The United States dressage team capped a successful weekend at CHIO Rotterdam by clinching the silver medal in the Nations Cup, finishing behind only the hosting Dutch team. Rotterdam is the last of three designated observation events that serve as part of the selection process for the 2016 U.S. Olympic team.
Laura Graves and her own Verdades came out in top form to secure the win in the CDIO5* Grand Prix Special. Their score of 77.314 percent earned them the blue ribbon. Steffen Peters and Four Winds Farm’s Legolas 92 also posted a key score for U.S. team, taking a close second place in the Grand Prix Freestyle with 79.65 percent.
“I couldn’t be more happy,” Graves said. “The feeling is like the feeling you ride in your dreams. I couldn’t be more happy with how our training is coming into the competition arena.”
Completing the U.S. effort were Shelly Francis and Patricia Stempel’s Doktor, who scored 72.8 percent in the Freestyle, and Kasey Perry-Glass, who rode Diane Perry’s Goerklintgaards Dublet to a mark of 71.765 percent in the Special.
Earlier in the day, Peters produced another winning performance for the U.S., riding Four Winds Farm’s Rosamunde to victory in the CDI3* Grand Prix Special. Their score of 75.157 percent gave them their second win at Rotterdam this year after also taking top honors in Friday’s Grand Prix.
The USA’s Allison Brock and Rosevelt, owned by Fritz and Claudine Kundrun, finished third in the CDI3* Special with a 73.176 percent. In the CDI3* Grand Prix Freestyle, Shelly Francis rode Patricia Stempel’s Danilo to a score of 70.95 percent for fifth place, while Guenter Seidel on James and Charlotte Mashburn’s Zero Gravity were 12th with a 66.675 percent.
Click here for complete scoring information: http://www.eurodressage.com/equestrian/2016/06/24/scores-2016-cdio-rotterdam
