Forget those minor every-four-years things like the presidential elections and Leap Year. The Olympics is what we equestrians think of when considering events on a quadrennial schedule. Most of us won’t make it to China for this summer’s Olympic Games, but Californians have a great chance to see our country’s dressage hopefuls as they tackle the second-biggest challenge of their Olympic quest: the Selection Trials.
For the second time in a row, the United States Equestrian Team Selection Trials for dressage will be held in San Juan Capistrano. The five days of competition are June 20-21 and June 27-29. The venue is the beautiful Oaks Blenheim Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park, where the dressage and show jumping trials were held in 2004.
Twelve horse/rider pairs will vie for the three spots on the Olympic team, and a fourth berth that will go to a traveling reserve. This duo will prepare with the team and travel to Hong Kong, ready to ride on a moment’s notice should one of top three become unable to compete.
By early March, local favorites and past Olympians Steffen Peters and Debbie McDonald had already accumulated strong qualifying scores on the rankings that determine which 12 pairs make the Trials. Olympic newcomers Kristina Harrison-Naness, Jan Ebeling and Leslie Morse look good on that list, too, and Games veteran Guenter Seidel seemed a sure bet to make a successful late-season Trials bid.
The rankings will really take shape in the coming months. Through March and April, three qualifiers remain in California: the Festival of the Horse in Burbank, the Golden State Dressage Festival in Rancho Murieta and the Del Mar National. The Southeast and Midwest also have three qualifiers in May.
Hong Kong hopefuls need two qualifying scores, above the 63 percent minimum, to make their way up the ladder. One score must reflect a completed Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special test at the same show, and the second must reflect a Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle at the same show. Drop scores are allowed and the Trials may exceed 12 contenders if there are any ties in the rankings. Additionally, the USET Selectors Committee has the option of naming one pair that did not contest the final Trials to the squad, but they can only choose from those who contributed to a team or individual medal at the last Olympics or the 2006 World Equestrian Games. A horse/rider pair chosen this way would take the place of the Trials’ third-place finisher and that combo would get the traveling reserve position.
Trials Schedule
The two weekends of Trials competition are staged as part of the National Dressage Championships. Fans can glimpse likely future Olympians during rounds of the Brentina Cup for Young Adults and the Intermediare 1 Championships.
The first weekend features the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special rounds of the Selection Trials and the Young Riders Championships. The second weekend starts with the second Olympic Grand Prix test on Friday and closes with the Grand Prix Freestyle for Olympic hopefuls on Sunday. The Brentina Cup for Young Adults and the three phases of the I1 Championship, the Prix St. Georges, the I1 test and the I1 Freestyle, run through the weekend.
Although the music and choreography of the Freestyle make this class a fan favorite, it is actually the lightest weighted of the three parts of the Olympic test. “At the Olympics the team score is all about the Grand Prix,” explains the USET Foundation’s Maureen Pethick. “The Freestyle is counted only toward the individual medals.”
For the Trials, the two Grand Prix scores equal 70 percent of the total mark, the Grand Prix Special equals 20 percent and the Freestyle,10 percent.
Plenty of pomp, circumstance and shopping opportunities will accompany the Selection Trials, reports veteran big event manager Glenda McElroy of Cornerstone Dressage. Ample bleachers and VIP tents will line three sides of the 370-foot long ring that will contain the dressage court. The vendor area on the grass nearby will give everyone from devout dressage enthusiasts to casual visitors plenty to buy, see and consume during breaks in the action. Plans for a big USET fundraiser on the night of Sat. June 28 are in the works. Details aren’t yet available, but Glenda predicts it will be something on par with the excellent shindig held in 2004, when an auction bidder won a chance to train with Debbie McDonald.
“One of the best things is that we have lots of choices for general admission,” Glenda continues. “The best deal is a five-day package for $150, down to $30 one-day tickets. We offer VIP tables, special seating with lunch, special VIP parking, something for everyone.” General admission discounts are available for groups of 10 and get better with each increment of 10 people.
Get On the Road to Hong Kong
Volunteering provides a great vantage point on the Trials while also helping the sport. San Juan Capistrano CDS Chapter chair and show manager Kathy King is again serving as volunteer coordinator for the Trials. She is looking for about 40 volunteers for each of the five days, and reports a need for everyone from knowledgeable enthusiasts to total newbies, including, she says with a laugh, “bored husbands.” Volunteers who can commit to all five days are ideal, but those with just one day to spare are much appreciated, too. Tasks range from taking tickets and checking VIP wristbands, to driving fans to and from the parking lot and, for those with a working knowledge of FEI competition, ring stewards. Young people who can run the scores between judges and officials are in high demand, Kathy adds.
Scribing, noting a judge’s comments on each contender’s test sheet, is the most demanding and prestigious volunteer job at the Trials. Kathy had all but one of these posts filled at presstime, but she welcomes offers from more qualified scribes to cover emergencies. For maximum efficiency and consistency, she greatly prefers to match a judge and scribe for the entire competition. Kathy was a scribe herself at the World Cup Dressage Finals in Las Vegas last year. “If the judge is foreign, it takes a while to get used to their accent,” she notes. “Ideally, the judge can say just a few words and the scribe gets it.”
Whatever the volunteer task, Glenda and Kathy put a premium on ensuring that helpers catch a good chunk of the dressage action. “We move people around all the time,” Kathy says. “Nobody is stuck in the ‘south 40’.”
For the latest on the Selection Trials or questions, contact Glenda at glenda@glenroys.com or call the Cornerstone Event office at 818-841-3554. To follow the rankings, visit www.usef.org and navigate to the High Performance Dressage pages.
Simpson Makes Show Jumping Shortlist
Meanwhile back in Florida, the five-round selection trials for show jumpers wrapped up on March 9. California’s Will Simpson and El Campeon’s Carlsson Vom Dach jumped clean through three of the five trials and won two rounds, including a $100,000 Zada Enterprises round that doubled as a World Cup Finals qualifier. (This was Simpson’s third World Cup qualifier win.) So they were sitting pretty to make the USEF’s “short list” of 10 horse/riders that would move onto the next phase of preparing for the Olympics: competing in Europe. But the night before the final Trial, Carlsson sustained a freak injury in his stall and Will could not contest the class. He jumped the horse lightly that day and all seemed well, but he’d lost his chance to lock up the short list spot by finishing in the Trials’ top six. It was pins and needles until Mon., March 10, when the USEF announced it would exercise a fourth “discretionary choice” to put Will on the list. Beezie Madden and Authentic and McLain Ward and Sapphire, 2004 Olympic teammates, received two of the discretionary choices, and Jeffrey Welles and Armani, the third.
The rest of the shortlisters are Laura Kraut and Cedric; Nicole Shahinian-Simpson and SRF Dragonfly, (Nicole, a.k.a. “Nicki,” was based in California for many years before her estrangement from Will); Anne Kursinski with Champ 163 and Roxanna 112; Charlie Jayne and Urbanus; and Kate Levy and Vent Du Nord. The 10 pairs will comprise two squads that will compete in Europe for the final phases of selection and preparation. The squad of four pairs and one alternate will be determined in July.
The Gallop welcomes news, tips and photos. Contact Kim F. Miller at kimfmiller1@mac.com or 949-644-2165.
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