USA’s Alice Tarjan & 9YO Serenade MF Post Personal Best Score to Win Devon World Cup Freestyle Kicking Off North American League for Omaha Final

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                                                                                                                                                                                                        Photo: 2022 Ken Braddick/DRESSAGE-NEWS.com

DEVON, Pennsylvania, Oct. 1, 2022–Alice Tarjan and the American-bred Serenade MF won the World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle Saturday night, the first qualifying competition in North America in the six-month long campaign to earn a start in the Final at Omaha in six months.

Alice and the nine-year-old Hanoverian mare scored 76.515% the highest of the two international level musical performances by the partnership based at nearby Oldwick, New Jersey.

The result earned the pair 20 points with nine more qualifiers, four of them in Florida where Alice bases herself for the winter. North America, comprising Canada, Mexico and the United States gets three of the 18 places in the Final.

Alice, who has never competed at the World Cup or any international championship, claimed the United States Grand Prix Championship with Serenade in August after a European tour where the pair were reserve for the American team at the world championships. Alice and Candescent, like Serenade one of several horses she has bought as a youngster and trained to top sport, won the U.S. Grand Prix championship in 2021.

Canada’s Megan Lane and Zodiac MW also posted a personal best 75.220% to place second,  on 67.100%. Zodiac, a KWPN gelding now 19 years old, was ridden by Megan at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon.

Michael Bragdell rode Qredit Hilltop, a 14-year-old Oldenburg stallion owned by Hilltop Farm in Colora, Maryland to third place on 73.130%. Michael is Hilltop’s rider.

This was the first of 10 qualifiers in the North America league comprising Canada, Mexico and the United States that will qualify three riders for the Final of the only international championships. It will be held in Omaha next April, after the Midwestern city staged it for the first time in 2017.

Results:

World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle

Judges: Christof Umbach Lee Tubman Clive Halsall Sarah Geikie Magnus Ringmark
Place Score Nation Athlete Horse E H C M B Spectators
1. 76.515 USA Alice Tarjan Serenade MF 74.600 75.850 77.325 77.925 76.875 75.678 (3)
2. 75.220 CAN Megan Lane Zodiac MW 76.125 74.100 76.050 72.575 77.250 75.745 (2)
3. 73.130 USA Michael Bragdell Qredit Hilltop 73.425 73.450 72.600 73.950 72.225 77.136 (1)
4. 71.020 CAN Vanessa Creech-Terauds Fleur de Lis L 71.675 69.350 71.675 73.150 69.250 73.197 (4)
5. 70.925 USA Abraham Pugh Elfenperfekt 69.025 71.275 70.875 73.550 69.900 68.437 (8)
6. 69.155 USA Kymberly Pullen Hot Date 70.325 67.125 69.400 71.575 67.350 70.245 (7)
7. 69.130 USA Silva Martin Belrano Gold 67.750 67.500 70.900 69.975 69.525 70.428 (6)
8. 68.720 USA Shannon Stevens Ferrari 67.050 68.850 71.225 67.525 68.950 71.081 (5)