Dutch Stallion Delivers When Stakes Highest

Summary

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International Dressage boasted a new exciting competition last weekend, when Florida hosted the 2009 World Dressage Masters event. Held at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Club in America, the temperature was unseasonably low but the quality of dressage was seriously high. The reigning Olympic Champion, Anky van Grunsven, lived dangerously in the Grand Prix on Friday as she only qualified for the Freestyle when Michael Barisone opted for the Grand Prix Special. Painted Black was uncooperative throughout the Grand Prix and van Grunsven made two errors of course, but in the freestyle those mistakes were a thing of the past. The Dutch rider showcased all of her experience and all of the quality of Painted Black and he delivered when the stakes were highest. Their score of 79.6 per cent meant the Dutch rider took home a lucrative reward of more than 21,000. "He was fine," said van Grunsven about her ride under the lights on the Dutch stallion. "Yesterday I was really surprised he was so spooky. Today I was really happy with him. Last weekend he was a bit more flashy, but with the trip and the weather I can only be very, very happy with how he was today."

America's hopes were high when Steffen Peters, who convincingly won the Grand Prix on Friday, went to task with his incredibly difficult freestyle with Ravel. The 12-year-old Dutch gelding always tries, but two mistakes early in the test made it an uphill climb for his San Diego rider. They finished in third on a score of 76.6 per cent and earned 11,000 for their effort. Ravel, who is owned by Yahoo founder Akiko Yamazaki, had been full of himself. Peters said: "He was a little fresh in the warm-up so in the first piaffe I went into it a little bit too passively and he took a walk step, when I corrected him he said, 'That's not a good idea'. There were wonderful moments in the test but the big mistakes were evident." Second place went to the ex Carl Hester horse, Escapado, ridden by Hans-Peter Minderhoud, who was a teammate of van Grunsven's in Hong Kong. The Dutch rider slipped ahead of Peters with a crowd- pleasing performance on Exquis Escapado and his rider was delighted: "In the last six months he has improved a lot and today he did his best freestyle ever". The evening ended with a twist as Anky gave a Reining exhibition. She demonstrated that she was completely at home in a western saddle so it now seems possible that she could well be riding in both the dressage and the reining competitions in the next World Equestrian Games.

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Dutch Stallion Delivers When Stakes Highest

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