Jan Ebeling & Olympic Partner Rafalca Win California CDI3* Grand Prix Special
11 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Jan Ebeling & Olympic Partner Rafalca Win California CDI3* Grand Prix Special
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, California, Mar. 29, 2014–The United States London Olympic team partnership of Jan Ebeling and Rafalca in their first show since last summer, won the Festival of the Horse CDI3* Grand Prix Special Saturday.
Jan of Moorpark, California and the 17-year-old Oldenburg mare scored 71.294 per cent for the narrow win over Kathleen Raine of Murieta on Breanna on 71.235 per cent and Charlotte Jorst of Reno, Nevada and Nintendo in third on 67.686 per cent. The only other starting combination, Lientje Schüler of San Diego, California and Mike Tyson L were on 67.431 per cent.
Jan was thrilled with the consistent performance of Rafalca (Argentinius x Rubinstein I), owned by Amy Ebeling, Ann Romney, and Beth Meyer that placed second in the Grand Prix Friday behind Steffen Peters and Legolas.
“She was super and I was very pleased with our test,” he said. “I remember a few years back when we really had to work for the piaffe and she could only do a few steps at a time, and now I can take my leg off and she’s just a machine. It makes me happy to think about how far we’ve come.”
The pair, ranked third on the Tim Dutta Grand Prix standings, have not competed since the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany last June.
“Today we had some very solid performances from the top two as well as a couple of promising new combinations, and that made it a fun class to judge,” said FEI judge Jane Weatherwax of the United States. “Everyone looked more committed today and had fewer mistakes. Breanna looked really ‘on’ today, and Rafalca’s piaffe is just wonderful. Jan handles the pressure of competition well and Rafalca is very solid.”
The Intermediaire I was a sweep for Team Peters, as Steffen Peters rode away with the top two placings aboard Four Winds Farm’s Rosamunde, a 2007 Rhinelander mare (Rock Forever x Fidermark) and Tracy Roenick’s eight-year-old black Oldenburg mare Apassionata (Sir Donnerhall x Friedenfurst) on scores of 75.833 per cent and 71.842 percent, respectively.
Dawn White-O’Connor, Steffen’s assistant trainer, earned 71.447 per cent on the nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood Aristo for third place.
“When you have a horse like Rosie that’s so willing, supple, elastic, and good in the contact, it’s a thrill to ride,” Steffen said. “Usually you get that when they’re eight or nine years old, but for her to be like this at seven is incredible. Pia (Apassionata) is getting better and better, especially in her trot work–she’s taken a giant leap forward from her CDI debut last month in Burbank. And like last week, Dawn almost caught me again with Aristo. I’m so excited for her to be doing so well with him.”
