Steffen Peters & Suppenkasper Win Thermal World Cup Freestyle to Jump to 2nd Place in North America and Closer to Omaha Final
2 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Steffen Peters & Suppenkasper Win Thermal World Cup Freestyle to Jump to 2nd Place in North America and Closer to Omaha Final
THERMAL, California, Dec. 17, 2022–Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper won the World Cup Freestyle Saturday to jump to second place in North American standings and a big step closer to an invitation to their sixth championship Final that would be the most of any American.
The dominating win by Steffen and the 14-year-old KWPN gelding on a score of 81.590% added to an earlier victory to give them a total of 40 points and close to cementing one of three invitations to North America to go to Omaha in April.
“Another good freestyle today,” Steffen said. “Very happy with Mopsie.”
Anna Buffini of Rancho Santa Fe, California on the 15-year-old Hanoverian mare FRH Davinia la Douce scored 77.460% for runner-up. The pair competed at the World Cup Final in Leipzig, Germany last April.
Claire Darnell of Mt. Vernon, Washington, on the 10-year-old KWPN gelding Harrold S posted a personal best score of 73.455% for thirdplace.
Kristina Harrison-Antell of Los Angeles on the 12-year-old KWPN gelding Finley was fourth on 72.490%.
The North American standings are led by Alice Tarjan of Oldwick, New Jersey who has racked up a total of 57 points from two victories and runner-up in a third qualifier that seems likely to assure her an invitation to the Final.
Steffen has an opportunity to win enough points at a third qualifier set for Thermal Jan. 5-8. If necessary, he could go to the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Florida with its three qualifiers over the next three months.
Omaha would be the sixth World Cup Final since the German-born rider’s first in 2002. In 2009 at Las Vegas, he rode Ravel to become World Cup champion, one of only two Americans to win the title since the series was launched in 1985. The other was Debbie McDonald on Brentina in 2003.
Steffen is currently tied with Günter Seidel, also German-born and who lives in the Southern California city of Cardiff, with five World Cup appearances.
Suppenkasper, owned by Four Winds Farm/Akiko Yamazaki as was Ravel,was competed by Steffen on U.S. silver medal teams at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon and the Tokyo Olympics.
Shannon Peters, Steffen’s wife, rode her 14-year-old KWPN gelding Disco Inferno to a career high Grand Prix Special score of 67.766% to win the CDI3*. The victory was the first at Big Tour for Shannon since 2011. The pair performed their best ever Grand Prix a day earlier.
Results:
World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle
| Judges: | Sandra Hotz | Cesar Torrente | William Warren | Gabriela Valerianova | Christof Umbach | ||||||||
| Place | Score | Nation | Athlete | Horse | E | H | C | M | B | ||||
| 1. | 81.590 | USA | Steffen Peters | Suppenkasper | 80.950 | 80.475 | 81.775 | 81.750 | 83.000 | ||||
| 2. | 77.460 | USA | Anna Buffini | FRH Davinia la Douce | 73.725 | 78.250 | 75.700 | 79.025 | 80.600 | ||||
| 3. | 73.455 | USA | Claire Darnell | Harrold S | 75.375 | 70.525 | 71.400 | 76.125 | 73.850 | ||||
| 4. | 72.490 | USA | Kristina Harrison-Antell | Finley | 70.375 | 73.875 | 71.500 | 72.300 | 74.400 | ||||
CDI3* Grand Prix Special
| Judges: | Cesar Torrente | William Warren | Gabriela Valerianova | Christof Umbach | Sandra Hotz | ||||||||
| Place | Score | Nation | Athlete | Horse | E | H | C | M | B | ||||
| 1. | 67.766 | USA | Shannon Peters | Disco Inferno | 67.340 | 67.979 | 68.085 | 66.489 | 68.936 | ||||
| 2. | 67.022 | USA | Amy L Miller | Encore | 67.128 | 66.277 | 67.979 | 65.213 | 68.511 | ||||
| 3. | 65.617 | USA | Ashleigh Luca | Sans Soucis K | 66.489 | 67.021 | 66.702 | 62.447 | 65.426 | ||||
| 4. | 64.340 | USA | Tina Caldwell | Lagerfeld K | 64.787 | 64.149 | 63.830 | 62.340 | 66.596 | ||||
| 5. | 57.660 | USA | Missy Gilliland | Toledano XXXI | 58.617 | 58.830 | 57.128 | 53.830 | 59.894 |
