Sunday, February 5, 2007

Super Sunday at Wellington Dressage Bails Out Wash Out

Arlene Page and Wild One Win USEF Grand Prix Special, High Performance Qualifier at Wellington Dressage

Page and Wild One have accumulated the scores to qualify to compete in the USEF National Grand Prix Freestyle Championship/U.S. League Final, which will be held March 17-18 in Wellington and will determine the rider who will represent the U.S. at the World Cup Final in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in April. She and the talented gelding also have the scores to qualify to compete in the USEF National Grand Prix Championships and World Equestrian Games (WEG) Selection Trials, which will be held at the Festival of Champions at Gladstone, June 15-18. The WEG will be held August 20 to September 3 in Aachen, Germany. Though it would mean two roundtrips to Europe to compete in both, Page is aiming Wild One for both the World Cup and the WEG.

“I am 49, and time and pride are waiting for me to get a little American flag on my jacket,” Page said. “There comes a time when you have to take your opportunities when they knock. My horse is coming 10, and maybe there are times in horses’ lives when you say, ‘You’ve got to take the ball this year because you’re the young healthy quarterback’.” Page, who lives in Wellington, trains with Lars Petersen and Klaus Balkenhol, the U.S. Chef d’Equipe for dressage, and said that both trainers had advised her to wait until she is selected to both competitions before making any decisions on which one or both she would compete in. “I would defer to Klaus’s decision,” Page said.