LAS VEGAS, April 14, 2015–All 18 dressage horses presented for the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Final Tuesday passed the veterinary examination with Valegro appearing fit and ready to defend the individual championship title.
A small crowd of mostly officials, coaches, riders and grooms were at the vet check in the Thomas & Mack Center where the dressage competition will begin Thursday with the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle to decide the 30th World Cup on Saturday.
The two American combinations of Laura Graves and Verdades and Steffen Peters and Legolas were closely watched as was Edward Gal with Glock’s Undercover.
Steffen Peters, returning to the Las Vegas venue for the first time since he became only the second American to capture the World Cup which he did on Ravel in 2009, went out on a limb for dressage-news.com and predicted the top three would be the British Olympic and World Games gold medal pair and reigning World Cup champion of Charlotte and Valegro with American Laura Graves and Verdades and Edward Gal of the Netherlands and Glock’s Undercover contesting the second and third placings. (See separate story.)
The only incident was when Painted Black, a stallion and the oldest horse in the competition at 18, decided not to continue the trot back to the judges and bolted off, leaving rider Morgan Barbançon of Spain sprawled in the sand arena. But she quickly got to her feet and helped round up the KWPN stallion. There were no injuries and Painted Black passed.
