USA Olympic Team Prospects Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper & Sabine Schut-Kery on Sanceo Each Win Wellington CDI5* Grand Prix

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Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper winning the CDI5* Grand Prix for Freestyle at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington. © 2021 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Feb. 25, 2021–United States Olympic team prospects Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper and Sabine Schut-Kery on Sanceo both won Global Dressage Festival CDI5* Grand Prix Thursday to lead an American sweep of the top-rated event.

Steffen and Suppenkasper, the 13-year-old KWPN gelding and top of the U.S. standings for the Olympic team at this stage, scored 77.109% in the Grand Prix for the Freestyle for the 18th straight win over the past 14 months.

Sabine and Sanceo, a 15-year-old Hanoverian stallion second in the Olympic team standings, received 74.522% to win the Grand Prix for the Special, the scores for which will count for selection as the Special will decide team medals at Tokyo.

Katherine Bateson-Chandler of Wellington and Alcazar, the 2020 CDI5* Freestyle winners, were second behind Steffen on 69.913%. Günter Seidel of Cardiff, California on Equirelle was third on 69.304%.

In the Grand for Special, Adrienne Lyle of Wellington and the American-bred Harmony’s Duval were second on 72.587% and Charlotte Jorst of Reno, Nevada on Kastel’s Nintendo third on 72.326%.

Canada’s No. 1 combination of Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu and All In scratched when the horse’s allergies began playing up Wednesday and returned during the warm-up for the Grand Prix for the Special. Brittany said she felt the 16-year-old KWPN gelding was not fit to compete but “he’s been never better” and decided for the good of the horse to “take him home and give him the care he needs.”

The CDI5* is one of only 11 top rated competitions in the world, and the only one in the western hemisphere, with $154,000 prize money that is a draw for Americans and Canadians on the winter-long Global circuit at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.

With five months to go to the Tokyo Games, the circuit is also an opportunity for U.S. riders to earn an invitation to a short list of up to eight riders and horses to go to Europe in the spring in an effort to win one of the three places plus a reserve on the Olympic team.

With temperatures well above 80F/26.6C and high humidity, Steffen said that Suppenkasper had “had another two tests in there” after the ride “so this is actually the right weather for him.” Mopsie, as the horse is nicknamed, “settles down in this weather a bit more so that’s what we possibly face in Tokyo where it might be quite a bit hotter than this and he seems to be ready for it.”

He said the consistency of Suppenkasper’s results of 76 to 77 was “super exciting.”

The Freestyle on Friday night will be under the lights, the first time this year in what was a regular feature of Global pre-pandemic.

Sabine Schut-Kery on Sanceo in the CDI5* for the Special. © 2021 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

The goal of all three of the top placegetters in the Grand Prix for the Special was to go on the planned European competition swing ahead of the Olympics.

Sabine of Thousand Oaks, California, said Sanceo “felt great in the first part of the test and then recovered quite well from rider errors. I have no complaints, and I feel like we are getting to the point where we can see where we want to push more, and where we need to finesse things.”

Speaking of the 5*, she said, “It’s amazing. When I look around, a lot of the places are closed down all over the world. We are so fortunate. I think everybody agrees that  we would follow any protocol. Just that is just amazing, to keep going. I can speak for myself, I have a horse that’s 15 years old. It’s not like he’s eight or 10, and one year doesn’t matter. For me, it’s very special to be here and be invited to this competition, to the five star, but that there is that caliber of show.”

Adrienne Lyle confirmed she plans to compete Salvino, on which she is the highest ranked U.S. combination on the world standings, next month followed by the CDI3* at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, four hours north of Wellington, in mid-April.

Results:

CDI5* Grand Prix for Freestyle

Judges: Christof Umbach Agnieszka Majewska Peter Storr Michael Osinski Cesar Torrente
Place Score Nation Athlete Horse E H C M B
1. 77.109 USA Steffen Peters Suppenkasper 78.696 77.283 77.174 76.413 75.978
2. 69.913 USA Katherine Bateson Chandler Alcazar 68.587 70.217 71.413 69.674 69.674
3. 69.304 USA Günter Seidel Equirelle 70.652 67.391 69.239 68.696 70.543
4. 69.152 DOM Yvonne Losos De Muñiz Aquamarijn 68.804 68.696 71.739 69.022 67.5
5. 66.196 USA Jan Ebeling Indeed 67.609 65.978 65.87 65.978 65.543
6. 63.326 ISR Sahar Daniel Hirosh Whitman 64.783 63.152 61.848 63.587 63.261

 

CDI5* Grand Prix for Special

Judges: Peter Storr Cesar Torrente Christof Umbach Agnieszka Majewska Michael Osinski
Place Score Nation Athlete Horse E H C M B
1. 74.522 USA Sabine Schut-Kery Sanceo 73.478 74.348 75.109 76.413 73.261
2. 72.587 USA Adrienne Lyle Harmony’s Duval 72.065 73.696 71.413 71.522 74.239
3. 72.326 USA Charlotte Jorst Kastel’s Nintendo 71.739 72.065 74.022 71.957 71.848
4. 71.370 CAN Lindsay Kellock Sebastien 70.87 73.043 71.304 71.848 69.783
5. 71.304 GER Christoph Koschel Eaton Unitechno 70.326 71.63 73.587 70.217 70.761
6. 70.956 CAN Naima Moreira Laliberté Statesman 71.63 74.239 67.609 70.326 70.978
7. 70.652 CAN Chris Von Martels Eclips 70.543 70.326 71.63 70.652 70.109
8. 69.891 USA Catherine Haddad Staller Frankie 70.109 70.978 69.239 69.348 69.783
9. 68.826 CAN Jill Irving Arthur 66.957 69.457 71.196 67.935 68.587
10. 66.652 GBR Susan Pape Harmony’s Eclectisch 65.109 66.957 66.304 66.739 68.152
SC. CAN Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu All In