Brits Power Team Dressage

By Staff Report August 4, 2012

Team Britain maintains its dressage lead, while Steffen Peters and Ravel powered the U.S. team into seventh place with 77.705 as the first phase of  dressage competition, the Grand Prix test, concluded on Aug. 3.

Scores from the Grand Prix Special, to be held Aug. 7, will combine with the Grand Prix scores to determine the team winners. The top 16 riders then go on to compete for individual medals in the Grand Prix Freestyle on Aug. 9. Following Friday’s test, Team USA had an average score of 72.80.

The impressive performance landed Peters (San Diego, CA) and Ravel sixth in the individual ranking after phase one. The next-best U.S. pair, Tina Konyot and Calecto V, were 27th (70.456). Jan Ebeling and Rafalca sit at 30th (70.243) and Adrienne Lyle and Wizard (who qualified to compete as individuals, not as part of the team) were 35th with a score of 69.468.

“I can’t explain the feeling you get from Ravel when he’s on but today was one of those days,” Peters said of the 14-year-old KWPN gelding owned by Akiko Yamazaki and Four Winds Farm. “I’m just thrilled that Ravel is still the same horse after all those years.” The duo narrowly missed winning individual bronze at the 2008 Olympics where they finshed fourth. They duo went on to win the 2009 FEI World Cup championship.

The Grand Prix — which pitted 50 riders against each other — took place over two days.  Ebeling and Rafalca were the only U.S. competitors to ride on day one (Aug. 2).  As the final 25 took the field the deck was shuffled considerably, with day one leaders Carl Hester (GBR) and Uthopia falling to fifth.

Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro set the pace, leading the British effort as they look to win their first Team Gold in dressage. Dujardin’s score of 83.663 was so far out front there was never any danger of it being touched. Adelinde Cornelissen (NED) and Parzival came the closest with 81.687. Helen Langehanenberg (GER) and Damon Hill were the last to ride but nonetheless managed to impress, landing third (81.140).

With the British leading by a mere half point over the Germans in Team scoring and the Dutch hot on their heels the Grand Prix Special on Tuesday is going to be a squeaker.

Peters and Four Winds Farms’ Ravel put in a serious test, their trot half-pass, pirouettes and canter serpentine were phenomenal and Peters earned excellent marks for his riding. They are seasoned veterans at this point together and the strength of their partnership was evident.

“I am just so excited with how much energy Ravel has,” Peters said. “Even though he had so much energy he walked extremely relaxed he stretched nicely into the bridle. It was one of the best walks I’ve had on him. The entire canter work felt great. It came together at the right moment I can’t wait for the next three days and hopefully I can step it up a little bit. It is quite electric.”

Konyot was the first U.S. rider in the ring on Friday, on her own and John Byrialsen’s 14-year-old Danish Warmblood stallion Calecto V. “He was fabulous,” Konyot said. “I had some little mistakes that kept us from getting a higher score. I missed a couple of extensions in there, little bobbles that didn’t help. Overall I was very happy with my test, no major blunders.”

In her first Olympics, the 27-year-old Lyle (Hailey, ID) rode confidently on Peggy Thomas’ Oldenburg gelding Wizard. A few mistakes — including one at the extended trot early on in their test — kept them from breaking 70, but the 13-year-old horse exuded enthusiasm and extravagant moves, and the duo impressed with its future potential.

“I was very happy with him,” Lyle said. “We always want to do a personal best but I think we did everything we could.” Of their mistakes, she said, “I think it’s just tension. He gets over exuberant sometimes. He gets all that energy boiling around him and he took a step that he couldn’t handle. He had some really powerful moments in there. He pulled it together and he tried really hard.”

The 27-year-old U.K. rider Dujardin’s score of 83.663 set a new Olympic record, although due to changes to the rules this only dates back to the Athens Games in 2004. Prior to that,  dressage results were measured in “points” as opposed to a percentage weighted against 100.

“It was unbelievable!,” Dujardin said of her ride. “I wanted to come here and to have fun. I wanted to go out and show what this horse can do.” The members of the Ground Jury seemed to get the message as each of the five selected her as their top scorer.

Dujardin’s team-mate and mentor, Carl Hester, held the overnight lead coming into Friday’s action, a position he maintained through the opening group of riders. The Netherlands‘ Edward Gal posted 75.395 when last to go before the first break riding the 11-year-old Undercover, but it was Germany’s Sprehe and her lovely Desperados who dislodged the Briton from pole position despite a stumble at the end of the extended canter which led to the stallion kicking the arena boards before completing with a flourish. An otherwise lovely test, full of lightness, from the free-moving stallion was rewarded with the new leading score of 79.119.

Describing Dujardin’s performance as “a show stealer,” one FEI staffer said, “She doesn’t have nerves of steel, it seems she has no nerves at all.” Her trainer and friend Hester said that while he couldn’t get any sleep the night before he did his test, “Charlotte slept like a baby!”  Her uber-cool seems to be one of her greatest assets. “You wait a lifetime to get here (to the Olympic Games) and I would not want to spoil it by putting too much pressure on myself” she said.

Joanie Morris and Louise Parkes contributed to this report.

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