Rolex FEI World Cup Dressage Final 2009 Grand Prix
Friday, April 17, 2009
American favorite Steffen Peters did the incredible as his 11 year old gelding Ravel offered everything almost effortlessly. No weak points and no mistakes could be seen. His score of 77,915% was a personal best and while the audience went completely wild after the test, Ravel seemed to be unaffected by the applause and cheering and simply walked on a long rein.
Beautiful performances had already attracted the eye before Peters and Ravel entered the arena in the Thomas and Mack centre in Las Vegas.
The first to go over the 70% threshold was Jan Brink riding his 18 year old stallion Briar for the eighth time in a FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final. After Brink seven more riders crossed this line. Pop Art showed by Canadian Ashley Holzer Art impressed by the great picture combined with fluency and impulsion, especially in the collections in the piaffe and pirouettes. The big Nartan showed by his petite rider Jeannette Haazen did a very even test and showed great extensions. The mare Exquis Nadine, placed fifth individually with his rider Hans Peter Minderhoud at the Olympic Games, floated uphill and showed very impressive extensions. Monica Theodorescu had a fluent performance aboard Whisper, leaving only her extended walk for the five judges to question, as both the mark 5 as the mark 9 had been given.
Isabell Werth riding her Olympic silver medal horse Satchmo had a wonderful start with highlights in the beginning of her test with the half passes in trot and the extensions. However she had a mistake in counting the one tempi changes and did 17 instead of 15. Overall, it looked as though she was riding a bit with the handbrake on as Satchmo easily is distracted. Immediately after Werth, Anky van Grunsven entered the arena riding the black stallion IPS Painted Black. For the audience it was quite exciting to compare Anky’s score with the leader board of Isabell’s scores. As IPS Painted Black had a mistake in the two tempi changes, in the very end at the point of the last centerline with passage and piaffe the scores of Werth and Van Grunsven were equal at 73,0%. In the end, Anky took the lead due to the last passage rewarded with an eight by all judges. The excitement rose as Steffen Peters from his start took over the lead with the impressive and powerful Ravel combining his incredible lightness and impulsion with relaxation and the perfect focus on his rider. All the excitement concluded with his well deserved clear win. All expectations are open again for the Freestyle which will conclude the 24th Rolex FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final on Saturday.
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Dressage
