Dressage-News

WAYNE, Illinois, Aug. 23, 2018–Alice Tarjan rode Fairouz to victory in the USA Championships five-year-old preliminary test Thursday, reversing results  from a year ago when stablemate Serenade MF became the champion.

Alice  and the Oldenburg mare (Franziskus x Don Frederico) scored 87.800 per cent for the win over Michael Bragdell, based at Hilltop Farm in Colora, Maryland on SenSation HW, just 0.800 percent behind on 87.000 per cent. Rebecca Rigdon of Encinitas, California on Iquem was third on 85.000 per cent.

The young horse division of five championships began Thursday alongside the seven competitions from children to Grand Prix for the first time in the history of the Festival champions that crowns the best national combinations for the year. This year, however, the top Grand Prix combinations are making final preparations for the World Equestrian Games in Tryon.

Alice, a 39-year-old adult amateur of Frenchtown, New Jersey, came into these championships with her stablemate, Serenade, the clear favorite having qualified with the highest score of 8.270. Fairouz was seventh in the U.S. Equestrian Federation standings on 8.130. Serernade won the 2017 four-year-old title with Fairouz runnerup.

At the time, she had owned Fairouz for only a few months, having bought the mare from Catherine Haddad-Staller who lives nearby in New Jersey and had imported the horse from Germany.

“She’s super in the connection and has a natural rhythm in the trot which makes her easy to ride,” said Alice. “She’s one of the easier horses in the barn, just a good sweet and affectionate mare.

“I’m happy that her talent was recognized. I think Fairouz’s self-carriage is more developed than Serenade at this time.”

Serenade placed fifth on 81.600 per cent.

Alice described both Fairouz and Serenade as “solid horses” that she is excited to get to the upper levels with coaching from Lars Petersen, an Olympian for Denmark who is based in Loxahatchee, Florida and now rides under the American flag, and Marcus Orlob, a German-born trainer based in Stockton, New Jersey.

Alice is a lawyer who works with her husband in their trucking, rigging business and real estate businesses.

A life-long rider, she went to law school more than a decade ago. A month after her bar exam at the age of 27 she was diagnosed with cancer. During five months of chemotherapy she studied warmblood breeding.

Since her recuperation, Alice has developed about 10 young horses as well as competing on other advanced mounts.

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