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2000
Peter Horobin Next out the very elegant combination of Pernille Hogg and her gorgeous imported Danish Warmblood, Catago Alberto. Pernille looked lovely, and this is a horse with a great future. Unfortunately Alberto showed his lack of experience by falling out of the canter on several occasions, and with the demands of this level it is difficult to get the horse composed and balanced for the next movement, if such a mistake occurs. Alberto looked a little irregular in some of his trot work – maybe he lost some balance and they tried a little too hard for a good result. 57.33% today for Pernille and Alberto.
Kate Boyes fresh back from overseas made an appearance in the Prix St. George today. Kate and Octavius would have qualified for the FEI World Dressage Final had they been around to participate in the Victorian final in August. This is a very successful combination and the horse looked great. To start there was some loss of rhythm in the medium and extended trot work, but Kate seemed to get on top of this to settle into a test which earned them a second place with 64.33%
Judith Heierli on her huge chestnut by warmblood stallion Wunder (dec.) was next, and she confirmed the improvement that was beginning to be evident toward the end of the last competition season. Mikado is enormous and the test contained some real highlights. Judy will no doubt work to further improve self carriage and collection and Mikado will be sure to continue to improve. They were fourth on 61.50% Mornington Peninsula based vet Sue West was next to go on her lovely Aachen gelding Aachensohn. It was a very improved frame and some very nice moments for this combination, and I am sure that the foundation is there to gain expression and energy, which will earn more marks and make them hard to beat, Sue was pleased with her horse, and so she should - 60.58%. Last to go was Mary Hanna’s new horse Pretender having his first start at Prix St. George. He was doing Medium in August, so this is quite an ambitious upgrade. This horse is a really lovely type, with a great trot. To me (and many other onlookers) the canter was not quite true – certainly not 4 beat, but equally not truly a crisp clean three beat either. His self carriage and lovely trot work seemed to override any problems in the canter, and they scored 66.25% for first place.
Placings. 1 Mary Hanna Pretender 66.25% 2 Kate Boyes Octavius of Neika 64.33% 3 Holly Stansfield-Smith Malachite 62.25% (a personal best) 4 Judith Heierli Torlea Mikado 61.50% 5 Pauline Furness Clifton Court Lucinni 61.33% 6 Maree Tomkinson Kings Warrier 60.83% 7 Sue West Aachensohn 60.58% 8 Judith Smith Killuna 59.25% 9 Pernille Hogg Catgo Alberto 57.33% 10 Nicole Vanatta Czarine Nikita 56.92% 11 Charlotte Bisgaard-Pedersen HP Artemis 56.50% 12 Georgina Harkin Alcatraz 54.92% 13 Caroline Coleby Belcam Aaskhan 54.42% 14 Lorraine Merry Belcam Grafton 54.08% Berwick & District Dressage Classic - Go back to Page 1 |
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Alcatraz ridden by Georgina Harkin did not have a real
dream ride. This is a horse that I felt was concerned about the polo horses or the big
atmosphere. He was very tight and tense in most of the test, but really demonstrated his
displeasure in the canter pirouettes. Georgina stayed calm and rode thoughtfully to
produce the best result possible under the circumstances. 54.92% and they will be looking
to learn from today to improve this score next time.
