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Sunday, June 29, 2008

Olympic Selection Trials for Dressage at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Festival of Champions

Steffen Peters Holds the Lead Heading into Final Round of Grand Prix Championship at 2008 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Festival of Champions
By Lynndee Kemmet for DressageDaily.com

San Juan Capistrano, California – Watching Courtney King-Dye and Mythilus in their Grand Prix test ride, Steffen Peters thought for a moment they may have edged ahead of he and Ravel but when the final scores were tallied, Peters and Ravel came out on top scoring a 75.25 percent. King-Dye and Mythilus scored 75.208.

"Every single movement, I just thought it was an incredible ride," Peters said of King-Dye's ride. "For a moment I thought she had it." The win meant that Peters remained undefeated in Grand Prix competition this year and it was his 10th straight Grand Prix win. Rounding out the top three in Saturday's Grand Prix was Debbie McDonald with Brentina and a score of 73.042 percent.

The final round of Grand Prix competition to determine who will be the National Grand Prix champion and who will represent the U.S. at the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong is the Grand Prix Freestyle scheduled for today. The Grand Prix competition consists of four phases.

Today's freestyle counts for only 10 percent of the final score. And going into this final round, Peters is leading to be the Grand Prix champion and the U.S. Olympic Dressage Team is taking shape. The three leaders for team spots are Peters with Ravel, King with Harmony's Mythilus and McDonald with Brentina.

A number of riders are vying for the fourth alternate position with the leaders being Leslie Morse with Kingston, Sue Blinks with Mark and Michael Barisone with Neruda. Barisone withdrew Neruda from competition this weekend but could take the alternate spot using his scores from last weekend.

Peters was as thrilled with his Saturday ride on Ravel as were the judges, but admitted to mistakes. "Every second was perfect relaxation and suppleness. It just went so well that I just trusted him a little too much in that last piaffe and that's where that the transition into the piaffe was a bit of trouble."

Asked if he felt Ravel had enough gas left to make it through Sunday's freestyle, Peters said absolutely. It will be the unveiling of a new freestyle for Ravel. "I've tried it many times at home, of course, and it was great.

But, it's always a little different at a show." What the freestyle will be, Peters wouldn't say. "It's not a secret but it's more of a surprise and it's more fun that way."

Peters also made it clear that he views his success as a team effort. "I would like to say that most of the time it's like a movie and the riders become famous like actors and everybody forgets about the directors and the producers of each movie.

They don't get as much credit. It's the same here. None of this would ever happen without the support of my wife Shannon, without the support of Jerry and Akiko Yamazaki, who own Ravel, without my good friend Rafael Hernandez, he's been the groom now for a long time.

Tom Meyers has been the physical therapist and John Zucker does the security for us at night. So, it's a huge team effort. The rest of the crew deserves just as much credit."