“It was our first time back, and I was expecting to have to knock some rust off, but as it turns out, I was the only one with any rust. [Verdades] did everything I asked,” Laura Graves said.
In their first competition since earning the individual silver medal at the Pan American Games, Graves and Verdades picked right up where they left off—winning. Their score of 76.46 percent earned them blue in the Grand Prix at the USEF Dressage Festival of Champions at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival.
Graves, the 15th-ranked rider in the world, now leads the USEF Dressage Grand Prix National Championship, being held in Wellington for the first time, with two tests—the Special and the freestyle—remaining on Thursday and Saturday. Wednesday’s scores will comprise 45 percent of riders’ total championship scores. The Special on Thursday afternoon will make up an additional 40 percent of the overall score, and the final 15 percent will come from the final freestyle on Saturday night under the lights.
“I just kept asking him to pick up the right-lead canter I guess,” Graves said of the only bobble in their test, when Verdades transitioned to the canter during a transition from an extended trot to passage. “The thing is, now I’m having to learn to keep up with him. He was very on. He felt fresh and just the way I like him,
“I just didn’t quite keep up, and I felt some old habits come back. We’ve worked so hard on having the same horse in the show arena that we have in the warm-up, and I felt really good, like I finally have him where I want him, and I just need to retrain my body a little bit. But I’m very happy.”
Laura Graves and Verdades on their way to their Grand Prix win. Photo by Catie Staszak.
Graves, 27, and Verdades, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Florett AS—Liwilarda, Goya) were on their game enough to best Steffen Peters, who is seeking his fourth consecutive National Championship title, by more than 2 full percentage points. Peters finished second aboard Legolas 92 (74.22%), with whom he earned the Pan American Games individual gold medal in July; he also earned third-place honors aboard his other ride, Rosamunde.
“Thank God [Laura] pulled it off today, because I certainly didn’t do a good job today,” Peters said, ever the competitor and perfectionist. “It was still nice to see that Laura come out with a 76—I maybe saw it even a little bit higher. It’s excellent for the [U.S. dressage team].
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“Both [horses], I just didn’t really ride that well today. They both felt great in the warm-up, they were quite solid in the changes, and I think with Legolas, I was a bit too forward in the two-tempis. With [Rosamunde] I was too forward in the one-tempis.”
With Chef d’Equipe Robert Dover present, the Festival of Champions is the first major test for the American contingent on the road to the Rio Olympic Games next summer. While Graves has the Games on her radar, she is focusing on the present, as she looks to improve upon her reserve champion title at last year’s National Championships.
“Even though it’s still in the general vicinity, I still think of [Rio] as a long-term goal,” she said. “My goal right now is to hopefully have an upper 70 percent or close to 80 percent score tomorrow. So, that’s where my attention is really focused, knowing that if we conquer day by day, that we’ll be ready to go for Rio.”
On A Streak
Earlier in the day, Christina Vinios and her own Folkestone (Fidertanz—El Katulika, Rubenstein) topped a select field of eight to claim the top prize in the Prix St. Georges, the first of three events comprising the Intermediaire I National Championship.
Vinios and Folkestone earned a score of 70.63 percent—the only score in the class above 70—to narrowly hold off Shelly Francis and Patricia Stempel’s Rubinio (69.86%). Jane Karol and her own Sunshine Tour finished third (68.42%). It was the locally based Vinios’ first time back in the show ring with Folkestone since completing a clean sweep of the small tour classes at Dressage at Devon (Pa.) in October. Wednesday’s class marked the duo’s fourth straight victory.
“I’m excited,” she said. “I’m happy the first day’s over. Before I went in today, [trainer Juan Matute] said, ‘I know you always do well the second day, but I really want you to try to better today,’ so I tried, and I had a few little bobbles, but I’m getting there.”
Similarly to their large tour counterparts, Wednesday’s class will make up 45 percent of the small tour competitors’ total championship scores, while Thursday’s Intermediaire I test will comprise an additional 40 percent of that score. The final 15 percent of the score will come from an Intermediaire freestyle Saturday afternoon.
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“I liked the changes,” Vinios said of her Prix St. Georges test. “Those were pretty fun and straightforward. The pirouettes, I’ve been working to have more control coming in and do that first stride in a straight line and then turn. That didn’t go quite perfectly, but I want to try to work on that for tomorrow, not just flying into the pirouette, but really having that control. [I also want to work on] keeping the balance in the corners. Sometimes I try to really half-halt in the corner, but I get a little stuck in neutral sometimes, so I want to make sure that’s all nice and smooth.”
Christina Vinios and Folkestone, the Prix St. Georges winners. Photo by Catie Staszak.
Vinios, 32, has owned Folkestone, a 9-year-old Oldenburg gelding, since he was 4, having purchased him at an Oldenburg auction in Germany in 2010. The two won the first FEI 5-year-old class they ever competed in together, and Folkestone has continued to build upon that potential in the years since. The dark bay has had a banner season in 2015, capturing the Markel/USEF Developing Horse Prix St. Georges National Championship at the Lamplight Equestrian Center (Ill.) this summer in addition to his wins at Devon, which helped qualify him for the Festival of Champions.
“We’ve been working on a lot of little details, just riding every corner, getting the connection really good so that the movements are easier,” Vinios said. “[Folkestone] knows how to do everything; I just have to have the right connection.”
Vinios herself has also ascended quickly up the dressage ranks. A native of Massachusetts, she began her career riding hunters and jumpers, participating in the U.S. Pony Club and later riding in Intercollegiate Horse Show Association competitions while in college. When she first purchased Folkestone, she was “very new to dressage in general,” and she admits she still gets “a little itch to jump a few cross-rails sometimes.”
“I sort of feel like I started at the beginning with [Folkestone], and we both started together,” Vinios said. “He’s just a really good boy. He’ll do everything I ask. He tries so hard. I really love him. He’s very special
“When I first started riding dressage, I rode with [Robert Dover], and when I came out [today] he said to me, ‘Remember when I first told you that you actually had to sit the trot?’ I was really kind of forward [in my upper body], so it’s taken me a long time to sit up and look up, but I’m working on it.”
Check out more great photos from the Day 1 of the USEF Festival of Champions and see complete Grand Prix results and complete Prix St. Georges results.
Competition at the USEF Dressage Festival of Champions resumes Thursday with the Intermediate I test at 10:00 a.m. The Grand Prix Special will follow at 1:00 p.m. Make sure to follow along with the Chronicle!
