Tinne Vilhelmsson-Silfvén & Divertimento Post 35th Florida Victory by Winning World Cup Special
11 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Tinne Vilhelmsson-Silfvén & Divertimento Post 35th Florida Victory by Winning World Cup Special
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
WELLINGTON, Florida, Jan. 25, 2014–Tinne Vilhelmsson-Silfvén and Divertimento won the Adequan Global Dressage Festival World Cup Grand Prix Special Saturday for the fourth straight victory on the Florida 2014 winter circuit and 35 first place finishes in 55 starts since the Swedish Olympian’s first competition here four years ago.
Tinne and the 12-year-old Westfalen gelding (Di Versace x Farragamo) scored 74.882 per cent with the United States Olympic combination of Adrienne Lyle and Wizard second on 70.549 per cent and 2010 World Equestrian Games American team rider Katherine Bateson-Chandler on her new mount, Wellnetta, in third on 69.686 per cent.
The Grand Prix Special was the first ridden by Adrienne since the 2012 London Olympics and Wizard, a 15-year-old Oldenburg gelding, was out for almost a year with an injury before returning to competition this winter.
“I thought parts were quite good,” she said. “The quality is going in the right direction.
Katherine Bateson-Chandler was riding Wellnetta in the mare’s first CDI since Jane Forbes Clark bought the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood last summer.
Wellnetta, she said, is “amazing–she has an incredible work ethic. She is a work horse. She wants to do more, more, more. I have to keep telling her less, less, less. She tried for me the whole time. I’m thrilled.”
Tinne, ranked No. 5 in the world with her Olympic and European Championship mount, Don Auriello, has also competed in Florida Favourit and Divertimento.
Both Don Auriello and Divertimento started their Grand Prix careers in Florida. In addition to the 35 victories, Tinne has placed second 13 times and third in seven competitions.
The Special was also the sixth Grand Prix level class in two World Cup CDIs that have been won by foreign riders and none from the host nation. The top finishes in the Grand Prix, Special and Freestyle have been taken by Tinne on four occasions, Denmark’s Lars Petersen once and Megan Lane of Canada the other class.
Only in the Specials have Americans finished in the top three–Anna Whit Watkins and Oublette second and Heather Blitz on Paragon third in the first and Adrienne and Wizard second and Katherine and Wellnetta third in Saturday’s Special. Florida-based Danish riders Lars Petersen and Mikala Munter Gundersen and Canadian Diane Creech have filled the second and third places in the other classes.
Results:
