Tommie Visser and Vingino Top the Board in 2015 CDI Roosendaal Grand Prix

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2015 CDI Roosendaal Indoor

Tommie Visser and Valentijn van Weeren's Dutch warmblood gelding Vingino topped the board in Grand Prix for Kur at the 2015 CDI Roosendaal Indoor on Saturday morning 5 December 2015. He edged out Emmelie Scholtens on Apache by the skin of his teeth.

The Grand Prix for Kur was judges by Maria Colliander, Eddy de Wolff, Isobel Wessels, Magnus Ringmark and Mariette Sanders. With 24 riders entered the competition was stiff. Visser and the liver chestnut gelding Vingino (by Polansky x Variant) scored 73.500% for victory. Three judges had them first, two second.

"It went well. I was a bit safe at the beginning of the test so that can still improve. I got a big compliment from the head judge and she gave me an 8 for submission. She said she hadn't given that mark in a long time and that was really nice," Visser told Eurodressage.

Visser runs his own dressage yard in Vijfhuizen, The Netherlands, and has recently got much training from Dutch team coach Wim Ernes. Tommie has planned on competing at the CDI Mechelen at the end of the month, followed by the World Cup qualifier in Amsterdam in January.

Visser's biggest competition came from country mare Emmelie Scholtens on the Dutch warmblood breeding stallion Apache (by UB40 x Krack C). They were breathing down Visser's neck with their 73.380% score, just a fraction less than the winning mark. The judges, however, were not in agreement on Scholtens' marks and her scored ranged from 771.100 to 75.700%.

"I was super pleased with the test," Scholtens explained. "He was really on my aids and we didn't have any mistakes. There still are things that can be better, but there were also very beautiful parts."

Danish Anders Dahl and the 16-year old Hanoverian bred Wie Atlantico (by Wie Weltmeyer x Rondo) completed the top three with a 70.500%. Fiona Bigwood's chestnut gelding continues to prove his extreme consistency at Grand Prix level with solid seventy percentage scores at each show.