Lars Petersen and Mariett Score Second Sweep at 2013 CDI-W Loxahatchee

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2013 CDI-W Loxahatchee

Lars Petersen and Mariett proved they were consistently in the zone for the second time in two weeks when they delivered another one-two punch by taking the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle at the 2013 CDI-W Loxahatchee. The pair achieved the same laudable results just two weeks ago at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI-W, also at Equestrian Estates.

Saturday's Freestyle impressed the judges as the pair racked up a 74.950% to a circus-music themed freestyle to win the Champions Cup. Petersen and Mariett, Marcia Pepper's 15-year-old Danish Warmblood mare, scored a 73.745% in Friday's Grand Prix to set up the double-header.

"I was very happy with her because she is coming along, but I was not so happy with my canter work," he said after the Freestyle. "It was a little bit against the leg and she had to work today. I think she gets a little shocked because it's a difficult freestyle. Overall I'm very happy with her."

Shelly Francis and Doktor proved their consistency once again by earning second place in the Freestyle with a 70.746%. Francis and Doktor placed second in Friday's Grand Prix to add to their second place finishes in the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle at the Feb. 28-March 3 Dressage Derby.

"I'm really happy," she said. "He's staying consistent and improving and some things are rider-induced but he tries very, very hard. He wants to be a big superstar for next year!"

Not willing to rest on her fourth place laurels from Friday's Grand Prix, Susan Jaccoma and Wadamur decided to spice up the Grand Prix Freestyle a bit. Strong gusts of wind picked up a tent and bounced it along the grass near Ring 1 where Jaccoma and Wadamur were performing their freestyle. The judges stopped the ride and, once the tent was secured, Jaccoma was permitted to begin her test from the beginning, with the scoring resuming once she reached her earlier stopping point. She placed third with a 70.325%, a score she believed to be her personal best.

Diane Creech on Devon L "I don't know what to say," she laughed. "I'm speechless. Everyone who knows me knows it takes a lot to make me speechless."

Spain's Marta Renilla and Presumido performed a more traditional freestyle set to Spanish classical guitar music that showcased the P.R.E. stallion's piaffe and passage, including a one-handed ending by Renilla. The pair edged up from seventh place in Friday's Grand Prix with a score of 69.025% to place fourth.

"I'm very pleased with him. He really let me ride him," Renilla said. "It is such a nice experience for me to be here and trying to work hard and keep learning. Getting him to feel at home is my goal." She said she thinks Presumido feels the music. "It's like a dance," she explained.

In fifth place was David Marcus on Don Kontes, scoring a 68.775%. The team also placed fifth in the Grand Prix on Friday.

"I was much happier with him today," Marcus said. "Today his heart felt like it was in the right place and he was really trying. There was a mistake in the ones and I tried to recover from that but I guess I did six instead of nine."

Marcus added that he used to think that the freestyle music, borrowed from Chrevi's Capital, would be too dramatic for Don Kontes, but as Don Kontes has become stronger, he has risen to the music. "It's very powerful music from 'Clash of the Titans,' but now I think it suits him quite well," Marcus said.

Marcus and Chrevi's Capital, the horse he rode for Canada in the 2012 London Olympic Games, have been tapped as one of two horse and rider pairs invited to represent North America at the Reem Acra World Cup Final in Gothenburg, Sweden, next month. Fellow Olympic teammates, Jacqueline Brooks and D Niro, are the other pair with the highest World Cup qualifying scores for the North American League

Brooks chose to not compete in the Champions Cup to give D Niro a rest. "In order to make a plan for him and if I want him to peak in Sweden again, we rested him this week and just hacked him out," she said. "We decided as a team that if we get lucky and the stars align and we go to Sweden, then we have made the best plan for that."

Another Canadian, Diane Creech with Devon L, came to the Champions Cup with her own plan. Creech wanted to make showing more routine for the horse. "Just going out and doing it," she said. "It's no stress. It's just like training at home. So it just has to become normal for him. And it is slowly but surely becoming that way."

Janne Rumbough on Junior The pair must be doing something right because they earned a 69.229% to win the Grand Prix Special. "He was a good boy. It's just too unfortunate about the last pirouette," she sighed. "We just lost our balance there, but I do have to say the rest was super."

Collecting second place in the Grand Prix Special was Janne Rumbough with a 62.958% on Junior, a horse she trained herself. Rumbough's goal in her Grand Prix CDI debut was to compete and obtain the judges' feedback. "And then, I can have all summer to work on it because I want to go to Devon," she said. "For me, it's such a wonderful learning experience." She added that Junior seems to enjoy competition and that it stems from her trainer, Mikala Gundersen, from Denmark. "She's always so positive," Rumbough said. "She's the best-kept secret."

"I'm so proud of her," Gundersen said with a smile. "The goal this year was to do the Grand Prix. I was happy with the way he performed today. In the Special you are able to push a little bit more and I think Janne was able to do that."

The final day of the International Horse Sport Champions Cup CDI-W features FEI Intermediaire I Freestyle and Young Rider Freestyle competitions and the Young Horse Test for 6-year-olds as well as USEF classes at First through Fourth Level.