USA All-Grand Prix Team Announced for Wellington Nations Cup
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Mar. 10, 2016
The United States will field an experienced team of Nations Cup horses and riders at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival at the end of March, the first time an all Big Tour squad has been entered for the only non-championship team event outside Europe.
The team for the CDIO3* Nations Cup Mar. 29-April2, as announced by the U.S. Equestrian Federation, comprises:
–Shelly Francis of Loxahatchee, Florida and Doktor, 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding;
–Laura Graves of Plymouth, Florida and Verdades, 14-year-old KWPN gelding;
–Arlene “Tuny” Page of Wellington, Florida and Woodstock, 13-year-old KWPN gelding, and
–Kasey Perry-Glass of Wellingon and Dublet, 13-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding.
For Arlene Page whose Stillpoint Farm sponsors the event, it will be the first Nations Cup on Woodstock in the U.S. though the pair were on the American teams at CDIO5* competitions in Germany and the Netherlands last year.
The four combinations are also ranked in the top eight on the U.S. Olympic rankings to decide which horses and riders go to Europe to compete for selection for the American team for the Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.
This is the first year that teams for the Nations Cup can have a full complement of four horses and riders at Grand Prix in a move designed to raise the level of competition at the Pan American Games that were at Small Tour before 2015. Mixed Big and Small Tour teams were allowed last year for the first time.
The Wellington Nations Cup also kicks off the 2016 Nations Cup circuit of seven team contests, the others being Odense, Denmark May 12-15; Compiègne, France May 19-22; Rotterdam, Netherlands June 22-26; Falsterbo. Sweden July 7-10, Aachen, Germany July 13-17, and Hickstead, England July 28-31.
