Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu & All In Could Face Olympic & World Cup Dilemma
5 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu & All In Could Face Olympic & World Cup Dilemma
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
WELLINGTON, Florida, Jan. 16, 2020–Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu could face a dilemma with All In, her international partner for the past seven years–whether to compete at her first World Cup Final or focus on making her Olympic debut.
The opportunities became real possibilities for Brittany and the 15-year-old KWPN gelding with successful performances at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival that was the first show in Canada’s Olympic selection procedures that run until early June. The pair placed second in the World Cup Grand Prix and Freestyle behind compatriot Jill Irving and Degas.
The musical performance also earned Brittany and All In the second of three scores required to qualify for the annual championship scheduled for Las Vegas in mid-April.
The scores put them in contention for one of at least two places from North America among the lineup of 18 combinations that will contest the Las Vegas Final. Steffen Peters, the 2009 World Cup champion, is atop the standings with Suppenkasper and by then will be back home in San Diego, California, just a five-hour drive to Las Vegas.
Brittany, 31 years old, is the top ranked Canadian on All In on the world standings and has competed only twice–at Devon, Pennsylvania in September and Wellington last week–since giving birth to her first child last summer.
There’s no reason Brittany cannot do both the World Cup and the Olympics–but she doesn’t want to put unnecessary stress on All In with round-trip flights across the continent as Canada’s Olympic selection requires at least one Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special score after April 1 (the World Cup is the Grand Prix and Freestyle only).
She wants to keep All In at peak condition if she becomes one of three combinations to make the Olympic team to prepare for the lengthy flight to Tokyo and weather conditions that are predicted to be so hot and humid that distance athletic events were moved out of the capital to a cooler location.
The Olympics come along once every four years while the World Cup Final is an annual championship, so Brittany can try again if she wants.
Brittany began competing All In at international level at Small Tour on Florida’s winter circuit in 2013 with coaching from Ashley Holzer, a four-time Olympian.
The partnership at Small Tour was on Canada’s silver medal team at the 2015 Pan American Games at home in Toronto.
The duo then moved up to Grand Prix and in 2017 competed in Europe for the first time, including the premier World Equestrian Festival at Aachen, Germany.
The World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina in 2018 was the pair’s first world championships.
