Winners Again, Lars Petersen & Mariett Take Wellington World Cup Grand Prix, Laura Graves & Verdades Runnerup

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 5, 2015–Lars Petersen, one of the most experienced international competitors on the Florida circuit, rode Mariett to their sixth straight win this year by taking the Adequan Global Dressage Festival World Cup Grand Prix Thursday, while Laura Graves and her Verdades just starting their second year at Big Tour were runnerup.

The Danish Warmblood mare that Lars said is feeling better than ever despite her age of 17 scored 72.960 per cent for the victory that was the sixth in seven starts in this winter’s circuit that has seen the Danish combination top the World Cup North American League standings so far.

Laura of Geneva, Florida rode her Verdades for a score of 72.200 per cent in the first outing for the pair since placing fifth in the world championship Freestyle at Normandy last August.

“I need to get my act together,” Laura told dressage-news.com after explaining mistakes that she said were mostly hers and came from being “competition rusty.”

Even so, Laura who has owned Verdades from a foal that she has trained as her first Grand Prix mount, was placed first by three of the five judges with a high score of 75.300 per cent from Freddy Leyman of Belgium and a low of 67.500 per cent for 15th place from Jan Nivelle of Germany.

Shelly Francis of neighboring Loxahatchee, Florida on Doktor was third on 72.120 per cent.

The Freestyle for which the scores count in qualifying for the World Cup Final in Las Vegas in mid-April will be staged Friday night under lights.

Laura and the 13-year-old KWPN gelding were competing in the first of two World Cup qualifiers needed to gain scores high enough to earn one of the two places available to North Americans at the Final in mid-April.

If the 27-year-old rider and “Diddy,” as she calls Verdades, become one of the two combinations to qualify for Las Vegas, the duo may not have to go to Europe to be selected for the American team for the Pan American Games in Toronto in July.

The last qualifying event in the world’s four geographic divisions for the World Cup Final will be in San Juan Capistrano, California Mar. 19-22.

Steffen Peters of San Diego on Legolas with the highest World Grand Prix Freestyle score in the United States this year of 80.825 per cent will seek to attain his second qualifying score and thus defend the title he won on Ravel in 2009. That was the last time the Final of the annual global dressage championship was held in the U.S.

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