Omaha, Neb. – It was an exciting conclusion of the FEI Dressage World Cup™ Final presented Havensafe Farm with Saturday’s FEI Grand Prix Freestyle. The U.S. combinations put on strong performances in front of a suportive home crowd. Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper were the highest-placed U.S. pair in fourth place, while Anna Buffini and FRH Davinia la Douce were sixth and Alice Tarjan and Serenade MF were ninth.
"This was a very strong championship for our three combinations here in Omaha. Everyone continued to improve as the week went on, and I'm really proud of what we were able to accomplish," said Debbie McDonald, U.S. Dressage Technical Advisor. “The World Cup experience is something we always have combinations aim for and to be able to ride in front of a home crowd in this kind of championship environment is really special and something all three of these riders will remember."
(US Equestrian)
Peters (San Diego, Calif.) adjusted his famous freestyle with Suppenkasper from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to add more music and difficulty. Peters and the 2008 KWPN gelding owned by Akiko Yamazaki & Four Winds Farm impressed with movements, such as a canter pirouette into piaffe, and punctuated their test with a lovely extended trot to final halt with cheers from the crowd. They earned a personal-best freestyle score of 83.921% to close out their time in Omaha in fourth place.
“It was very good, very exciting. We tried to top it a little bit from Tokyo. We made it a little bit better, and that’s very hard because it was already such a good freestyle to start with. The crowd loved it, 'Mopsie' loved it, and I loved it,” said Peters. “The extensions were great. They worked so well. He was so with me—really uphill. Sometimes he gets a little low in the bridle, but today he was up, looking for every ounce of energy, and it felt amazing.”
Buffini (San Diego, Calif.) and FRH Davinia la Douce delivered an entertaining freestyle to music from “Top Gun: Maverick,” which included Buffini’s vocals during the walk music. They had a clean performance with creative movements, including one-tempis on a single loop serpentine. Buffini and her own 2007 Hanoverian mare scored 77.843% for sixth place.
“I’m thrilled. I couldn’t have asked for more; I couldn’t have asked for a better test. We were conservative on purpose on the first day to have a clean test and pushed more today. To still have a clean test when taking more risks is everything you could want,” said Buffini. “I hope [the crowd] loved it as much as I did. We made this for them, and I hope we made them proud.”
Tarjan (Oldwick, N.J.) concluded her World Cup Final debut with a freestyle highlighting Serenade MF’s elegance. The pair gave a solid performance with movements such as starting with a canter pirouette after the initial halt and demonstrated challenging movements like piaffe pirouettes in both directions. Tarjan and her own 2013 Hanoverian mare finished ninth with a score of 75.207%.
“I’m really happy with the horse. I think the horse was fantastic and redeemed herself from last time [after a miscommunication in the FEI Grand Prix Test]. It is a work in progress, of course, but we’ll keep training,” said Tarjan. “I think the trot work overall was pretty good, and the passage half-pass she was on for it.”
Competition Information
Learn more at omaha2023.fei.org.
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