Adrienne Lyle & Salvino Could Clinch Omaha World Cup Start While Alice Tarjan on Serenade & Sarah Tubman on First Apple Battle for Invite

2 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Adrienne Lyle & Salvino Could Clinch Omaha World Cup Start While Alice Tarjan on Serenade & Sarah Tubman on First Apple Battle for Invite
Sarah Tubman on First Apple and Alice Tarjan on Serenade MF. Photos: © Ken Braddick/DRESSAGE-NEWS.com

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Feb. 6, 2023–Adrienne Lye will ride Salvino in the World Cup qualifier this week that could clinch a start at the Final in Omaha for the top ranked United States partnership while Alice Tarjan on Serenade MF and Sarah Tubman on First Apple battle for the third invitation to North America for the annual championship decided by the musical Freestyle.

Adrienne based in Wellington has already notched two victories on the 16-year-old Hanoverian stallion and a third win at the Global Dressage Festival under the lights Friday night would tie the pair with Olympic and World Equestrian Games silver medal team mates Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper at the top of the North American League.

However, both Alice on Serenade, a 10-year-old American-bred mare, and Sarah on the 13-year-old stallion First Apple are within a few points of each other. The final selection could come down to the results of this qualifier and a final one at Global three weeks later.

Neither Alice of Oldwick, New Jersey nor Sarah based in Wellington have previously competed their horses at an international championships, but both were on U.S. Nations Cup teams in Europe last summer.

Alice and Serenade were reserves for the U.S. team at the world championships while Sarah and First Apple won both individual and Freestyle golds at Small Tour in the 2019 Pan American Games.

Ashley Holzer also of Wellington will compete Valentine, her 13-year-old Hanoverian mare, for the first time at Big Tour since her disappointing performance at the world championships. The competition under lights with atmosphere created by thousands of spectators could test the partnership of the successful international rider and the horse named to celebrate the relationship.

Global’s World Cups may also decide the fate of the Omaha prospects for a couple of non-American combinations.

Morgan Barbançon of France competing in Wellington for the first time is currently ranked eighth in the Western European League, but with limitations on the number of riders from one country in the Final has a chance of getting an invitation to Omaha. Her first two week in Florida were successful with three victories in eight starts.

German team rider Frederic Wandres in Wellington for his third winter circuit is entered on Bluetooth OLD and a top placing could put him into position to be a reserve if one of his compatriots (Isabell Werth, Ingrid Klimke and Benjamin Werndl in addition to title defender Jessica von Bredow-Werndl) is unable to start in Omaha.

Of the 14 rider and horse pairs entered in the World Cup, six are from the United States, one from Canada, two Germans with one from Britain, France, Spain, Switzerland and Singapore.