When the dust settled, it was Ashley Holzer with Pop Art and Courtney King with Mythilus who emerged as winners in Friday’s Grand Prix competition at Dressage at Devon. Holzer won the FEI Grand Prix Qualifier for the Freestyle and King won the FEI Grand Prix Qualifier for the Special. With Idocus, King placed second behind Holzer in the freestyle qualifier. Holzer took her Grand Prix win with the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Pop Art (by Amsterdam) with a score of 71.250 percent. King earned her win with Mythilus, the 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Richard Malloch. The pair’s winning score was 68.375 percent. Coming in right behind them in second was Elisabeth Austin and Olivier with a score of 65.292.

It was Pop Art and Holzer’s first trip to Devon and Holzer didn’t expect her partner to handle it as well as he did. He looked a bit at the crowd of spectators when he first walked in, but then went right to work. “I’ve never really had him in a situation like this,” Holzer said. “I thought I’d have the same sort of horse I had at Blaineville, which was a wild horse. But, he was much more calm coming into the ring. So I was really thrilled with him for dealing with this sort of atmosphere.”

The center ring at Dressage at Devon is often a frightening place for horses not used to being surrounded by grandstand seating on three sides that’s filled with spectators. Holzer admitted that she may have over-ridden her warm-up thinking that Pop Art would be a bit hot. As a result, Pop Art was a bit tired near the end of his test. Nevertheless, he stayed with his rider. “He tried very hard at the end. He really gave it his all. He’s just that type of horse. He’s a beautiful horse, a very sweet animal. He’s like a pet,” Holzer said.

He was also not long ago, a very sick horse. Pop Art burst onto the grand prix scene last year at the Washington International Horse Show. He then went on to success on the Florida tour but in the spring became very ill with what Holzer still believes was some variant of the EHV-1 virus. She said Pop Art nearly died and she’s moved very slowly and carefully to bring him back. But after his Grand Prix wins at the New England Dressage Association’s Fall Festival earlier this month and now Devon, Pop Art seems to be back in top form. Holzer said she’ll campaign him in Florida this winter with the aim of taking him to Hong Kong for the 2008 Olympics. “But I’m a realist. I know it can disappear on you like that,” she said.

For her part, King was thrilled that Mythilus did so well, but she had a feeling it’d be a good ride as she left the warm-up. “As you know, it’s always a struggle just getting control and he came out in the warm-up really light in the bridle, really on the seat. For the first time since I’ve been showing him in the grand prix, I felt that I could trust him a little bit in the extensions.” Although they had mistake in the one-tempis, it wasn’t enough to take away the win.

Next stop for King and Mythilus – as well as Idocus and Rendevous – is Europe. They’ll be spending two months there this fall training with Klaus Balkenhol. King said she’ll also be competing in some European shows. They’ll return for the Florida season and the Olympic qualifiers and then, King said, “we’ll see what happens. One day at a time.” However way it goes, King does seem quite happy to have Mythilus under her care. “It’s really fun to be working with a horse with that much capability and that much talent and I think the next few months and year are really going to be exciting with him.”