Dressage-News

BURBANK, California, Mar. 23, 2019–Sarah Lockman and First Apple dominated the Dressage Affair CDI1* Intermediate 1 Saturday, a day after the partnership made its international competition debut to log the highest score so far in the Prix St. Georges by a United States team contender for the Pan American Games in four months.

Sarah and the nine-year-old KWPN stallion scored 74.824 per cent for the win, just 0.078 behind the leading CDI Int. 1 score of 74.902 set by Ashley Holzer on her nine-year-old Hanoverian mare, Valentine. Ashley, a four-time Olympian for Canada before switching to ride for the U.S. is based in Wellington, Florida and with Valentine is atop the U.S. Small Tour rankings.

David Blake of Cardiff by the Sea, California on Heide Spirit was second on 69.118 per cent and Kristina Harrison of Los Angeles, who rode for the U.S. gold medal team at the 2003 Pan Ams, was third on Barnaby Wilde Gcf on 68.735 per cent.

Sarah, 30, of Murrieta, California debuted First Apple in a CDI Friday about five months after the horse was acquired from Holland by her sponsor, Gerry Ibanez, where it had been competed by Dutch team rider Patrik van der Meer.

She has launched her campaign to earn selection to the U.S. Pan Am team to be made up of Small and Big Tour horses and staged in Lima, Peru at the end of July. Two nations at Lima can earn a start at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The U.S. has already qualified with its silver medal team performance at the Tryon World Equestrian Games last September.

First Apple had been competed as a seven-year-old by Patrik, including the World Young Horse Championships in Ermelo where they placed second in the preliminary and fourth in the final. In nine Small Tour starts in Europe over six months to mid-2018, Patrik and First Apple always placed in the top three, including three victories.

Scott Hassler was in Burbank to coach Sarah.

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