Seven combinations closed out the 2020 U.S. Under 25 Championships - aka Brentina Cup - with the Grand Prix Freestyle Test to decide the National Champion.
After winning the first test and having some bobbles in the second test, Sara Hassler (Chesapeake City, Md.) and Harmony’s Boitano laid down an excellent freestyle to clinch the national championship title with an overall score of 69.269%. Hassler and Leslie Malone’s 14-year-old KWPN gelding were third in the 2019 USEF Intermediaire I Dressage National Championship, and they demonstrated that a year of hard work paid off.
“I love this horse so much. I truly did not think that was going to happen because we are so green still,” Hassler said of winning the national championship. “I was just so grateful that the judges and everyone have rewarded what they can see as a future for him. That meant so, so much and I just feel like he always try two million percent in that arena and that is just the greatest feeling in the entire world. Just to get here we were pretty emotional and excited, but to win it, I don’t really have words yet.”
Kerrigan Gluch (Wellington, Fla.) and Vaquero HGF, Hampton Green Farm’s 13-year-old Andalusian stallion, earned the reserve national champion title with an overall score of 68.457%. Rebecca Roman (Birmingham, Ala.) and Ultimo, Nancy Roman’s 19-year-old KWPN gelding, were third in the overall standings with a score of 65.536%.
From the Mixed Zone:
Tell us about your freestyle.
Hassler: “This is actually the first time we have ridden through this freestyle. Marlene Whitaker did an incredible job with it. We actually called because I thought [the event] was going to be canceled, but I am so glad it wasn’t. So we were like, ‘Okay, just through it together at the last minute. Let’s get it done.’ Which is actually funny because that is kind of how it went last year too, so maybe it is a good luck charm for us. I am not sure. But I was so proud of him. We struggled with the changes all week just with getting the right sort of aid in the test because we are really so green still. I was really proud of him because there were only a couple little mistakes here and there. Then, I just kind of spur of the moment decided to do the twos and then the ones and see what would happen and I was so proud that it actually worked and he seemed to like it. I am so proud of him. I was trying not to cry the whole time and I still did.”
Gluch: “Vaquero was super fresh today, which was honestly amazing coming off of two competition days and the third day of competition he was the most fresh he has ever been. Today, unfortunately, he was a little too fresh and reacted a bit to the music in the arena, but I was really proud of him. He was very nervous but when he did the movements I asked, they were amazing. He was very hot, and, for him, that is a very new thing to go through. Normally I need to create as much energy as possible and today I just was able to sit there and ride and had an amazing feeling underneath me so honestly I can’t be happier with him. He highlighted some amazing movements; our piaffe and passage at the end were amazing. I had nice one tempis today, super pirouettes. I had good combinations. I thank Marlene Whitaker for doing my freestyle. I think it really highlighted him as a horse and what he can do in his abilities.
“[The music was] video games—Super Mario, that sort of vibe. We wanted something fun that showed lightness and elasticity with him, but also my personality. I like to get the job done, so I wanted a little bit of both. I think we showed that really well with the music.”
Related Links
Scores: 2020 U.S. Dressage Championships
Ots and Hassler Lead After Day One at 2020 U.S. Dressage Championships