2007 Dressage at Devon Presented by WT Direct

2007 Dressage at Devon Grand Prix Freestyle Win Goes to Lars Petersen and Succes
By Lynndee Kemmet for Dressagedaily.com

The highly popular Grand Prix Freestyle evening at Dressage at Devon did not disappoint and when the music stopped, it was Lars Petersen and Succes in the winner’s circle. Right behind them in a very close second place were Courtney King and Idocus. Petersen finished with a score of 73.40 percent and King with 73.00. Finishing third was Ashley Holzer and Pop Art with a score of 72.10.

That meant three different countries were represented among the top three finishers. Petersen rides for Denmark, King for the U.S. and Holzer for Canada. Barnabas Mandi, head of the ground jury, said it was the difficulty of Petersen’s ride that gave him the edge. “The combination of the different movements was so difficult and the horse was all the time a happy horse. That means the horse was happy to do these very, very difficult exercises. And I think at one piaffe movement, I gave a nine and a lot of 8s. It was really nice to see,” Mandi said.

He also had high praise for King saying that she did very well and “she’s even younger than Lars and so has a good future. It was nice to see someone so young who was so calm and so concentrated.” His view of Holzer’s ride was that Pop Art, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Amsterdam out of Jody Prinses, was simply tired and Holzer agreed. “I had a problem because I had a very tired 10-year-old Grand Prix horse that was also very nervous, very worried about the whole atmosphere,” she said. “But I was pretty proud of him and he really pulled off that last piaffe today.”

King said she was quite content to place second behind Lars adding that “I look up to all these competitors. I think they’re amazing riders to emulate.” She said that the 17-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion by Equador wasn’t quite his usual supple self. “He usually likes the electric atmosphere because it makes him up. But, he came a little bit against the bit and usually he’s a very soft horse. I was unhappy that I didn’t have the suppleness I usually have but I was happy that he didn’t make a mistake and he tried to be very, very honest especially with the complicated tempi series.”

Petersen was clearly ecstatic with his ride, not because it earned him the blue ribbon, but because he saw it as a big step for Succes, a 12-year-old Danish gelding by Blue Hos Silvermoon out of Wapeti. “I was very happy with him because he’s never gone under lights, he’s never gone before that many people. I don’t think I’ve ever ridden a grand prix where he didn’t spook or jump away. So I think this is a very big step for me to go through this without him getting too happy.”

Petersen rode a freestyle that he had used some years back with Caban. He had considered another but it wasn’t technically difficult enough. And, he didn’t have time to create one because the decision to enter Succes in the Grand Prix Freestyle rather than the Special was rather last minute. It was a last minute decision that clearly paid off.