Creech, Barteau and Ots earn even more accolades on the final day of Dressage At Devon.

Thanks to downpours and oversaturated footing, the class entries on the final day of Dressage At Devon were significantly smaller than anticipated, but for the several riders who managed to pull off repeat victories, the blues were still hard-earned.

Devon rookie Diane Creech topped the Grand Prix for the Special on Friday afternoon and today she made a clean sweep of her classes with Wiona, an 11-year-old Hanoverian mare owned by Doug and Louise Leatherdale.

“You have to step back and let this all in,” Creech said. “I was here at the beginning of the breed show, and it was a lot to take in. Devon is the show to go to.”

Creech and Wiona scored 63.00 percent in the Special, despite some reluctance in their first piaffe and a few bobbles in the one-tempis.

“It was very soupy, like having suctions cups on the horses’ feet,” Creech said. “But it wasn’t slippery. You had to ride very balanced and a bit conservatively, but that was OK. [In the piaffe], she was trying to get out of the footing, and she just couldn’t, so I had to ask her to put a little bit more effort into it. During our one-tempis, she just didn’t know where to put her feet.

“This was my first year at Grand Prix, so I’m just trying to get more experience and get her getting more confident and strong,” she continued. “You don’t ride full tilt in footing like that, but if you stay balanced you’re alright.”

Creech, Caistor Centre, Ont., hopes to train in Germany over the winter, and is aiming for a spot on the Canadian team at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

Earlier in the day, Kassandra Barteau wrapped up a clean sweep of the young rider classes, taking first place in the FEI Young Rider freestyle with Robert Oury’s Gabriella on a score of 70.5 percent. That mark bested the second-placed score of Laura Noyes and Syncro by more than 3 percentage points.

Barteau has been riding the 16-year-old Hanoverian mare (Grosso Z—Wiebe) for six years, and the pair won the national young rider championship at the USEF Dressage Festival of Champions for the last two years running.

“I know my mare really well—upside down,” Barteau said. “It’s like a marriage. She’s really steady, and I feel so lucky and fortunate.”

Gabriella’s freestyle included music by Celine Dion and dynamic chanting tracks. While Barteau said she used to enjoy making her own musical selections, she has long since handed the task over to her mother, Yvonne, who does the musical editing and freestyle choreography for all the horses in the family’s KYB Dressage program.

“I’ve had some of ‘my’ music, but the judges never like it,” Kassie said. “It’s never a good idea. The techno version of ‘Für Elise’ turned out to be a bit too hectic!”

Barteau also won both the FEI Young Rider Team and Prix St. Georges tests with Gabriella earlier in the weekend and placed second in both classes with her other mount, GP Raymeister. The 9-year-old Holsteiner stallion is owned by Ginna Frantz.

When the Barteaus arrive back in Gilberts, Ill., after Dressage At Devon, they’ll be relocating their entire training program from their family farm to Frantz’s Grand Prix Equestrian facility. Also making the move will be KYB’s assistant trainer, Endel Ots, who earned his own freestyle win as well today. His victory was decidedly wetter than Kassie’s, however.

Ots had the last ride of the day with Kelly Roetto’s Bentley, and put in a fantastic test in the pouring rain to top Chris Hickey’s leading score with Bugatti Hilltop. Ignoring the downpour and floating easily over the soupy footing, Bentley earned a mark of 72.20 percent.

“He’s a machine,” Ots said of the 13-year-old Danish Warmblood. “You could drop him off a house and he would be sound. One of the judges pointed out that there was a hole in the arena where water was collecting, so I tried to adjust the test to stay away from that. But I tried not to worry so much and just ride. He was such a good boy. I was so happy.”

Bentley’s freestyle, also created by Yvonne, with some choreography help from her husband Kim, included music from Ocean’s 13 and Beetlejuice.

Ots’ first Devon victory came yesterday when he and Bentley topped the Intermediaire 1 class after a three-way tie for first broke in their favor. He said he never expected to find himself with two wins under his belt, particularly with such tough competition in the huge small tour classes.

“I saw Chris in the warm-up on [Bugatti] the first day I came here, and he was one of my favorite horses,” Ots said. “I saw him doing pirouettes and changes in the warm-up and I said, ‘Oh, forget it. I’ll just go out there and have fun.’ ”