News
April 8, 2005
SEVERSON LEADS DRESSAGE IN FEI WORLD CUP QUALIFIER AT CHATSWORTH HORSE TRIALS
Olympic silver medalists, Kimberly Severson, 31, Scottsville, VA, and Plain Dealing Farm, Inc.’s 12 year-old English Thoroughbred gelding, Winsome Adante (Saunter) set the pace in the FEI World Cup (CIC***-W) Qualifier with a dressage score of 42.5 penalties. Currently in second place in a field of 32 starters at Carl Bouckaert’s farm near Chatsworth, North Georgia, USA, is Pennsylvania-based Australian rider, Phillip Dutton and Ann Jones’ nine year-old Thoroughbred gelding, The Foreman, on 45.0 penalties. Severson’s Olympic team bronze medalist partner, Darren Chiacchia, 40, with Dr. Timothy Holekamp’s 13 year-old Trakhener stallion, Windfall 2, (Habicht-Wundermaedel) are in lying in third place on 45.3.
Despite her lead, Severson was cautious in her post-ride remarks. “There’s still room for improvement,” said Severson of Dan’s third outing this year. “Parts of it were OK but parts were not. He’s not quite in tune,” she added. With her main sights set on reclaiming their title at the Rolex, Kentucky Three Day Event at the end of the month, Severson is encouraged that Dan gets in the groove the more he does.
Chiacchia is also using this event as preparation for the Kentucky event and hopes that the cross-country course has a chance to dry out by Sunday. “This event is not the goal for these horses [in the CIC event]; they need a confidence building course,” he stated. He was fairly pleased with his ride today with the stallion, who is in much demand for stud duties at this time of the year. “Overall it’s coming along a little bit better,” he commented on his performance. “I decided to back off him a little this year after three big years.”
Following torrential rainfall yesterday, dressage took place under cloudy skies with intermittent sunshine, which provided ideal conditions for a highly competitive field. Unfortunately, the heavy rain soaked the cross-country course and prompted the Ground Jury to move that phase to Sunday and run the show jumping tomorrow (Saturday).
Asked how he felt about the change in schedule, Chiacchia said “it’s much better… if you have rails down there’s no point in running them into the ground.” However he added that this format should be saved for championship horses.
In addition to the FEI World Cup Qualifier (CIC***-W), there is also Open Intermediate and Preliminary divisions that will be tested by Mark Phillips’ cross-country course as well as Combined Tests at Advanced and Open Intermediate level.
NOTE: Show Jumping will start at 11.00 am on Saturday and Cross Country gets underway at 9:00 am on Sunday with competitors going in reverse order of placing after the show jumping.
Full results are posted on the web site at www.bouckaertfarm.com.
Please visit the event website at www.bouckaertfarm.com for more details, start times and directions to the event.
Ends
For more information, please contact Chris Stafford, Press Officer, at media@necomms.com or at (859) 552-5705.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Horses names in parenthesis denote the sire (father) and dam (mother) of the competing horse. | |
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The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) World Cup event is a series of qualifying competitions, which take place around the world, including four in the US. This year’s final will be held in Malmo, Sweden, August 11-14th. For more information on FEI events, please visit www.horsesport.org. | |
A CIC event is a horse trials with the same format, i.e. dressage, cross-country and show jumping as the other divisions except that it is recognized by the FEI as an international competition. | |
Belgium international event rider, Carl Bouckaert, established the Horse Trials in 1988. Bouckaert Farm is one of the premier equestrian facilities in the world, offering a wide range of opportunities for the eventing enthusiast. The farm is also home to international 3-Day Event riders Nathalie and Michael Pollard. Additionally, many well known advanced horses presently reside at the farm, including Welton Molecule, Mr. Mullins, The Boomer, Nero, On the Button, Pinnacle Springbok, and Oliver Edgecombe. |