US Dressage Riders Shine in Grand Prix Special

Peters and Ravel Fourth, King-Dye and Mythilus Eighth, Heading into Freestyle at 2008 Olympic Games

By Joanie Morris

Hong Kong, China – The dressage riders temporarily reclaimed the ring from the show jumpers tonight at Sha Tin and although Germany continued to rule… the Americans put in an impressive showing.

Two US riders were in the fold and Steffen Peters and Ravel (who is owned by Aikiko Yamazaki) were first of the pair in the ring. Their test was brilliant, with no mistakes, Peters did a masterful job in the piaffe and passage and guided the relatively inexperienced horse with ease.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Peters after his ride which scored 71.80%. “All the trot work felt great, he was much more relaxed in the walk than he was the last time.”

The San Diego, CA based duo were ranked tenth individually in the team portion of the competition on Thursday but today everyone started with a clean slate. The 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding was undefeated in the US and was the convincing winner of the USEF Selection Trials prior to coming to theses Games, and he certainly did not disappoint his connections tonight.

“That was my expectation,” said Peters. “It’s just great. I feel like I had more horse tonight than in the Grand Prix, I’m beside myself. He was awesome.”

Peters is looking forward to the freestyle on Tuesday and is hoping for a duplicate performance to his winning effort at the Selection Trials in June. His music starts with The Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil, which has a very appropriate opening line for the new star.

“I’m hoping he does a freestyle like he did in San Juan Capistrano,” said Peters of his winning performance at the selection trials. “Then I’ll be happy.”

In a testament to the strength of the US team’s character, Peters dedicated his ride tonight to his fellow teammate Debbie McDonald. McDonald and Brentina did not make the individual final after an incredibly uncharacteristic performance in the team portion of the competition. Peters and McDonald have been teammates repeatedly and share medals from the 2006 World Equestrian Games.

“I dedicate this to Debbie and Brentina,” said Peters. “I feel so terrible about what happened to her, and I admire their performances so much.”

The second US pair was Olympic rookie combination Courtney King-Dye and Mythilus. They looked very comfortable in the ring for only their second time in the Olympic spotlight. King-Dye knew she had nothing to lose in the ring and she demonstrated lots of confidence during her test. “Only the top three scores count,” said King-Dye of her score of 70.80%. “So why not go for it?”

The New Milford, CT pair performed beautiful extensions and very accurate canter work, their score suffered from the judge at E, Gotthilf Riexinger, who ranked them 13th, the other judges all had them in the top places. “I think Mythilus was peaking before we came here,” said King-Dye. “Then I lost a little bit of time (with the trip). He still feels really fit.”

Mythilus, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by the Harmony Sport Horse Foundation, has been competing at this level for a year and developed into a world-class horse. They currently sit eighth in the world going into the freestyle. King-Dye designed new canter music for her freestyle which will debut here, The whole test is based around the song Sad Lisa by Cat Stevens.

Overall winner tonight was again German rider Isabell Werth and Satchmo, but their performance was not without incident. The 13-year-old Hanoverian stopped and resisted badly in the piaffe and was in danger of backing up into the side of the arena. Werth did a masterful job rescuing the test. Her scores had been up over 80, but the pair settled for 75.2%

Reining Olympic Gold medalist from The Netherlands, Anky van Grunsven rode Salinero to a score of 74.960% despite breaking twice to canter in the trot half-passes. Their score left them second going into the freestyle.

Another German combination: Heike Kemmer and Bonaparte slipped in front of Peters with a score of 72.40%.

The Individual medals for dressage will be decided on Tuesday, August 19 when the top 10 horses return to the ring for the Freestyle.

The show jumpers return to the ring for the next two evenings to battle it out for the Team medals, the US was the best of the group in last night’s First Individual Qualifier so they have the most advantageous draw, going last tomorrow night.