Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Feb. 21, 2019–Kasy Perry-Glass and Dublet, USA Olympic and World Games medalist, won the Adequan Global Dressage Festival World Cup Grand Prix Thursday in their campaign for a start at the final of the annual championships along with team mates Laura Graves on Verdades and possibly Adrienne Lyle on Salvino.

In the second of three competitions required to qualify for the World Cup, Kasey and the 16-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding were awarded 77.217 per cent in the Grand Prix. The scores for the freestyle Friday night under the lights at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center count for the standings to be among the world’s top 18 combinations to start at he final in Gothenburg, Sweden in April. Laura on Verdades, ranked No. 2 in the world, top the North American League standings with two confirmed results so far.

Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfvén, Sweden’s seven-time Olympian, placed second on Don Auriello with a score of 73.804 per cent. The combinations that have competed in two Olympics and two World Games appear to have already clinched a start in what will be the fourth final for the pair in their homeland.

Shelly Francis of Loxahatchee, Florida on Danilo was third on 72.152 per cent.

Kasey, 31 years old and ranked No. 8 in the world on Dublet, will have to ride the horse in back-to-back World Cup events to earn the three scores required to qualify for the final. Laura and Verdades already has two results and will also compete in next week’s Palm Beach Derby. Adrienne Lyle and Salvino will also compete next week as the pair appear likely to gain a third place for the United States as the combination highest ranked in the world at No. 16.

The American pair received 12 marks of nine from the panel of five judges, Clive Halsall of Great Britain, Henning Lehrmann of Germany, Christof Umbach of Luxembourg, Natacha Waddell of Brazil and Magnus Ringmark of Sweden. The two-times changes were awarded three 9s, one mark of 8.5 and one of 8.

“I felt like he was a little bit more tighter and tenser than normal,” said Kasey. “You know it’s our second show out for the season, so we’re still getting our feet wet a little bit. So the highlights I feel were the piaffe and the twos, I feel were amazing. And the passage got a little bit tense, but he always does it so well that it’s such a highlight for him.”

Kasey said that if she makes it through the next two weeks qualifying for Gothenburg she will not compete again during the Global circuit that runs through the end of March.

She will train twice a week with Debbie McDonald, the U.S. team coach, and work to maintain fitness of Dublet that is in his fourth year at Big Tour. In that time, the pair have become a mainstay of the American team with bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and silver at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon. The duo have also proved themselves in major competitions with, among other results, runner up to Isabell Werth and Emilio in the Grand Prix Freestyle at the Wortld Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany last July.

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