Akiko Yamazaki Finds Winners Circle in Region 7 Intermediaire I Championship

Akiko Yamazaki of Los Altos Hills, Cal found her way to the winner’s circle with her KWPN gelding Chopin R after scoring 71.118% in the Great American/USDF Region 7 Intermediaire I Adult Amateur Championship. (Photo by Jennifer M. Keeler)

Having already earned two reserve championships earlier in the show, Akiko Yamazaki of Los Altos Hills, Cal. finally found her way to the winner’s circle with her KWPN gelding Chopin R after scoring 71.118% in the Great American/USDF Region 7 Intermediaire I Adult Amateur Championship.

“In retrospect, I think I made a mistake by not doing the warm-up classes earlier in the weekend,” Yamazaki explained. “My family has had a busy summer so I haven’t shown since June, and as a result the horses were a little fresh in our first tests yesterday and we didn’t have our best goes. Chopin can get a little tense in the canter work, and yesterday was a bit of a challenge because I could hardly put my leg on! But today he really let me ride him and we got back in the groove and were able to show what we can do.”

In the afternoon’s Great American/USDF Region 7 Grand Prix Open Championship, Charlotte Jorst was first down centerline but set a mark of 71.000% that was untouchable for the duration of the class to earn her second win of the day, this time aboard her Danish Warmblood gelding Kastel’s Akeem Foldager. In the Adult Amateur ranks, Michelle Freels from Granite Bay, Cal. earned the championship with her 14-year-old KWPN mare Wynnona (59.750%).

Wrapping up musical freestyle competition at this year’s Championship Show was Karen Cornelius of Nipomo, Cal. and her young Hanoverian stallion Fiderello, who once again wowed the crowd and the judges to win the perpetual trophy for CDS First Level Freestyle by a double-digit margin and a mark of 77.750%, while Diane Abraham of Los Gatos, Cal. and her Oldenburg mare Dasha earned their second victory of the week by earning the Dawn West Perpetual Trophy for their Phil Collins-themed Second Level freestyle with 64.417%.

For more information about the 50th Anniversary California Dressage Society Championship Show, including news, schedules, ride times, and results, visit the CDS website and follow along with behind-the-scenes updates and photos on the CDS Facebook page.