Las Vegas, NV-April 16, 2009- Steffen Peters and Ravel brought the crowd to
their feet when winning the Dressage Grand Prix at the Rolex FEI World Cup™
finals at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas Thursday.
The 44 year
old German-born US rider who is based in San Diego, California clinched victory
with a score of 77.915%, pinning nine-time World Cup champion Anky Van Grunsven
into second spot while German star and two-time World Cup winner Isabell Werth
had to settle for third place.
The Rolex FEI World Cup™ Finals continue
at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas through Sunday. The Finals feature
World Cup Finals in the two Olympic disciplines of show jumping and
dressage.
The competition began with a difficult ride for Jan Ebeling
whose 12 year old mare, Rafalca, proved arena-shy on this big occasion and
fellow-American, Leslie Morse, also experienced deep disappointment when her 17
year old stallion, Kingston, was eliminated after becoming unsound at the
beginning of his test. Morse was devastated after leaving the ring on foot
after the Ground Jury rang the bell to call a halt to her effort. "I had the
most powerful amazing ride yesterday. It felt like eight or nine years of
togetherness had come together to such a fun time" she said afterwards. "I
could tell in the first corner, he felt unbalanced and I knew he wasn't right.
We respect the Ground Jury's decision....it was absolutely in the best interest
of the horse..."she agreed.
Ashley Holzer of Canada went into the lead
with Pop Art just before the half-way break, but The Netherlands' Hans Peter
Minderhoud pushed them down the order with a better mark for Exquis Nadine
before Werth and Satchmo changed the leaderboard once again when fourth-last of
the 14 starters to take their turn. Werth's score of 73.745% was immediately
surpassed by a mark of 74.170% from the defending champion whose horse, IPS
Painted Black, produced some spectacular extended trot.
It was Peters
however who completely stole the show with a magical performance from his 11
year old bay gelding. Just as they had done in the practice session the
previous day, the pair remained totally in tune with one another, Ravel earning
nine out of 10 marks from one judge for his excellent piaffe and two nine-point
marks for a fabulous extended canter while Peters himself was awarded nine
points for his riding position. Fans at the ringside waved a huge flag reading
"Bring it home Steffen" and he did just that, the final partnership of Monica
Theodorescu and Whisper finishing seventh when scoring 70.170%.
Van
Grunsven could not bring her triple World Cup winning ride Keltec Salinero this
time around and was further hampered during the qualification period by a
recurring back injury which kept her periodically out of the saddle but she was
pleased with her horse's effort. "Riding him here has been a new challenge for
me, I was not sure how it would be but his confidence is growing and I'm
satisfied and feel very happy with my second place today" she said.
Werth
said she had to be cautious when going into her first pirouette because Satchmo
was nervous of the sound of camera-shutters - "please don't click on Saturday
night!" she said with a laugh to the photographers.
Ravel however was
totally at ease in the electric atmosphere and Peters found it hard to describe
his delight at the final result. "He gave it all to me today, I didn't have to
push him hard he just gave me all the movements - I'm beside myself with
excitement!" he said.
"He was just like this yesterday in the warm-up,
even when the spectators were clapping and screaming when he was executing some
of his movements. He is showing so much more maturity since he competed at the
Olympics in Hong Kong which was his first big international event. Today we
didn't have to hold back and I could take some calculated risks and they really
paid off. I can't tell you how happy I am!" he declared.
The Grand Prix
result however does not influence the battle for the 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup™
dressage title which will be decided on Saturday night during the Freestyle
competition, and a huge influx of Californian supporters are expected to turn up
to watch the battle played out under the Las Vegas spotlights.
Friday's
schedule at the Thomas & Mack Center promises plenty more entertainment with
world-class competition in the Olympic/Grand Prix Pas de Deux Challenge which
will feature big stars performing in pairs. This will be followed by the
International Superstar Young Horse Exhibition but the highlight will be the
emotional retirement of Debbie McDonald's mare Brentina, the only US dressage
hose to win the World Cup final. The partnership represented the USA at both
the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games and led the team to bronze medal position in
Athens in 1999.
"It was six years ago that Brentina and Debbie McDonald
earned the United States' first and only FEI World Cup Final Championship, so it
is only appropriate that they return here to Las Vegas to celebrate a career
that is one of the all-time best in the sport of dressage" said Pat Christenson,
President of Las Vegas Events.
RESULTS
Rafalca/Jan
Ebeling USA: 53.915
Kingston/Leslie
Morse USA: Eliminated
Diamore/Marco
Bernal COL: 62.553
Regardez Moi/Heath Ryan AUS: 64.638
Don Charly/Minna Telde SWE: 68.979
Bjorsells Briar 899/Jan Brink SWE: 70.043
Pop Art/Ashley Holzer CAN: 72.511
Jeanette Haazen/Nartan NED: 70.383
Randon/MichalRapcewicz POL: 68.128
Exquis Nadine/Hans Peter Minderhud NED: 73.064
Satchmo/Isabell Werth GER: 73.702
IPS Painted Black/Anky Van Grunsven NED: 74.170
Ravel/Steffen Peters USA: 77.915
Whisper/Monica Theodorescu GER:70.128
