Dressage-News

WELLINGTON, Florida, Feb. 21, 2020–Katherine Bateson-Chandler and Alcazar won the Global Dressage Festival CDI5* Grand Prix Freestyle Friday night for a sweep of the only top rated international competition in the Western Hemisphere.

Katherine, based in Wellington, and the 15-year-old KWPN gelding she has been competing at Big Tour for five years scored 76.105% for two wins in two starts so far this year and coming after a pair of victories in September that wrapped up their 2019 competition schedule.

Yvonne Losos De Muñiz of the Dominican Republic on Aquamarijn placed second on 75.115% with Juan Matute Guimon of Spain on Don Diego third on 72.760%.

Katherine had her coach, Great Britain’s trainer extraordinaire Carl Hester ringside for this competition and won the Grand Prix in an inaugural nighttime under lights class Thursday night with the temperatures unusually hot and humid for South Florida in winter that reached a high of about 80F/26.6C.

Katherine had one word for Friday night’s environment, “cold”–about 60F/10C but with gusting winds that made it feel even colder or as she described it the most extreme differences she has ever experienced in a competition and were “challenging” for the horses.

Yvonne said she was “ecstatic” with her performance on the 15-year-old KWPN mare on which she competed at the 2019 World Cup Final and the Pan American Games. But she admitted that at the end of the ride before a crowd that dwindled as the night became colder she was “frozen.”

Juan Matute Guimon, a resident of Wellington for most of his life before moving to his family’s homeland of Spain, said he was not happy with his performance on Don Diego. But, he said, he is taking his other Big Tour horse, Quantico, to Doha next week.

He hopes to make the World Cup Final in Las Vegas in mid-April on Don Diego and the Spanish Olympic team on Quantico.

Results:

CDI5* Grand Prix Freestyle