HASTINGS, New Zealand, Mar. 20–Vanessa Way rode her KH Arvan to Grand Prix Horse of the Year title Sunday, and their first Olympic qualifying score with a personal best score at the Horse of the Year CDI3*.

Reserve Champion was former Olympian Louisa Hill and Bates Antonello who won the Grand Prix Freestyle Sunday. The pair also posted the first of two Grand Prix scores of 64 per cent of better from a foreign judge required to qualify for the London Games next year. Their average from the five judges put them in third place in the Grand Prix.

Vanessa said of Saturday’s winning score of 67.00 per cent, a rare high in New Zealand, “That’s our best score ever and we still made some mistakes, so it’s really exciting.” She plans to compete the 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding in his second year at Grand Prix in the Sydney CDI in Australia next month.

She also won the level 4 Horse of the Year title with Arawn and was reserve champion in Level 3 with KH Allandro.

Vanessa placed second in the freestyle.

“It’s just awesome,” she said. “Horse of the Year is my favorite show and to take this Grand Prix title on a horse I have trained all the way is really special.

“I’m a little disappointed with my musical–he just died on me in there and it was frustrating to miss my one times, but overall he has coped really well.”

Plagued through their career by Arvan’s tendency to neigh during competition, this week was no exception.

Traveling to Australia and the first time away from his stablemates, she hopes will end the problem.

Louisa Hill said she was “a little bit blown away” by the freestyle on Bates Antonello in the nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding’s first year at Grand Prix.

Results

Grand Prix Freestyle:
1. Louisa Hill, Bates Antonello, 68.67%
2. Vanessa Way, KH Arvan, 68.65%
3. Penny Castle, Gymstar One, 67.87%
4. Bill Noble, Airthrey Highlander, 65.77%
5. Shiwon Green, Gosh, 64.97%
6. Sally Field-Dodgson, Amberleigh Elite, 63%

Grand Prix:
1. Vanessa Way, KH Arvan, 67.00%
2. Penny Castle, Gymstar One, 66.48%
3. Louisa Hill, Bates Antonello, 65.19%
4. Bill Noble, Airthrey Highlander, 61.74%
5. Shiwon Green, Gosh, 61.68%
6. Sally Field-Dodgson, Amberleigh Elite, 61.53%.