Laura Graves & Verdades Lead All-American Victory Parade in Wellington CDI4* Grand Prix

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Laura Graves riding Verdades in the CDI4* Grand Prix in what has become their trademark final centerline passage. © 2016 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com
Laura Graves riding Verdades in the CDI4* Grand Prix in what has become their trademark final centerline passage. © 2016 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 16, 2016–Laura Graves and Verdades led an all-American victory parade in the CDI4* Grand Prix presented by Havensafe Farm Wednesday with runner-up Allison Brock on Rosevelt posting a personal best and the fourth United States combination to score above 74 per cent in the Grand Prix this Olympic year.

Laura and the 14-year-old KWPN gelding scored 76.280 per cent at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival that she credited to “new riding” with coaching from Debbie McDonald instead of “old training.”

The more intensive training for Laura and Verdades based in Plymouth, a community on the outskirts of Orlando, in preparation for the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is aimed at moving them up from the form that earned the pair fifth place in the 2014 World Games Freestyle and team gold and individual silver at last year’s Pan American Games.

Allison Brock and Rosevelt provided the most emotional moment of the competition of 20 pairs from six nations when the pair posted a personal best score of 74.080 per cent in the Grand Prix.

Allison, based in Wellington during the winter, and the 14-year-old Hanoverian stallion, came out of the arena in tears, happy that the pair produced their best score in three years at Big Tour on both sides of the Atlantic.

Like many riders, she was concerned about the abnormally high temperatures of close to 90F (32C) and the fact the pair had not competed in a month. She felt that Rosevelt was going better than ever at the CDI5* in mid-February but taking more risks was producing more mistakes.

Allison Brock on Rosevelt in the CDI4* Grand Prix posting a personal best score. © 2016 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com
Allison Brock on Rosevelt in the CDI4* Grand Prix posting a personal best score. © 2016 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

“I decided to stay home and work on our communications,” she said of Rosevelt, owned by Claudine and Fritz Kundrun, owners of the Flim Flam ridden at Olympics and world championships by Sue Blinks in the early 2000s and who are major sponsors of American high performance dressage.

“This was the first time I felt the stuff from the warmup,” she said of her trainer Michael Barisone, “came through in the test.”

The result was the only Grand Prix score above 74.080 per cent by a U.S. combinations this year, the others being Steffen Peters on both Legolas and Rosamunde and Laura Graves on Verdades.

For Kasey-Perry-Glass who moved from California to Wellington for the intensity of top sport the ride on Dublet, the first to go, was “a little bit on the conservative side” but earned the pair 72.660 per cent and their result above 72 per cent in just four Grand Prix starts.

Kasey said she may have kept the 13-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding, ranked fourth on the American Olympic standings, too long in the warmup. But “I had rideability today. He was right there with me. I know I can eventually push for more.”

Kasey Perry-Glass and Dublet in the CDI4* Grand Prix. © 2016 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com
Kasey Perry-Glass and Dublet in the CDI4* Grand Prix. © 2016 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

Results:

CDI4* Grand Prix
E: Saleh – FRA H: Rockwell – USA C: Eisenhardt – GER M: Foy – USA B: Nivelle – GER
Rider Nat. Horse E Rk. H Rk. C Rk. M Rk. B Rk. T Pl.
Graves, Laura USA Verdades 76.200 1 77.100 1 74.800 1 78.200 1 75.100 1 76.280 1
Brock, Allison USA Rosevelt 73.100 3 73.900 2 73.400 2 76.400 2 73.600 2 74.080 2
Perry-Glass, Kasey USA Goerklintgaards Dublet 70.800 5 72.800 3 70.500 3 75.700 3 73.500 3 72.660 3
Francis, Shelly USA Danilo 73.200 2 71.900 4 70.100 4 74.100 4 71.900 4 72.240 4
Wilcox, Lisa USA Galant 72.300 4 68.600 5 69.000 6 71.700 5 71.000 5 70.520 5
Layne, Kelly AUS Udon P 68.900 7 68.100 8 70.100 4 69.500 9 70.900 6 69.500 6
Griffith, Lara GBR Rubin Al Asad 70.000 6 66.200 14 68.700 7 71.100 6 67.500 9 68.700 7
Pavicic, Karen CAN Don Daiquiri 66.300 11 68.200 7 67.800 9 70.100 8 68.600 7 68.200 8
Matute Jr, Juan ESP Don Diego Ymas 68.700 8 68.100 8 68.400 8 69.200 10 65.500 11 67.980 0
Tomlinson, Laura GBR Rosalie B 64.900 14 68.500 6 66.900 12 70.600 7 67.800 8 67.740 0
Fraser, Brittany CAN All In 68.200 10 68.000 10 66.200 13 68.000 11 66.800 10 67.440 0
Irving, Jill CAN Degas 12 68.500 9 67.200 11 67.300 10 67.400 12 65.300 12 67.140 0
Dutta, Susan USA Currency DC 65.700 12 67.000 12 62.600 17 66.500 13 64.600 14 65.280 0
Vaughan, Joanne GEO Elmegarden’s Marquis 62.600 16 67.000 12 64.900 14 65.700 14 63.900 16 64.820 0
Wallenstein, Ricardo POR Bem Me Quer 65.500 13 62.700 17 67.100 11 64.500 16 63.700 17 64.700 0
Strasser, Evi CAN Renaissance Tyme 63.100 15 62.900 16 62.800 16 62.800 17 64.900 13 63.300 0
Tzinberg, Ellesse PHI Pavarotti 61.600 17 63.500 15 59.000 18 64.800 15 64.300 15 62.640 0
Pot, Adrienne USA Something Special 61.100 18 62.400 18 63.400 15 62.400 18 60.400 18 61.940 0
Brooks, Jacqueline M. CAN D Niro Elim.
Haddad-Staller, Catherine USA Mane Stream Hotmail Ret.