Gladstone, N.J. – June 16

Steffen Peters and Legolas secured their place on top of the rankings of the National Grand Prix Dressage Championship with a winning Grand Prix Special (77.95%) at the U.S. Equestrian Federation Dressage Festival Of Champions. Their average score over four tests and two weekends was 77.65 percent.

“Out of all four days, I think today he did the best piaffe and passage. He wants to do it,” said Peters. “I can’t believe how generous this horse really is.”

Legolas’s superior piaffe and passage made up for two bumbles in the tempi changes, mistakes Peters, 47, credited to the gelding’s youth.

“It’s not a physical [issue]. It’s a mental issue,” he said. “You have each day one or two tries to get the one-tempis done. If you try a third time, and it’s not happening, he gets really nervous. At the moment, it’s just patience.”

Peters’ win secures Legolas’ spot as an alternate horse for the Olympic dressage team.

Peters’ top mount, Ravel, received a pass from the selection trials and, barring an unexpected circumstance, will travel to England as part of the team. Ravel will arrive in New Jersey on June 19 from Peters’ base in San Diego, Calif. Peters and his two mounts will remain on the East Coast until they leave for England.

For Legolas, a 10-year-old Westphalian gelding (Laomedon—Fürstin, Florestan II) owned by Akiko Yamazaki’s Four Winds Farm, the role of alternate mount is exactly where Peters wants him. “It simply would be a bit soon for the Olympic Games. He could do it, but I get good reports at home about Ravel,” Peters said. “I hope everything continues as is for London.”

Watch Peters prepare for his winning ride.

As far as the rest of the team goes for the London Olympic Games, Tina Konyot and Calecto V, a 14-year-old Danish Warmblood stallion (Come Back II—Bahera, Rastell), secured their second-placed ranking with a 76.87 percent in the Grand Prix Special, finishing with an average of 76.87 percent over the four tests. Konyot, 50, joked that team Technical Adviser Anne Gribbons has a video feed on her around the clock to make sure she stays focused and serious.

“It took a little time just in general to become familiar with having a coach,” she said. “I’ve always been on my own my entire life as far as training and going to horse shows. But Anne’s known me since I was a little girl. She knows me well enough to tell me things. She often tells me to just shut up and show up, but with a sense of humor. She knows that I need that type of personality around me—someone with a sense of humor to keep it light.”

Konyot owns Calecto and regularly cross-trains him by trail riding and jumping to keep him fresh. Until the U.S. riders are due back at Gladstone for a final veterinary check before heading to England on July 9, Konyot, who lives in Canada during the summer months, plans to take Calecto on plenty of trail rides with hill work to keep him in shape.

Adrienne Lyle shook up the competition by finishing third in the last leg of the trials and fourth overall. As the last rider in the ring, she was vying with Todd Flettrich on Otto for the individual spot on the team.

Lyle and Wizard, a 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Weltmeyer—Pica, Clssiker) owned by Peggy Thomas of River Grove Farm, have competed as a team since Lyle took over the ride from Debbie McDonald in 2006. She is McDonald’s assistant trainer in Ketchum, Idaho.

Lyle’s ride pushed Jan Ebeling and Rafalca, a 15-year-old Oldenburg mare (Argentinius—Ratine, Rubinstein), into fourth place in the Special, but it wasn’t quite good enough to overtake Ebeling’s place in third for the selection trials. Ebeling will take the last spot on the U.S. team aboard the mare owned by Beth Meyer, Ann Romney and Amy Ebeling.

“That was a dream come true,” he said. “Somebody pinch me because I’m still dreaming.”

The extra publicity from Ralfalca’s part-owner Romney, wife of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, prompted the USEF to order foam fingers proclaiming, “Dressage is #1″ after Stephen Colbert performed a skitt about the sport on “The Colbert Report.”

Watch the USEF response to Colbert:

“There was really some distraction,” admitted Jan, who is based in Moorpark, Calif. “In the last few years, I’ve worked not just on the physical part of the riding, but the mental game as well. I really tried to focus, and I did. I only looked at the scoreboard once, and it looked good, so I thought, ‘Don’t look again!’ ”

In addition to the top four from the selection trials and Ravel, Gribbons hopes to fly one more horse-and-rider combination to England as an alternate. The riders will get to compete at Hickstead there in preparation for the Games.

For full results, visit Fox Village Dressage.

Watch the tests on USEF Network.

To catch up on all the news from the event, see the Chronicle’s coverage of the 2012 USEF Dressage Festival of Champions.