Dressage-News

DEL MAR, California, Feb. 2, 2018–Rosamunde returned to Big Tour competition after a nine-month break to win the Adequan West Coast Dressage Festival World Cup Grand Prix Friday night.

Steffen and Rosamunde, an 11-year-old Rhinelander mare ranked 29th in the world, were awarded 72.565 per cent by the five-judge ground jury with scores ranging from a high of 74.022 per cent to a low of 70.435 per cent.

Only three combinations started in the Grand Prix, with Charlotte Jorst of Reno, Nevada on Kastel’s Nintendo placing second on 70.283 per cent and Kristine Howe of the Central California community of Stratford on Loanshark in third on 61.261 per cent.

The last international level show for Steffen and Rosamunde before Friday’s Grand Prix was at this same venue in April, 2017, shortly after competing at the World Cup Final in Omaha. The pair competed in a national show last November.

Rosamunde is one of six combinations in the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Elite squad with CDI Grand Prix scores of at least 73 per cent.

The return to competition had been highly anticipated ahead of the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina in September and a month since Steffen began competing Suppenkasper at top sport.

Steffen and “Rosie,” as the mare is called, began Big tour exactly three years ago after competing for two years at small tour on both sides of the Atlantic.

As an eight-year-old, the pair showed at Grand Prix at home in California, in Wellington, Florida and in Europe, and followed a similar schedule in 2016.

Earlier Friday, Steffen rode Suppenkasper in a national class for a score of 75.652 per cent after debuting the 10-year-old KWPN gelding in two West Coast Dressage Festival CDIs last month.

Both Rosamunde and Suppenkasper are owned by Four Winds Farm of Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang.

(Correction: Rosamunde was not competed at international level or Big Tour for nine months, but was shown at a national event in November.)

Nick Wagman on Don John wrapped up their first Big Tour competition with a victory in the CDI3* Grand Prix Special a day after capturing the Grand Prix.

Nick, of neighboring Rancho Santa Fe, and the 10-year-old KWPN gelding, scored 67.213 per cent for the win. This was the first competition for the pair this year and just two months since showing in their first Grand Prix, a national level event.

Nick first competed Don John (Johnson x Goodtimes) in 2013 and moved up national levels until 2015 when the duo began CDI small tour. The pair performed their first Grand Prix at a national show in December last year.

Charlotte Jorst of Reno, Nevada on Kastel’s Akeem Foldager was second on 65.383 per cent with German Under-25 rider Sarah Runge on Dark Dynamic in third on 64.553 per cent.

Results:

CDI-W Grand Prix

Judges–E: Peter Storr H: Maria Colliander C: Francisco Guerra Diaz M: Hans Christian Matthiesen B: Gary Rockwell

CDI3* Grand Prix Special

Judges–E: Peter Storr H: Maria Colliander C: Francisco Guerra Diaz M: Hans Christian Matthiesen B: Gary Rockwell