Adrienne Lyle on Helix Wins Ocala CDI3* Grand Prix Special, Endel Ots on Zen Elite’s Bohemian Runner-Up
7 months ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Adrienne Lyle on Helix Wins Ocala CDI3* Grand Prix Special, Endel Ots on Zen Elite’s Bohemian Runner-Up
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
OCALA, Florida, April 13, 2024–Adrienne Lyle on Helix won the World Equestrian Center CDI3* Grand Prix Special Saturday while Endel Ots had his best test yet on Zen Elite’s Bohemian for runner-up in the second last qualifier for the U.S. Olympic “short” list.
Adrienne and the 12-year-old KWPN gelding Helix were awarded 71.553% and the fourth victory in three back-to-back weeks of competition in a campaign to qualify for the “short” list European tour ahead of the Paris Olympics with dressage starting at the end of July.
Helix is owned by Heidi Humphries and her Zen Elite Equestrian Center of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, as is Bohemian and Lars van de Hoenderheide that Adrienne is also competing. All were bought by Heidi in late 2023.
Endel and the 14-year-old Westfalen Bohemian that was ridden by Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour for Denmark at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 European Championships scored 71.021% for second.
All Florida resident contenders for one of up to eight combinations to be named to the “short” list are expected to compete at TerraNova near Saratoga, Florida that is the last opportunity to qualify.
Adrienne said she was happy with her second Special on Helix that “is coming off three weeks of intense showing and traveling and training and it’s catching up a little bit with him.
“He felt a little bit tired today and so we didn’t go pedal to the metal full power but I think for the long term when you’re trying to develop a relationship with him it’s really important that they know you’re never going to ask more than what they’re capable of that day in the ring. So knowing that, we maybe weren’t going to have quite the full power that he’s capable of. He still went in there and did everything I asked and I think that’s really important.”
Endel said he “was a little bit nervous” going around the outside of the arena.
“I try not to do too much warm-up at all with him because he’s done all these tests so many times,” he said. “You really have to respect those horses that have done so many things and so many Grand Prix and not try to boss them around, too and he’s very much like that. I mean he’s ready within five minutes to go through the tests. It’s a lot more just making sure that I’m mentally ready for going through the tests. He’s ready for everything so I had a really nice feeling with him. You know you’re really asking him in the ring to do things. It’s not so much telling him anything.”
“He’s a really, really intelligent horse and he’s not one that you can just push, push, push. You have to push and then have him wait and really stay with him. He’s an emotional horse in that kind of aspect.
“Today I felt way more secure in the test. I felt like I owned the movements and pieces a little bit better. In the test for today I felt really confident in just feeling the movements out before they happen and staying there and helping him because when he gets his mind on where he’s supposed to go, you’re just kind of there managing it a little bit.”
Results:
| Rank | Competitor | Score | E | H | C | M | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Adrienne Lyle (USA) Helix | 71.553% | 70.745 | 71.064 | 71.702 | 72.872 | 71.383 |
| 2. | Endel Ots (USA) Zen Elite’s Bohemian | 71.021% | 69.362 | 72.021 | 71.915 | 72.553 | 69.255 |
| 3. | Katherine Bateson Chandler (USA) Haute Couture | 67.447% | 67.340 | 69.149 | 65.213 | 68.298 | 67.234 |
| 4. | Nora Batchelder (USA) Nova | 66.404% | 64.468 | 67.447 | 66.277 | 65.957 | 67.872 |
| 5. | Jessica Howington (USA) Serenade MF | 66.298% | 64.574 | 66.277 | 66.170 | 65.851 | 68.617 |
| 6. | Geñay Vaughn (USA) Gino | 66.128% | 65.106 | 65.638 | 66.915 | 66.277 | 66.702 |
| 7. | Kasey Perry-Glass (USA) Heartbeat W.P. | 65.851% | 63.936 | 67.553 | 67.128 | 65.638 | 65.000 |
| 8. | Chris von Martels (CAN) Eclips | 65.319% | 65.532 | 64.149 | 61.809 | 68.085 | 67.021 |
| 9. | Emily Miles (USA) Sole Mio | 65.149% | 65.745 | 67.447 | 65.000 | 64.681 | 62.872 |
| 10. | Beatrice Marienau (USA) Issey | 64.873% | 64.468 | 65.213 | 62.660 | 67.979 | 64.043 |
| 11. | Jill Irving (CAN) Genesis | 64.830% | 65.106 | 68.830 | 61.277 | 63.191 | 65.745 |
| 12. | Sarah Tubman (USA) First Apple | 63.808% | 62.234 | 63.617 | 64.255 | 64.255 | 64.681 |
| 13. | Pablo Gómez Molina (ESP) Baltasar De Ymas | 62.872% | 64.255 | 65.319 | 62.872 | 60.638 | 61.277 |
| 14. | Amy Swerdlin (USA) Quileute CCW | 61.532% | 62.255 | 63.213 | 59.489 | 59.702 | 63.000 |
| 15. | Ellesse Gundersen (USA) Quintessential 4 | 60.766% | 61.702 | 61.702 | 60.745 | 60.000 | 59.681 |
 Find details on Equestrian Hub |
