Steffen Peters on Legolas. File photo. © Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com
DEL MAR, California, Mar. 11, 2016–Steffen Peters got Legolas “very relaxed” to win the CDI3* Grand Prix Friday at the revived Dressage Affaire with a result at championship level.
Steffen and the 14-year-old gelding, ranked sixth in the world, scored 77.500 per cent that was the best for the pair in a year and eclipsed the duo’s gold medal performance at last summer’s Pan American Games.
Günter Seidel of Cardiff, California on Zero Gravity, the 12-year-old KWPN gelding that he will take to the World Cup Final later this month, placed second on 70.880 per cent. Jan Ebeling of Moorpark, California on FRH Rassolini was third on 68.300 per cent.
Emma Weinert-O’Rourke competed her Velvet WD in the pair’s first international Grand Prix to score 66.460 per cent for sixth place.
Emma, based in California with Shannon and Steffen Peters for several years, competed the KWPN mare now 14 years old, at Small Tour in 2012. The pair have competed at national Grand Prix.
“Legolas was very relaxed today,” said Steffen of San Diego, California competing for the first time since the Adequan Global Dressage Festival CDI5* in Wellington, Florida where Legolas became tense in reaction to the atmosphere.
“It was important for him to cruise through a test without any tension. It was exactly the feeling I was looking for. The expression came from suppleness and relaxation. This is the situation I’ll try to create for Legolas in the Freestyle.”
Steffen on Legolas was ranked at the top of the World Cup North American League but opted to focus on the American Olympic team rather than go to the Final in Gothenburg, Sweden.
He also rode Bailarino to victory in the Prix St.Georges on a score of 74.842 per cent, the first CDI for the eight-year-old Oldenburg gelding.
Bailarino (Breitling W x De Niro) “did a wonderful job, he was a pleasure to ride,” Steffen said of the horse that is owned by Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang’s Four Winds Farm as are the Grand Prix mounts Legolas and Rosamunde and the now-retired Ravel, 2009 World Cup champion and 2010 World Games individual medal winner as well as 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic team horse.
The Dressage Affaire competition was restored by the organizers of the California Dreaming Productions and incorporated into their lineup of Southern California shows.
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