Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Feb. 20, 2020–Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper won the Adequan Global Dressage Festival CDI5* Grand Prix Thursday night to extend the pair’s string of victories to seven in pursuing a start in the American’s fifth Olympic Games.

Steffen and the 12-year-old KWPN gelding were awarded 76.239% for the win in what was the fourth Grand Prix staged at Global Thursday–two for the CDI3* and two for the CDI5* with a total of 42 combinations from 11 countries.

Sabine Schut-Kery and Sanceo placed second on 73.674% in only the third start since the 14-year-old Hanoverian gelding returned to competition after an injury break of almost a year.

Canada’s Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu on All In was third also on 73.674%, a personal best for the country’s top ranked combination.

Steffen of San Diego, California but in Florida to earn starts at the World Cup Final in Las Vegas in mid-April and the Olympics in Tokyo at the end of July described the ride as “great, even more relaxed than last time.”

He is working with team coach Debbie McDonald on improving the performance of the horse that was bought 2 1/2 years ago by Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang, owners of his Olympic and championship mounts Ravel and Legolas.

Sanceo, that Sabine Schut-Kery of Thousand Oaks, California declared as “really, really on, I could push him and really ride him.”

Sanceo has been with Sabine since the horse was three years old. The pair competed at the World Young Horse Championships when Sanceo was six years old, at Small Tour in Europe in 2015 and was on the U.S. gold medal team at the 2015 Pan American Games.

This performance, she said, was “a great start” to fulfilling her goal of going to Tokyo.

Brittany, who took off most of last year for the birth of her first child, exclaimed herself as “SO happy!”

“It’s the best test we’ve ever done,” she said of the ride on the 15-year-old KWPN gelding that she rode to help Canada earn silver at the 2015 Pan Ams and was on the team for the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon.

“I couldn’t ask for more,” she said.

Her goal is to ride on Canada’s team at the Nations Cup here next month and compete in the last World Cup qualifier at the end of March seeking a start in Las Vegas and then decide on the next step, possibly leading to Tokyo.

Results:

CDI5* Grand Prix for Special