Alice Tarjan continued her march toward the national Grand Prix Dressage Championship today, taking the Grand Prix Special with Serenade MF on 73.467 percent at the Festival of Champions at Lamplight Farm in Illinois.
Second place went to Katie Duerrhammer with Paxton (71.680 percent).
Interestingly, Katie, a Coloradan who rode Quartett on the U.S. team at the world championships this month, last week was one of three riders (Adrienne Lyle and Steffen Peters were the others) named to the U.S. dressage pathway program’s elite training list. She was named with Paxton.
Meanwhile, Alice and Serenade, as well as another of her horses, Donatella M, were not selected for the elite program, but rather, the pre-elite program with 10 other riders, including Katie, who is on that roster with Quartett.
As I mentioned previously, Alice’s Wednesday Grand Prix score of 73.869 percent was ahead of the marks delivered by Katie and Ashley Holzer with Valentine, half of the U.S. team at the world championships. Would Alice, who was the squad’s alternate, have had the same score she earned at Lamplight had she been at the world championships? No way to know, but interesting to consider.
Alice, who lives in Oldwick, N.J., needs only a good enough score in Saturday’s freestyle to take the national Grand Prix title for the second year in a row. But that isn’t a done deal.
“All kinds of things in the freestyle we haven’t practiced in probably over six months. And the horse has worked two days,” said Alice, who doesn’t want to overdo on a non-show day.
Alice Tarjan and Serenade in the Grand Prix Special. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian/Susan Stickle)
“We’ll try to school a little bit…and cross my fingers and pray. It’s easier if they’re kind of familiar with the lines, which she’s not,” Alice observed.”
The American-bred Serenade (Sir Donnerhall X Don Principe) is continuing her development.
“We missed both sets of ones (one-tempis) so that’s a little disappointing,” said Alice, as she thought about her test.
“It’s hard had to get everything on the same test on the same day.”
Even so, she added, “It’s a drastic improvement over where it was last year. We didn’t prepare for this show at all, so I’m really pleased. The horse is drastically different than she was last year.”
She praised Serenade’s work ethic, saying, “You could put your 12-year-old child on this horse and it would do its job.”
Laura Graves, once the world’s top dressage rider with the now-retired Verdades, took the Intermediate I Championship on SenSation HW.
She had won the Prix St. Georges and Intermediate I classes this week, but finished second today with 76.005 percent in the I-1 freestyle to Emily Miles of Kansas and Daily Show (77.300).
Laura, a Florida resident, had a high enough overall score to take the tricolor, however. She earned a total of 75.104 percent to Emily’s 73.301 for reserve. SenSation was ridden by Michael Bragdell to the USEF five- and six-year-old championships in 2018 and 2019 respectively before Laura took over.
The Westfalen gelding (Sunday NRW X Dancier) will now move up to the Grand Prix ranks, with enough time ahead of him at that level to perhaps be considered for the Paris 2024 Olympic team.
Laura was all smiles to be back in the show ring, have missed two years after Verdades retired and she had a baby.
“I’m always so excited to stand top three with women. (Rebecca Rigdon was third overall on Iquem with 71.350 percent.)
“It’s so amazing for us to support each other. It’s such a difficult industry. And to see smiling faces and people really supportive of you….”
She said it was the second time she had ridden SenSation in the freestyle, but “the first time in a big atmosphere,”
There’s more to come.
“It’s just the beginning, I think,” she said, noting she’s rally getting to know him.
Laura was “Super proud of the test we put in at beginning of the week,” referring to the Prix St Georges.
At this point, Laura sees herself “moving forward and excited about it.”
Olivia Lagoy Weltz has only been riding Johnny Be Good (Glock’s Dream Boy NOP X Tietse 428) since December, but he made a real statement to the tune of 74.558 percent for his performance in the Markel/USEF Developing Horse Prix St. Georges Dressage National Championship. That was a personal best for her, and she’s very excited about Johnny.
Olivia Lagoy Weltz and Johnny Be Goode. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian/Susan Stickle)
“He’s a very striking horse. He’s very elegant in his trot work and his extensions. He just kind of draws you in,” she said, assessing her mount.
“I think he’s a horse that potentially has no weaknesses. He’s scored up to 10 on the walk, and I don’t know that we were able to show that today, but I think that he really has the ability to have no holes.”
Adrienne Lyle made a statement for the future with young horses.
She topped 12 other horse/rider pairs in the Markel/USEF Young Horse Four-Year-Old Dressage National Championship with Fürst Dream (Furstenball Old X Benetton Dream), who won the Four-Year-Old test with a score of 9.5. Lyle. The Hanoverian stallion is owned by Betsy Juliano, who also owns Adrienne’s Olympic and world championships ride, Salvino.
“This is a big venue, and there’s a lot going on for a four-year-old,” Adrienne pointed out.
“We’ve done very limited showing. He handled everything just super well, he was focused, and he was right there with me. He’s just got such an incredible brain, which is something I really like, besides his talent. And he’s got lovely gaits, but he’s really got a super brain, especially for a stallion.”
In the Markel/USEF Young Horse Five-Year-Old Dressage National Championship, Adrienne was the best of 14 starters in the Preliminary test on Valor (Vitalis 4 X Furstenball OLD) on a score of 9.26. Kylee Lourie’s 2017 Westphalian gelding rose to the occasion.
“Honestly, I don’t think I could have asked him to do much better than what he did,” she said.
“He is so fun in the ring. He is so light to the aids, soft in the contact, that you can just kind of sit there and try to stay out of his way. And he really lets you navigate him through all of the different questions in there.”
