Tina Konyot & Calecto V Capture Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI Grand Prix Special
15 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Tina Konyot & Calecto V Capture Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI Grand Prix Special
LOXAHATCHEE, Florida, Mar. 6–Tina Konyot rode the eye-catching Calecto V to a convincing victory at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI-W Saturday in only the Danish warmblood stallion’s third Grand Prix Special and posted their highest non-freestyle score to date.
In pain with a sore back but determined to ride “because we need the mileage,” Tina and the 12-year-old Calecto were scored at 71.958 per cent with all five judges scoring her above 70 per cent.
Belinda Trussell of Stouffville, Ontario, and Anton were the only other of the 15 combinations in the class to score above 70 per cent, with 70.708 per cent. Todd Flettrich, based in Wellington, Florida, and Otto were third with a score of 68.792 per cent after incurring a penalty for going off course.
Tina, of North Stonington, Connecticut, said that despite what she called a “lot of little mistakes,” overall “I’m just so thrilled that he’s getting better and more consistent.”
Calecto is catching the attention of the judges whom, she said, are writing helpful tips on her test sheets
She and several other riders from South Florida are planning to compete at the CDI3* Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games test event at the Kentucky Horse Park in late April.
Among them will be Denmark’s Mikala Munter Gundersen, based in Wellington, who rode Leonberg to win the Grand Prix for the Freestyle with a score of 66.043 per cent. Jacqueline Brooks of Cedar Valley, Ontario, placed second and Katherine Bateson-Chandler, also of Wellington, on Dea II placed third.
Leonberg, owned by Horses Unlimited of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is getting stronger every day, Mikala said.
A mistake in the one-tempi changes was the result of changing the way Mikala said she is asking for them, but Lisa Wilcox, her longtime coach, is working with her twice a week to raise the performance level.
“Lisa is very ambitious on my behalf,” she laughed.
To have a realistic shot at making the Danish team for the WEG, she said, she needs to start scoring in the high 60 per cent.
After the Kentucky WEG test event, she said, she plans on competing in Europe, including the Danish championships in July and either Copenhagen or Aachen, Germany.
However, she and her show jumper husband, Henrik, recently moved into a new farm in Wellington where the Danish Nations Cup jumping team is basing itself which she jokes “I don’t want to leave.”
