Dressage-News

DEL MAR, California, April 26, 2019–Jennifer Hoffmann rode Rondoro Noblesse to victory in the Del Mar National CDI1* Friday with one of the highest Prix St. Georges scores for a U.S. combination this year that boosted the pair’s ranking for the Dutta Corp. team for the Pan American Games in three months.

In only their third CDI since returning from eight years based in Europe, Jennifer and the eight-year-old Austrian Warmblood stallion scored 72.500% to boosted their St. Georges average of the top two scores to 72.132, the fourth highest on the Small Tour rankings.

Jennifer, based at Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego since she and her husband, Jürgen, moved back to California at the end of last year, competed at the World Young Horse Championships in 2012 and a U.S. Nations Cup team in Europe in 2016 but has not been on a championship team.

Günter Seidel, a U.S. team rider at three Olympics and three World Equestrian Games, placed second on Beltano with 70.637%, and David Blake on Heide Spirit was third on 69.657%. Günter, of Cardiff, California, currently ranks sixth on the Pan Am standings.

The Intermediate 1, that counts for 50% of ranking results as does St. Georges, is scheduled for Saturday morning in the last qualifying competition in the nation for riders competing to be among up to eght combinations short listed for the Pan Ams set for Lima, Peru at the end of July.

Californian Sarah Lockman on First Apple leads the overall standings with an average of 74.956 of St. Georges and Int. 1 scores, with Ashley Holzer of Wellington, Florida on Valentine with an average of 73.564 from four shows, while fellow Florida-based pairs Jennifer Baumert on Handsome is at 72.896 and Endel Ots on Lucky Strike at 72.448.

Teams in the Pan Ams can have both Big and Small Tour horses. Two nations can qualify for a team start at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The U.S. qualified for Tokyo with team silver at the World Equestrian Games last fall, and a decision has not yet been made on the mix of Big and Small Tour combinations for Lima.

Two slots are available at the Pan Ams for teams to start in the Tokyo Olympics next year. The United States with its silver medal team result at last fall’s Tryon World Games qualified for Tokyo but is looking to extend its string of team golds in the continental championships to six, beginning with the 1999 Pan Ams.

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