Dressage-News

THERMAL, California, Nov. 14, 2020–Charlotte Jorst rode Kastel’s Nintendo to the best score in almost seven years of Big Tour to win the Desert Dressage World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle Saturday.

Charlotte of Reno, Nevada and the 17-year-old KWPN stallion were awarded 75.730% for the win. The previous high mark for the duo was 75.250% set in California in March 2015, a year after the pair began their Grand Prix career.

Charlotte is seeking to earn one of two berths allocated to North America for the World Cup Final in Gothenburg, Sweden next April. She and Nintendo competed at the Final there in 2016 and over the years have been on six U.S. Nations Cup teams on both sides of the Atlantic.

Carly Taylor-Smith of Somis, California and the American-bred Rosalut NHF placed second on 74.075% in the Big Tour debut for the partnership.

The only previous international competition for Carly was on the 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Rosenthal x Salut) at Small Tour in February, 2018.

The English-born Carly, 30 years old, is a former member of Great Britain’s national JR/YR dressage squad and moved to the United States in 2010 to go to university. She is now an American citizen.

The 2012 U.S. Olympian Jan Ebeling of Moorpark, California, placed third on Diamond’s Diva on 72.495%.

This was the first of two consecutive weeks of World Cup events at the Desert Horse Park that was primarily a winter hunter-jumper show grounds but was taken over a year ago by a group expending its competition schedule.

Results:

World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle