Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

FRITZENS, Austria, July 4, 2014–Laura Graves, America’s youngest star, and her Verdades starred in their first competition in Europe by placing second behind Austria’s favorite rider, Victoria Max-Theurer on Blind Date, in the Schindlhof CDI4* Grand Prix Friday.

On a hot and humid Fourth of July that was more like Florida than the Tyrol mountain region, Victoria and Blind Date scored 74.500 per cent while the 26-year-old Laura and Verdades were second on 73.380 per cent and German Olympic rider Dorothee Schneider and UllrichEquine’s St. Emilion were third on 71.460 per cent.

Victoria, a three-time Olympian for Austria, was placed first by three of the five judges while Laura, two years younger, was placed first by two though Thomas Lang, the sole Austrian on the panel awarded the American the lowest score by far, 71.400 per cent while the highest score, 75.200 per cent, came from Katrina Wüst of Germany.

The top finishes for Laura of Geneva, Florida and the 12-year-old Dutch warmblood gelding and Steffen Peters of San Diego, California and Legolas at the U.S. championships automatically qualified them to the American World Equestrian Games team.

The other six combinaions battling for the other two places for Normandy, France at the end of next month are also competing here–Laura and three others in the Grand Prix for the Special Friday and Steffen and the other three in the Grand Prix for the Freestyle Saturday.

Shelly Francis of Loxahatchee, Florida and Doktor placed fifth on 70.460 per cent while Caroline Roffman of Wellington, Florida and Her Highness O were 11th with 68.940 per cent and Lisa Wilcox also of Wellington and Denzello 16th on 67.660 per cent.

Jan Ebeling of Moorpark, California and Rafalca, Adrienne Lyle of Ketchum, Idaho and Tina Konyot of Palm City, Florida and Calecto V will ride in the Grand Prix with Steffen Saturday.

Laura said she was not nervous before the ride and Verdades, who had been spooky since he arrived three days ago at this spectacularly beautiful Alpine estate at an elevation of 2,300 feet (700m) was “happy as a clam and no spooking.”

The weather Friday was like Florida, so she had to change her plans for a longer warmup. It turned out the 29 minutes of warmup was perfect.

“I wasn’t nervous at all today,” she said. “It’s a weird position I’m in. I know I’m safe, but I know things are expected of me.

“I’m so glad we could deliver and I want to continue to get better.

“Maybe not this year, but I feel it in him that he could scratch 80 percent. If today was a 73 I know how much better he can be.”

Laura laughed that although she’s a rookie in Europe she’s been “spoiled rotten” at this show–showered with jewelry from the Swarovski family that organizes it, lots of carrots for the horses.

“I may never go back,” she joked.

Neither she nor fellow riders Adrienne Lyle and Caroline Roffman have grooms so they’ve been helping each other.

Steffen Peters has been giving her coaching help, she said, “in such a caring way that he never makes you feel like he’s stepping on your toes.”

“I feel more confident,” she said. “There was more confidence after Gladstone. When I came over here it was a whole new learning curve–even small things like you have to bring your own numbers.

“But the competition level is really high. I’m so excited to go to Aachen (in two weeks) where it will be the best and then the WEG where it will be the best of all.

(Correction: An earlier version had Shelly Francis and Doktor in 6th place. However, a change in the official results increased her score and moved her up to fifth place.)

Results:

Grand Prix for Special

Placed competitors							(E)	(H)	(C)	(M)	(B)	Total
1.	5	Blind Date	Max-Theurer, Victoria	AUT		2200.00 EUR	374.0	376.5	379.0	367.0	366.0	1862.5 points
	F 12y.S /Breitling W/Donnerhall/HANN/GER43435/ Gestüt Vorwerk, Elisabeth Max-Theu						74.800 %	75.300 %	75.800 %	73.400 %	73.200 %	74.500 %
							2.	1.	1.	1.	2.
2.	72	Verdades	Graves, Laura	USA		1400.00 EUR	376.0	357.0	368.5	365.5	367.5	1834.5 points
	B 12y.W /Florett As/Goya/KWPN/103CK84/ Laura Graves						75.200 %	71.400 %	73.700 %	73.100 %	73.500 %	73.380 %
							1.	2.	2.	2.	1.
3.	69	UllrichEquine’s St. Emilion	Schneider, Dorothee	GER		1000.00 EUR	364.5	351.0	362.5	359.0	349.5	1786.5 points
	R 9y.H /Sandro Hit/Ehrenwort/WESTF/103HL99/ Ullrich,Christina						72.900 %	70.200 %	72.500 %	71.800 %	69.900 %	71.460 %
							3.	4.	4.	4.	7.
4.	32	Hicksteadt	Carrascosa, Borja	ESP		800.00 EUR	360.5	341.0	364.0	357.5	351.5	1774.5 points
	B 11y.W /Hudson/Walt Diesney/DT.SP./103ZI47/ Bauer, Gudrun						72.100 %	68.200 %	72.800 %	71.500 %	70.300 %	70.980 %
							5.	12.	3.	5.	4.
5.	17	Doktor	Francis, Shelly	USA		500.00 EUR	349.0	349.5	354.5	356.0	352.5	1761.5 points
	B 11y.W /Diamond Hit/Renoir I/OLD/103DA58/ Patricia A. Stempel						69.800 %	69.900 %	70.900 %	71.200 %	70.500 %	70.460 %
							9.	6.	6.	7.	3.
6.	58	Sancette	Hanna, Mary	AUS		400.00 EUR	350.5	352.0	354.5	360.5	343.0	1760.5 points
	B 13y.W /Sandro Hit/Contender/HANN/USA41094/ Hanna,Mary						70.100 %	70.400 %	70.900 %	72.100 %	68.600 %	70.420 %
							7.	3.	6.	3.	14.
7.	80	Wunderkind	Weihermüller, Stefanie	GER		300.00 EUR	356.0	345.5	351.0	357.0	348.0	1757.5 points
	B 11y.W /Sydney/Elcaro/KWPN/103DC80/ Weihermüller Dr.,Michael						71.200 %	69.100 %	70.200 %	71.400 %	69.600 %	70.300 %
							6.	7.	10.	6.	10.
8.	51	Ronan	Oatley, Kristy	AUS		300.00 EUR	350.0	342.0	349.0	345.5	346.0	1732.5 points
	B 14y.H /Riccione/Contender/OLD/GER26673/ BG Oatley,Robert u.Rosalind						70.000 %	68.400 %	69.800 %	69.100 %	69.200 %	69.300 %
							8.	10.	11.	10.	13.
9.	71	Vancouver	Merveldt, Anna	IRL		300.00 EUR	344.0	336.5	352.5	344.5	350.0	1727.5 points
	B 12y.W /Quite Easy/Ahorn/KWPN/102VA05/ Zanella Eva						68.800 %	67.300 %	70.500 %	68.900 %	70.000 %	69.100 %
							11.	15.	8.	13.	6.
10.	57	Rubicon D	Stremler, Beata	POL		300.00 EUR	362.0	334.0	355.0	339.5	334.0	1724.5 points
	R 11y.W /Rubin-Royal/Larome/RHLD/103CO27/ BG Loose u.Büttner-Loose						72.400 %	66.800 %	71.000 %	67.900 %	66.800 %	68.980 %
							4.	17.	5.	15.	22.
Other, non-placed competitors
11.	30	Her Highness O	Roffman, Caroline	USA			343.5	342.0	338.5	352.5	347.0	1723.5 points
	R 11y.S /Hohenstein/Weltmeyer/HANN/103VF01/ Caroline Roffman						68.700 %	68.400 %	67.700 %	70.500 %	69.400 %	68.940 %
							12.	10.	14.	9.	11.
12.	82	Zidhane	van Olst, Anne	DEN			340.0	350.5	346.5	336.0	349.5	1722.5 points
	SCH 10y.W /Don Ruto/Negro/KWPN/103IB08/ van Olst Horses						68.000 %	70.100 %	69.300 %	67.200 %	69.900 %	68.900 %
							15.	5.	12.	17.	7.
13.	35	la Scala	Burgess, Briana	AUS			332.5	340.0	352.0	345.5	350.5	1720.5 points
	B 16y.W /Lancer II/Rembrandt/RHLD/GER41622/ Burgess, Briana						66.500 %	68.000 %	70.400 %	69.100 %	70.100 %	68.820 %
							21.	13.	9.	10.	5.
14.	59	Sandro Boy	Oatley, Lyndal	AUS			336.0	343.0	331.5	353.5	346.5	1710.5 points
	B 13y.H /Sandro Hit/Argentinus/OLD/103FQ47/ Oatley,Carol u. Andrew						67.200 %	68.600 %	66.300 %	70.700 %	69.300 %	68.420 %
							16.	8.	21.	8.	12.
15.	48	Riccoletto	Kempkes, Matthias	GER			342.5	336.0	339.5	334.0	341.0	1693.0 points
	F 12y.W /Rivero II/Alcatraz/BAY/103CG45/ Kempkes,Matthias						68.500 %	67.200 %	67.900 %	66.800 %	68.200 %	67.720 %
							13.	16.	13.	20.	18.
16.	14	Denzello	Wilcox, Lisa	USA			336.0	343.0	332.5	338.5	341.5	1691.5 points
	B 11y.W /de Niro/Rohdiamant/HANN/103XJ85/ Betty Wells						67.200 %	68.600 %	66.500 %	67.700 %	68.300 %	67.660 %
							16.	8.	19.	16.	16.
17.	31	Heslegaards Rolex	Pujals, Bernadette	MEX			347.0	330.5	330.0	345.5	335.0	1688.0 points
	SCH 11y.W /Heslegaards Rubin/Heslegaards Louis/DWB/102RD36/ Pamela Honey de Franc						69.400 %	66.100 %	66.000 %	69.100 %	67.000 %	67.520 %
							10.	19.	22.	10.	20.
18.	16	Diamantina	Tomkinson, Maree	AUS			340.5	324.5	330.0	340.5	349.5	1685.0 points
	B 12y.S /Diamond Hit/Campari M/OLD/GER43563/ Maree Tomkinson & Lyn Sultana						68.100 %	64.900 %	66.000 %	68.100 %	69.900 %	67.400 %
							14.	26.	22.	14.	7.
19.	56	Royal Rubinstein	Engelen, David	BEL			334.0	333.5	334.5	332.0	342.0	1676.0 points
	B 9y.H /Rubin-Royal/Sao Paulo/HANN/103ZK84/ David Engelen						66.800 %	66.700 %	66.900 %	66.400 %	68.400 %	67.040 %
							20.	18.	17.	21.	15.
20.	41	Lucy’s Day	Kosak, Karin	AUT			336.0	329.5	333.0	335.5	334.5	1668.5 points
	F 13y.S /la Poco/Donnerschlag/RHEIN.R./103FP20/ Karin Kosak						67.200 %	65.900 %	66.600 %	67.100 %	66.900 %	66.740 %
							16.	20.	18.	18.	21.
21.	73	Warbeau	Staub, Hans	SUI			330.5	337.0	338.0	330.5	329.5	1665.5 points
	R 13y.W /Wolkenstein II/Matcho/HANN/103EE09/ Ros Isabelle						66.100 %	67.400 %	67.600 %	66.100 %	65.900 %	66.620 %
							23.	14.	15.	22.	23.
22.	85	Rodriguez	Neumayer, Astrid	AUT			325.5	329.0	326.5	335.5	341.5	1658.0 points
	B 14y.W /Rubinstern Noir/Gaspari II/BRDBG/103VJ26/ Astrid Neumayer						65.100 %	65.800 %	65.300 %	67.100 %	68.300 %	66.320 %
							25.	21.	24.	18.	16.
23.	79	World Idol	Rehbein, Karin	GER			335.5	327.0	316.5	324.0	338.5	1641.5 points
	DB 13y.H /Welt Hit II/Manstein/OLD/103CS21/ Winter-Schulze,Madeleine						67.100 %	65.400 %	63.300 %	64.800 %	67.700 %	65.660 %
							19.	23.	28.	24.	19.
24.	38	Lights of Londonderry	Ayache, Alexandre	FRA			331.5	327.0	337.0	322.0	318.5	1636.0 points
	F 10y.H /Londonderry (Hann)/Weltmeyer/HANN/102SN69/ J.Vesin & A. Ayche						66.300 %	65.400 %	67.400 %	64.400 %	63.700 %	65.440 %
							22.	23.	16.	26.	25.
25.	8	Cappucino XIV	Schärli, Patricia	SUI			330.5	325.5	325.5	322.5	317.5	1621.5 points
	B 10y.W /Competent/Rohdiamant/OLD/102VR35/ Hofer Otto						66.100 %	65.100 %	65.100 %	64.500 %	63.500 %	64.860 %
							23.	25.	25.	25.	26.
26.	28	Harmonia	Soldi, Esther	ITA			323.5	321.0	332.5	319.5	319.0	1615.5 points
	B 15y.S /POL./102QI19/ Soldi,Esther						64.700 %	64.200 %	66.500 %	63.900 %	63.800 %	64.620 %
							27.	27.	19.	28.	24.
27.	39	Lord of Dream	Slanec, Alexandra	AUT			317.0	327.5	323.0	322.0	315.0	1604.5 points
	F 12y.W /Londonderry/Weltmeyer/HANN/104HQ23/ Berta Slanec						63.400 %	65.500 %	64.600 %	64.400 %	63.000 %	64.180 %
							29.	22.	26.	26.	28.
28.	24	Elmegardens Marquis	Vaughan, Joanne	GEO			325.0	311.5	305.0	326.0	317.0	1584.5 points
	B 15y.W /Michellino/Lucky Light/DWB/EST40062/ Joanne Vaughan						65.000 %	62.300 %	61.000 %	65.200 %	63.400 %	63.380 %
							26.	29.	30.	23.	27.
29.	68	Ulan Raevdal	Al Shaer, Diana	RUS			321.5	309.5	318.0	311.0	311.5	1571.5 points
	R 15y.H /Urprinz/Sokrates/DWB/102YI12/ Diana Al Shaer						64.300 %	61.900 %	63.600 %	62.200 %	62.300 %	62.860 %
							28.	30.	27.	29.	29.
30.	49	Rigoletto Royal CH	Häcki, Caroline	SUI			300.0	315.0	316.5	300.5	305.0	1537.0 points
	F 12y.W /Rubin Royal/Donnerschlag/103VA25/ Rindlisbacher, H. & Häcki, C.						60.000 %	63.000 %	63.300 %	60.100 %	61.000 %	61.480 %
							30.	28.	28.	30.	30.