A grand (prix special and freestyle) night for dressage

The winners of last night’s 5-star dressage Grand Prix Special and Freestyle were the same admired competitors as in the qualifying classes earlier this week, but the atmosphere in the International Arena lifted riders and spectators alike into a new dimension of excitement at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.

You couldn’t over-estimate the effect of having a larger stage–and a larger crowd–than at the Equestrian Village, the home base of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival a half-mile down the road in Wellington, Fla.

The VIP section, the Tiki Hut and box seats at PBIEC all were filled, and the general admission crowd also made its enthusiasm felt for a series of bravura performances in both divisions.

The fans were really into it, clapping in rhythm as freestyle winner Frederic Wandres of Germany made his final trip down centerline with only one hand on the reins, while his mount Bluetooth Old clicked out a finely tuned passage.

“This is always an incredible feeling,” said Frederic, who was beaming with satisfaction.

“I think as a rider, you know that it must have been not that bad when the crowd is already clapping on the last centerline, and it always also pushes the horses a little bit more to come out of them and to shine and to make themselves proud.”

The crowd also cheered with justified enthusiasm for the USA’s darling, Adrienne Lyle, and Salvino in the Special. The stallion’s every step looked polished, a happy horse who knows his job under the guidance of a loving rider who has developed his potential by asking enough, but never too much.

I chatted with Adrienne’s husband, veterinarian David Da Silva, after her test and asked what he thought of her ride.

“Amazing. Flawless. Perfect,” he told me. That was an accurate sum-up of what I was thinking about a test marked at 79.511 percent, just a bit short numbers-wise of her two 80 percent-plus efforts in 2020 and 2021, although one judge had her at 81.489. But it still put her far ahead of runner-up Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén of Sweden, who scored 69.617 percent with Devanto.

The rapport Adrienne has with Salvino is the key to success based on mutual respect.

“Every time I ask for anything” Adrienne commented about the 15-year-old son of Sandro Hit, “he says `Yes,’ and `how much?’ You say `jump’ and he says `how high?’

“He’s just unbelievable in that ring. He brings me to tears. He’s feeling better, more solid, I can really take my foot off the brake. I can really go for it. He goes when I say `go.’ He’s right there, really balanced, he feels real strong behind in the collection.

She added, “It’s really exciting. He loves it. I know him. I know when he feels 100 percent and when not, and I will never, ever push him when he doesn’t.”

That’s what happened at the Olympics. After the team secured its silver medal in Toky last year, Adrienne decided to let Salvino rest instead of pursuing individual honors in the freestyle. It proved to be a wise decision, as demonstrated by yesterday’s performance, only his second since the Games.

And she has the full backing of Salvino’s owner, Betsy Juliano, who is there for every competition to show her support. At this show, Betsy’s Havensafe Farm was also the presenting sponsor, which meant she had the option of giving away the trophy or keeping it!

I’ve told this story before, but I think it bears repeating. I met Adrienne in 2005 when she was a working student for Debbie McDonald. I was writing a book on Debbie, and Adrienne posed for photos to illustrate training concepts.

I’m not sure Adrienne would have believed me then if I had played fortune teller and said she would be a two-time Olympian, going on to win team silver medals in Tokyo and at the 2018 world championships.

But I believed from the start that she had the drive, intelligence and ability to take advantage of all she was learning from Debbie and bring it to the highest level of the sport. She impressed, even then, and for me, it’s been so satisfying to see her develop into such an outstanding competitor. No, make that outstanding horsewoman, because that’s more important than just winning.

In the freestyle, it’s interesting how wise choices of music can totally enhance a test, while unwise combos of, say, tunes that don’t flow together, can jangle the observer.

Frederic’s music included the crack of thunder at several moments. I never heard that during a freestyle before, and it added quite an element of drama to a ride graded at 81.165 percent for the high score of the night.

“It’s kind of modern and a mixture between everything,” he said when I asked him about the music, which had a distinct buzzy lift to it.

“It’s really into the beat and fits good for piaffe/passage. That was important for me when I created the music, to have something that fits good for the horse in piaffe/passage and is also is good into the ears of the crowd.

“They can start to clap and things like that. I think it’s important when you choose the music that it’s getting supported to the people that are watching you and cheering for you. I designed it with our freestyle producer.”

Fredric told me the base song for it was “Tuesday,” which I see has a music video. Bluetooth should star in the next video of the tune if they are thinking of a re-do. He could be another “rave horse,” like Suppenkasper was at the Olympics.

Also very impressive was the way freestyle runner-up Laurence Vanommeslaghe had her Edison dancing to “Smoke on the Water.” The crowd was with her every second, and clapped along in delight.

A charming Paris-based Belgian who rides as an amateur, she won the freestyle over at the Equestrian Village two weeks ago and felt her horse was even better last night, earning 79.430 percent.

Third in the field of 13 with 78.925 percent was Juan Matute Guimon of Spain, a local favorite who spent a lot of time in Wellington before returning to his homeland.

He survived a life-threatening stroke in 2020 and is back stronger than ever with Quantico. He has big plans, looking toward the World Cup finals in Leipzig, Germany, this spring and then perhaps the world championships in Denmark this summer.

When I asked if he might have a chance to be on the team there, he gave me his trademark grin and said, “Come on, of course! I’m ready for the battle.”

It has been amazing to see such top dressage performances in an arena usually reserved for the show jumpers. (there were still jumps behind the dressage ring because of an 8 a.m. start for a jumper class this morning.)

I can guarantee this won’t be the last time dressage comes to PBIEC. For a fuller explanation of that, click on this link to read my story from Wednesday night’s class.

Click here for the Grand Prix Freestyle results.

Click here for the Grand Prix Special results.