The long-awaited debut of three potential U.S. Olympic dressage horses with their new riders in an international Grand Prix ended Thursday with them topping the class of 21 starters at the Adequan Global Equestrian Festival.
Zen Elite’s Bohemian, who was ridden to fourth place in the Tokyo Olympics by Denmark’s Cathrine Laudrup- Dufour, led the qualifier for the Grand Prix Special in Wellington, Fla., with Endel Ots aboard.
Endel Otts and Bohemian. (Photo © SusanJStickle.com)
Endel, who had not ridden in an international Grand Prix previously, was marked at 72.761 percent, ahead of two-time Olympian Adrienne Lyle on Helix (71.065). She was placed first by one judge.
Adrienne, who is coached by her mentor, Debbie McDonald, also was third with Lars van de Hoenderheide (70.652). All three horses are owned by Heidi Humphries of Zen Elite.
The only other horse to be marked in the 70 percent range was Adrienne’s longtime teammate, Kasey Perry Glass, on Heartbeat WP (70 percent).
Bohemian had a problem in the two-tempis, with one judge giving him a mark of 2 and the other four judges marking him at 3, which brought his score way down. That was balanced by the fact that he had mostly 8’s in piaffe and passage.
He blamed himself for the mishap, saying he should have warmed up for 10 minutes less.
“It’s all very surreal,” Endel said after his ride.
“You always see all the famous people like Adrienne Lyle and Kasey Perry and I am just thankful and happy to be in there with them and part of the group.”
He called Bohemian “a crazy cool horse.”
These horses will have to qualify if they are to be considered for a U.S. European tour, which is the precursor for Olympic selection. Although the Global festival ends this weekend, shows at TerraNova in Myakka City and the World Equestrian Center in Ocala are offering qualifiers next month.
Marcus Orlob of Annandale, N.J.., was 13th in the Grand Prix with a score of 64.478 percent on Jane, previously shown by her owner, Alice Tarjan
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