl Hester yesterday–about taking my time in the corners, and not worrying about him being too ‘up’ in the frame.”

Sir Caramello, owned by P.J. Rizvi of Peacock Ridge that was also the sponsor of the class, was first competed at national small tour in 2015 and moved up to Big Tour 11 months ago.

PJ, who owned Breaking Dawn that Ashley rode for Canada in the 2012 Olympics, has “been behind him 100 per cent of the time and, believe me, we’ve had some major lows with convincing him that everything would be okay,” Ashley said. “This win is testament to the importance of having a supportive owner who understands these things — so it was fitting she was the sponsor of the class.”

Results:

CDI3* Grand Prix Special
E: Umbach – LUX H: Storr – GBR C: Rockwell – USA M: Clarke – GBR B: Eisenhardt – GER
Rider Nat. Horse E Rk. H Rk. C Rk. M Rk. B Rk. T Pl.
Holzer, Ashley USA Sir Caramello 71.170 1 73.085 1 66.915 5 70.426 2 69.149 3 70.149 1
Bateson Chandler, Katherine USA Alcazar 71.064 2 71.277 2 69.149 1 69.043 4 69.362 2 69.979 2
Lane, Megan CAN Zodiac MW 69.574 3 67.660 5 66.064 6 68.298 5 67.979 5 67.915 3
Harada, Kiichi JPN Egistar 68.936 5 67.340 6 65.957 7 69.681 3 67.447 6 67.872 4
Creech, Diane CAN Chrevis Christo 67.872 6 67.021 7 64.787 8 70.638 1 68.191 4 67.702 5
Losos De Muniz, Yvonne DOM Foco Loco W 66.809 8 65.319 10 68.723 2 67.553 8 69.787 1 67.638 6
Klimke, Michael GER Royal Dancer 33 69.043 4 68.723 3 67.340 4 67.872 7 64.255 10 67.447 7
Kane, Devon USA Sir Galanto 66.170 9 68.404 4 67.766 3 68.191 6 66.383 7 67.383 8
Mendoza Loor, Julio Cesar ECU Chardonnay 67.447 7 66.596 9 64.149 9 67.447 9 65.851 9 66.298 9
Vaughan, Joanne GEO Elmegardens Marquis 65.106 10 66.702 8 61.702 11 65.638 10 66.064 8 65.043 10
Harrington, Nicole USA Wizard Of Oz 61.915 12 62.660 13 63.617 10 64.681 13 63.191 11 63.213 11
Strasser, Evi CAN Disney Tyme 65.106 10 64.149 11 58.511 14 64.894 12 61.383 12 62.809 12
8 Aide, Pamela USA Bon De Niro P 60.319 14 64.149 12 61.596 12 62.660 14 59.787 14 61.702 13
Steacie, Liz CAN Callahan 60.745 13 61.489 14 60.638 13 65.426 11 60.213 13 61.702 13
Trussell, Belinda CAN Tattoo 15 WD