Katherine Bateson Chandler Rides Haute Couture to Wellington CDI3* Grand Prix Victory on Personal Best Score

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A smiling Katherine Bateson Chandler riding Haute Couture to a personal best score to win Wellington CDI3* Grand Prix. © 2024 Ken Braddick/DRESSAGE-NEWS.com

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 14, 2024–Katherine Bateson Chandler burst into tears of relief when she rode Haute Couture to a personal best score to win the Global Dressage Festival CDI3* Grand Prix Thursday beginning the third year of the partnership between the American team rider and the 12-year-old Dutch mare.

Katherine, based in Wellington, and the 12-year-old former Dutch European Championships team horse when ridden by Dinja van Liere, were awarded 71.913% for the first win in three starts so far this winter circuit. Four scores were above 70%–a high of 74.891%–while Portugal judge Miguel Gonçalves gave the pair a score of 69.891%.

Katherine coached by Ashley Holzer on the ground in Wellington and by Carl Hester of Great Britain by online video as well as lots of tips from Dinja has competed extensively on both sides of the Atlantic, including on Nartan on the U.S. team at the 2010 World Equestrian Games and on Alcazar at several Nations Cups including the premier event at Aachen, Germany as well as Wellington. Carl Hester is coming to Wellington next week which Katherine described as “awesome.

Geñay Vaughn riding Gino to personal best score for runner-up in Global Dresssage Festival CDI3* Grand Prix. © 2024 Ken Braddick/DRESSAGE-NEWS.com

Geñay Vaughn of Elk Grove, California, on Gino, 13-year-old KWPN gelding, was runner-up on a personal best 69.522%. Geñay recently began training with Debbie McDonald.

Canada’s Ariana Chia on the 14-year-old P.R.E. stallion Guateque IV placed third on 69.022%.

The Grand Prix result was the best so far for Katherine and Haute Couture in the rider’s attempt to earn one of about eight spots for an American squad to go to Europe to compete for one of three places on the team for the Paris Olympics. After this week’s schedule, CDIs before the May 5 deadline include the season ending Global event Mar. 27-31; two events at Terra Nova in Myakka City on Florida’s west coast, April 4-7 and May 2-5; and one at Ocala’s World Equestrian Center April 10-14.

“Relieved,” was Katherine’s description of her feeling after the ride.

“We’ve had our ups and downs for sure. It’s been a really challenging season for me and I really needed this. We really put in the time and work to get her to where she was today, and she felt amazing today.

“This is a tough sport, you know what I mean? It’s been emotionally a very difficult ride. She’s a horse that obviously, you know, is a well-known horse. And I’m still getting to know her. We had a bit of a scare in Europe where she got spooked, and so we’ve sort of been getting her confidence back again, and getting my confidence back again.”

Katherine took Haute Courture to lots of different places around Wellington and she also got into some on the ground horsemanship.

I had somebody come in and help us with that and I think we’ve been really dedicated to that and I think that’s really helped with our relationship and I love on the ground stuff,” she said. “I spent two hours with her on Monday just like playing and then I think that just helped build trust in our relationship so that’s been a big part of it.”

Social media, she admitted, “really played a bad role in this for me when I was having a hard time. I take things very personally. We all love our horses, it’s always been top of my priorities, horsemanship. So I’ve had to stay away from some of that. And it’s been a big learning curve, not to take things too personally.

“I’m just super lucky to have this support system that I have, because that’s really kept me grounded. And my husband, who’s awesome, he wasn’t gonna come today because he didn’t think he could and then I looked over and he was standing over in the corner, so that was nice to see.”

Results:

CDI3* Grand Prix (Qual. for GPS)
Rank Competitor Score E H C M B
1.
Katherine Bateson Chandler (USA)
Haute Couture
71.913% 70.978 72.500 71.304 69.891 74.891
2.
Geñay Vaughn (USA)
Gino
69.522% 69.130 70.870 69.022 68.478 70.109
3.
Ariana Chia (CAN)
Guateque IV
69.022% 69.565 69.348 68.261 67.826 70.109
4.
Jessica Howington (USA)
Serenade MF
68.805% 69.348 67.826 69.457 70.435 66.957
5.
Susan Dutta (USA)
Don Design DC
68.326% 67.065 69.565 68.043 67.065 69.891
6.
Katie Duerrhammer (USA)
Paxton
68.239% 65.761 69.674 67.609 69.130 69.022
7.
Hope Cooper (USA)
Flynn PCH
68.022% 68.696 68.478 67.935 68.696 66.304
8.
Camille Carier Bergeron (CAN)
Sound of Silence 4
68.000% 68.587 68.804 68.587 65.870 68.152
9.
Jemma Heran (AUS)
Saphira Royal 2
67.413% 67.174 68.043 65.978 67.065 68.804
10.
Jill Irving (CAN)
Delacroix 11
67.283% 67.935 67.283 68.587 66.196 66.413
11.
Laurence Vanommeslaghe (FRA)
Havalon
67.239% 69.239 68.696 67.065 67.174 64.022
12.
Chase Shipka (USA)
Gladstone Zee T
67.065% 66.413 67.717 67.609 65.978 67.609
13.
Rakeya Moussa (CAN)
Davidoff V.H. Trichelhof
66.500% 66.413 68.043 67.500 66.304 64.239
14.
Aaron Janicki (USA)
Jinicole M
66.348% 66.304 67.174 66.630 64.565 67.065
15.
Micaela Mabragaña (ARG)
Bradley Cooper
65.674% 66.304 64.891 65.326 65.109 66.739
16.
Nora Batchelder (USA)
Nova
65.565% 65.326 66.196 67.283 67.174 61.848
17.
Tina Irwin (CAN)
Fancy That
64.478% 64.348 65.326 65.109 63.370 64.239
18.
Sarah Daehnert (USA)
Showhit
64.348% 64.022 65.761 64.348 63.696 63.913
19.
Kiichi Harada (JPN)
Impression
63.978% 63.478 65.978 62.826 63.587 64.022
20.
Tom Dvorak (CAN)
Cyrus
63.956% 61.848 65.109 63.152 64.130 65.543
21.
Barbara Bertschinger (SUI)
Sonnenbergs Solisco CH
63.891% 61.848 65.543 64.239 63.043 64.783
22.
Holger Bechtloff (USA)
Ferrari
63.848% 63.913 65.326 63.804 63.804 62.391
23.
Nicholia Clarke (USA)
Sir Amour
63.522% 63.587 65.761 63.261 61.739 63.261
24.
Micah Deligdish (ISR)
Santos
63.457% 62.717 64.674 64.022 63.587 62.283
25.
Ellen McCarthy (GBR)
Brave Heart
62.892% 63.587 64.457 61.957 64.674 59.783
26.
Delphine Mulliez (FRA)
Gentelman
61.456% 58.043 63.043 61.739 62.717 61.739
27.
Tina Konyot (USA)
J Everdale
60.630% 60.217 60.652 60.761 60.870 60.652
28.
Adriane Alvord (USA)
Selfmade
60.174% 60.870 60.326 59.348 60.978 59.348
29.
Sahar Daniel Hirosh (ISR)
Bialik
60.109% 62.065 60.217 58.804 60.761 58.696
30.
Joanne Vaughan (GEO)
Hero V.D.T.
57.609% 59.022 56.848 56.739 58.804 56.630
WD
Delphine Mulliez (FRA)
Flintstone
withdrawn
WD
James Irwin (CAN)
Simsalabim
withdrawn
WD
Gabriel Martin Armando (ARG)
San Rio
withdrawn
Find details on Equestrian Hub