Emily Wagner and Wake-Up Lead the Way in the Six-Year-Old Young Horse Division

Complete Results for Six Year Old Preliminary Test on centerlinescores.com
In the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championship 6-year-old division the standard was set earlier. Members of the 2005 foal crop demonstrated fluid gaits and a strong foundation in advanced movements such as half-pass and flying changes. Emily Wagner (La Cygne, KS) and her own American-bred Warmblood stallion Wakeup performed a strong and powerful test to score an 8.88. The judging panel of Janet Foy, Gary Rockwell and Anne Gribbons rewarded Wakeup (Wagnis - Maiden Montreal by Macho) for a mature performance demonstrating phenomenal cadence in the trot work and a fluid walk tour. The pair made their 10-hour drive from Kansas well worth the trip scoring a 9.2 for their trot, an 8.8 in the walk, 8.5 and 8.9 for the canter and submission respectively. Their general impression score, a 9.0, was the highest of the day.
For Wagner, today's performance was especially meaningful as Wakeup is a member of the second generation of horses she has competed successfully. "His dad was my Young Rider Horse. It's so cool because I know his whole family, his brothers and half-brothers," she said.

Watch The video of Emily Wagner at the press conference

Silva Martin and Faye Woolf's Aesthete (Trento B - Unusual by Gribaldi) rode to a score of 8.62 for second place, last year's 5-year-old champion Bon Chance (Bellisimom - SPH Wintersong DE by Weltmeyer) owned and ridden by Caroline Roffman stand in third after scoring 8.16. With today's Preliminary Test accounting for 40% of the overall score, the Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championship for 6-year-olds is still up for grabs and will conclude Sunday with the Final Test being weighted at 60% of the championship average.

Janet Foy, the judge who announced today and involved in the judges program and Young Horse program since its inception spoke for her fellow judges Anne Gribbons and Gary Rockwell, "My panel  were so impressed with all the 6 year olds. This program is now over 10 years old. We have seen the growing pains. This year the horses were all top quality and superbly ridden. We are very excited to see how the standard has been raised. It was wonderful to think about how high of an 8 and even giving 9's this year! Even the horses with small mistakes show an amazing amount of talent for the future. Congratulations to all of the riders and trainers and owners, we are so impressed and really looking forward to seeing the 4 and 5 year olds tomorrow."

The quality field of this morning's competition means that the future of dressage in the U.S. shines brightly. Wagner was extremely complimentary of the entire Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Program and believes the focus on the up-and-coming horses will benefit the sport on every level.

"This is a fantastic program; it brings so much attention to the young horses," she said. "If we expand our base of young horses it will only help the High Performance base."

Visit this link more news, results, video and photos from the Markel/USEF Championships.