DRESSAGE DAILY | NEWS
Steffen Peters and Powerhouse Suppenkasper Lead Record-Breaking Sweep in Wellington
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Posted by Alice Collins for Jennifer Wood Media, Inc.
WELLINGTON DRESSAGE
Peters’ score represented a new personal best in this test, and his delight with Suppenkasper, Four Winds Farm’s 12-year-old gelding, was evident as he punched the air. Canada’s Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu rode All In to a new personal best score of 73.447% in this test to finish second, with Sabine Schut-Kery (USA) finishing third on Sanceo with 72.979%.
Photo - Steffen Peters continues his winning streak on Suppenkasper, topping the FEI Grand Prix Special CDI5*, presented by Palm Beach Equine Clinic, with a new personal best of over 77%. (©️Susan Stickle)
Despite a mistake in the middle of the one-time changes on the diagonal, this was the first time Peters had broken the 77% barrier and repays the faith he has had in this giant and extraordinarily athletic horse.
“He’s been at 76% for some time,” said a delighted Peters. “I knew there’s a 77% in there and we’re slowly and consistently creeping up, so without the mistake it would have been even higher. It’s so very exciting to see ‘Mopsie’ getting a 77%.
“It felt really good for him to still after four shows have this energy,” added Peters, who is based in California. “The horse has so much go, it’s incredible. I didn't push him for one single extension; in fact I was still holding back a little bit.”
The test was fault-free apart from a blip in the middle of the diagonal of one-time changes.
“He’s done six tests without a mistake, so today he was allowed one and I’m not sure it was his mistake, there is always the rider involved too. To be honest, I just did not feel comfortable with the way my underwear was sitting so when I came in, that’s what I was thinking about. Thank god it didn’t cause me more trouble than just a missed one-tempi.”
Watch Steffen Peters' winning test here. Courtesy of Richard's Equine Video.
Both Peters and Schut-Kery have been training with Debbie McDonald while in Wellington, and the legendary trainer identified what went wrong for Peters in the flying changes right away.
“Debbie said she thought that before the one-tempis I rode him just a little too forward on the short side to get a bit more energy and ride the one-tempis with risk,” explained Peters, who was on the bronze-medal winning USA team at the Rio Olympics in 2016. “She’s absolutely right that I didn’t need to do that.”
Fraser-Beaulieu, who had her first child eight months ago, stormed to a new personal best on her own 15-year-old All In, a son of Tango. That was despite breaking to canter in two extended trot movements.
“I was very excited about how All In felt today,” she said. “I had a very short warm-up, just 15 minutes — which was maybe a little bit too short — but he came out feeling better than ever and I thought the passage was pretty incredible today. Both extensions were completely my fault; I pushed him too much because I was trying to beat Steffen! So that was totally rider error, but to come out and have two 73% scores this week — personal bests on both days — that’s very exciting leading up to Tokyo.”
Schut-Kery had a tricky start to her test on Alice Womble’s 14-year-old San Remo stallion Sanceo, which saw the pair trending below 70% for the first portion of the test.
“He was definitely hot, I could feel it in the warm-up, but then there was no more time so you have to just get going,” she said. “But, as a rider, I’m almost more happy because it’s amazing if you can turn it around in the test and I felt like I had a really nice canter tour from him. He recovered and I was able to carry that into my final piaffe and passage on the centerline. I also have to remember that he really hasn’t done that many grands prix, so I am all smiles.”
Week seven of the 12-week AGDF concludes on Sunday with six international classes, including young horses, amateur classes and under-25 competition, as well as the FEI Intermediate II CDI3* and the culmination of the small tour contests, the FEI Intermediate Freestyle CDI3*. AGDF 2020 runs for 12 weeks, through March 29. For more information and results, visit www.globaldressagefestival.com.
Results
Place, rider, nationality, horse, horse information: judge E%, judge H%, judge C%, judge M%, judge B%, final score
FEI Grand Prix Special CDI5*, presented by Palm Beach Equine Clinic
E, Mike Osinski (USA); H, Peter Storr (GBR); C, Mariette Sanders-Van Gansewinkel (NED); M, Raphael Saleh (FRA); B, Susie Hoevenaars (AUS)
1. Steffen Peters (USA) on Suppenkasper, Four Winds Farm’s 12yo KWPN gelding by Spielberg: 77.021, 76.17, 77.234, 77.34, 77.766, 77.106
2. Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu (CAN) on All In, her own 15yo KWPN gelding by Tango: 73.298, 73.83, 73.298, 73.617, 73.191, 73.447
3. Sabine Schut-Kery (USA) on Sanceo, Alice Womble’s 14yo Hanoverian stallion by San Remo: 73.191, 73.298, 73.298, 73.83, 71.277, 72.979
4. Charlotte Jorst (USA) on Kastel’s Nintendo, Kastel Denmark’s 17yo KWPN stallion by Negro: 72.34, 72.872, 74.043, 72.447, 72.34, 72.808
5. Adrienne Lyle (USA) on Harmony’s Duval, Duval Partners LLC’s 12yo Danish Warmblood gelding by Rousseau: 74.574, 70.957, 71.064, 70.957, 74.468, 72.404
6. Naima Moreira Laliberte (CAN) on Statesman, KML S.A.R.L’s 13yo Hanoverian gelding by Sandro Hit: 71.596, 72.128, 71.596, 72.34, 70.745, 71.681
7. Agnete Kirk Thinggaard (DEN) on Blue Hors Zatchmo, her own & Blue Hors’ 11yo Oldenburg stallion by Zack: 68.085, 70.426, 71.702, 71.064, 67.979, 69.851
8. Heather Blitz (USA) on Semper Fidelis, Rowan O’Riley's 14yo Oldenburg mare by Sir Donnerhall: 69.894, 70.532, 68.723, 71.489, 66.915, 69.511
9. Jaimey Irwin (CAN) on Donegal V, Team Irwin Supporters’ Group’s 12yo Danish Warmblood gelding by Johnson: 66.383, 70.106, 66.383, 65.319, 65.106, 66.659
10. Joanne Vaughan (GEO) on Elmegardens Marquis, her own 21yo Danish Warmblood gelding by Michellino: 63.936, 64.681, 64.681, 65.851, 64.468, 64.723
