Dr. Cesar Parra, 39, of Jupiter, Florida, took first and second place in the Intermediaire II class at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI in Loxahatchee, Florida, on opening day, March 1. He won the class on Robinson with a 63.805% and placed second with Alibaba, scoring 63.268%. Parra was awarded the Jennifer Wesson Memorial Trophy, a perpetual trophy for the CDI Intermediaire II class at the Derby.

Robinson is a 12-year old gelding by Rubenstein that Dr. Parra owns. Alibaba (Alibi x Hjerter Dame) is a 12-year-old Dutch warmblood gelding owned by Emmy Adwers of Wellington, Florida.

“I was very happy with the performances of the two horses,” said Dr. Parra, who is based in New Jersey. Both horses arrived less than six weeks ago at Dr. Parra’s winter facility in Jupiter. He said they are still adjusting to their new rider. “Both of them come from very different trainers,” he said, adding that the two horses are also very different from each other. Robinson is light and sensitive to the aids, while Alibaba is strong and powerful. “I’m very happy to have the scores that we received from the panel that we had. The judges are not only hard but they’re the best we have in the sport in the world. It was very interesting.”

The five “O” judges, presiding at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby were Eric Lette, Mariette Withages, Uwe Mechlem, Linda Zang and Francis Verbeek-vonRooy.