OTTAWA, Ontario. May 30, 2015–Brittany Fraser on All In won the Ottawa Dressage Festival Intermediate 1 Saturday to put the pair atop Canada’s Pan American Games Small Tour standings and virtually guarantee to be on their first senior championship team at the Pan American Games in six weeks.
Brittany and the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding she held back from Grand Prix with the goal of going to the Pan Ams, surged into the lead with a score of 74.395 per cent in the Inter. 1 a day after scoring 74.474 per cent in the Prix St. Georges.
Chris von Martels on Zilverstar who had slipped to third place in the standings also came on strong to score 72.289 per cent in the Inter. 1 while Diane Creech on Robbie W, leaders for most of this year,placed third on 70.632 per cent.
Megan Lane on Caravella won the Grand Prix Special on 71.882 per cent a day after victory in the Grand Prix that secured the pair’s second place in the Equine Canada Big Tour standings behind her World Games team mate Belinda Trussell on Anton who did not compete here.
The double victory for the 26-year-old Brittany and All In vindicated the strategy she devised with her coach, Ashley Holzer, Canada’s top rider who is based in New York.
After competing at national Grand Prix at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Florida last winter Brittany decided on Ashley’s advice to stay at Small Tour with the goal of the former North American Young Rider Championship competitor making her first senior championship squad.
She and All In climbed the standings from sixth to second before this show and to the top of the leaderboard after the Prix St. Georges Friday which they consolidated in the Inter. 1 Saturday.
Dressage Canada selectors are scheduled to meet Monday to select the team for the Pan Ams, the continental championship held once every four years, which will determine a single starting place for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. If Canada does not win the competition with a team that must include a Grand Prix combination, the more difficult route is available of qualifying three individual combinations to form a “composite” team.
The United States with two Grand Prix combinations–Steffen Peters on Legolas and Laura Graves on Verdades–is favored to win gold at Toronto and thus the Olympic team start.
Indications from sources knowledgeable about the selection process are that Brittany Fraser and All In and Diane Creech and Robbie W with Chris von Martels and Zilverstar and Loxahatchee, Florida-based Shannon Dueck on Cantaris will be nominated for Small Tour with Belinda Trussell on Anton and Megan Lane on Caravella for the Big Tour.
Results:
| CDI3*Grand Prix Special |
| E: Whitham – CAN | H: Weatherwax – USA | C: Ebert – GER | M: Nivelle – GER | B: Minor – CAN |
| Rider | Horse | E | . | H | . | C | . | M | . | B | . | T | Pl. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lane, Megan | CAN | Caravella | 70.784 | 71.765 | 72.157 | 72.549 | 72.157 | 71.882 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Boylen, Christilot | CAN | Drentano | 67.353 | 70.098 | 67.549 | 67.059 | 67.549 | 67.922 | 2 | |||||||||||
| Brooks, Jacqueline | CAN | D Niro | 66.078 | 70.392 | 66.765 | 66.275 | 67.157 | 67.333 | 3 | |||||||||||
| Christoff, Wendy | CAN | Treffer | 65.882 | 65.980 | 68.137 | 65.882 | 66.373 | 66.451 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Jensen, Stephanie | CAN | Addiction | 57.843 | 61.373 | 61.863 | 62.157 | 57.255 | 60.098 | 5 |
