Swedish Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfven made her first Grand Prix outing of the Florida season a win as she and Don Auriello commanded attention on the first afternoon of CDI-W competition on Thursday 14 January 2016 at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Florida. In their first competition since the 2015 European Championships, the duo scored 76.900% for the win in the Grand Prix. Laura Graves (USA) and Verdades finished in second with 75.540% and Canada’s Leah Wilson-Wilkins collected third place honours.
Vilhelmson-Silfven and her experienced mount Don Auriello, a 2002 Hanoverian gelding (by Don Davidoff x White Star) owned by Lövsta Stuteri, wowed in their first performance of 2016, showcasing only a bit of what is to come for the veteran pair, who are looking to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“I felt very, very good with our ride today. He felt great in the warm-up as well as yesterday. He got a bit excited when he came into the ring, and I think it’s because he hasn’t shown since the European Championships and I could feel that,” noted Vilhelmson-Silfven. “He has like five gears more so I started off a bit careful, but then as we continued he began to settle. I’m pleased, and it was a good feeling to be in the ring again.”
The pair rode in the final group of the day, which saw many of the most seasoned competitors also take their first go at competition in the New Year. Vilhelmson-Silfven felt that she and her horse knocked off a bit of rust today and will look to improve their overall performance in the coming weeks.
“I think the power is something that I’ll look for in the future. Just to have it a bit more there on top without losing control, but I’m still very pleased with today,” she noted.
Don Auriello has graced some of the largest stages in the sport of dressage in his career with Vilhelmson-Silfven, including European Championships, World Equestrian Games, World Cup Finals, and the Olympic Games.
“It always makes you feel good to ride an experienced horse because you already know what you have, but still it changes and when you haven’t shown in a while you really don’t know where you are until you’re in the ring again,” she explained. “He has such an extremely nice character and he wants to do his best all of the time. He’s a nice horse to compete because he always tries and it’s rare that he ever puts me into a difficult position.”
U.S.A.'s Laura Graves and Verdades were crowned the 2015. U.S. Grand Prix Champions at the Wellington shows grounds nearly a month ago and in the CDI-W Grand Prix they looked as though they haven’t missed a beat. Graves and Verdades, a 2002 Dutch Warmblood gelding (by Florett As), have been dedicated to searching for “the next gear” which Graves commonly refers to, and seemed to have found it on the first day of Grand Prix competition.
“I’m really excited to seem to be finding that next gear. We’re getting past that 74% rut that we were stuck in for a lot of last year. That’s really exciting for us and especially what we were able to produce at the Festival of Champions last month carried over into this competition too,” elaborated Graves. “We had a couple of mistakes today that were mine and that’s always a nice thing to say. I’m very fortunate like Tinne to have a horse who tries so hard for me in the ring no matter what.”
A 7-month pregnant Leah Wilson-Wilkins (CAN) found herself “flabbergasted” at being seated next to Vilhelmson-Silfven and Graves, as she and Fabian JS earned their first top CDI Grand Prix finish. Wilson-Wilkins and the 1999 Hanoverian gelding (by Feiner Graf) led the large Grand Prix class of 38 entries, which included rider representation from 15 nations, for most of the day until the final group.
“Obviously he performed really well for me today since not having been in this ring since January or February of last year. I’m so pleasantly surprised with how it all turned out,” she noted. “I’m excited about our performance. He was just really on for me today and much more relaxed than I expected, which gave me a lot more rideability than I’m used to having. I’m hoping that we will be able to carry that forward.”
GDF press release by Carly Weilminster, edited by Eurodressage
Photos © Sue Stickle
Related Link
Scores 2016 CDI-W Wellington (GDF 1)