2002 Dressage at Devon

Safir, The Diamond in the Rough, Winner of the Grand Prix for Special

Winning the CDI Grand Prix qualifier for the Special were Michael Barisone and Safir. Scoring a nice 65.360%, Barisone topped a field of eight competitors. His divine 14-year old Danish bred mare Safir is such a show star. Her front leg is ever impressive but she can get so tense that engagement from behind fails. In her Grand Prix test, Safir showed the nicest piaffe-passage tour of all entries, but her extended trot was just exuberant and not classically correct. Nevertheless, Barisone and Safir were the most impressive pair of the class and deserved their victory.

Jan Brons and Fernando tied with Barisone in score (65.360%), but Barisone's collectives were higher, which made the latter win the trophy. Brons saddled Fernando, a bay gelding owned by Joe Zada and formerly shown by Susan Dutta. Under Brons, Fernando wonderfully displayed his potential and strength and showed constant collection throughout his test.

A third place was dedicated to Tina Konyot aboard the Russian gelding Abrikos. Abrikos' coat shone like the purest black pearl but the hernia under his belly after a "successful" colic surgery disfigured the total image of beauty. Abrikos' inner beauty and potential, however, was still intact and out in the open so that with little effort he showed his mastery over the piaffe and passage.

The trot tour and half passes are definitely Abrikos' forte but when the canter arrives, Abrikos' points mercilessly drop. The flying changes are short and tense and there is hardly any opening of the frame in the extensions. With 64.800% they earned the mark the pair deserved.

An unfortunate elimination took place for Gigi Nutter and Fahrenheit. The combination entered the ring with the whip and got eliminated on the centerline. Brian O'Connor was a great sport to encourage Nutter on her way out of the ring. "The only thing you can do when something like this happens is to smile and take the whip in your hand and carry it like a torch." The test was quickly over for Nutter, but the show will go on. The Grand Prix special is scheduled for Sunday September 29, 2002.

by Astrid Appels

Related Links
Scores of the Grand Prix for Special
Back to 2002 Devon Performance Index