Barbançon and Skowronska on Winning Form at 2023 CDI-W Bialy Las and Polish Championships

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2023 CDI-W Bialy Las

-- Text by Agata Grosicka, edited by Eurodressage - Photos © Wiktoria Roznowska

The CDI-W Bialy Las saw French leading lady Morgan Barbançon claim the World Cup qualifier, while Polish routinier Zaneta Skowronska-Kozubik claimed the title in the simultaneaous Polish Dressage Championships on 17 - 20 August 2023 at Biały Las equestrian center located in south west Poland close to German border.

It were the third Polish Dressage Championships in a row organized at Paulina and Grzegorz Przybylscy's stable, yet the first CDI-W.

The Heat is On: Barbançon Scoops Up World Cup Win

The stakes were high and so was the temperature, exceeding to 35 degrees. Competitors from 14 countries came to Bialy Las to fight for World Cup points and it was Morgan Barbancon Mestre and Sir Donnerhall II OLD who won the Sunday Grand Prix Freestyle scoring 77, 845%. The runner up was Raphael Netz and Great Escape Camelot (by Johnson x Turbo Magic). The 2021 European U25 Champion delivered a splendid and very elegant performance over two days after winning the Saturday Grand Prix.

Last year’s CDI winners - Justina Vanagaite and the Belgian warmblood Nabab (by Sir Donovan x Krack C), placed third in the freestyle on Sunday. As Central European league pair they has now booked their spot in next year World Cup Finals in Saudi Arabia!

Alisa Glinka from Moldovia was also highly ranked with her two horses: Abercrombie (by Ampere x Wolkentanz II) and Hummer (by Westpoint x Farrington). She rode the former in the freestyle to a fourth place.

The Children podium at the Polish Championships

The panel of judges includes Francis Verbeek van Rooij from NED, Clive Halsall from GBR, Kirsten Soegaard from DEN, Lars Andersson from SWE, Frederico Pinteus from POR, Agne Uzdavinyte from LTU, Mariya Dzhumadzhuyk from UKR and the chair was Marlena Gruca – Rucinska from POL.

British judge Clive Halsall commented, "it’s my second time in Bialy Las and I see thing are even getting better. It’s great for Polish dressage to have facility like this. There are more competitors this year from 14 different nations which means that there is a need for internationals in this area the arena has a great atmosphere and there’s been a lot of effort put into it. In the World Cup Qualifier test the top two were definitely the league of their own, they both had well choreographed freestyles with lots of difficulty and they performed very good tests today. For the rest horses copying with that atmosphere is all about being able to highlight your best. Many nice horses yet with silly mistakes. I really enjoyed the class today because we had some nice horses and we could really used the scale of marks."

Polish Championships: Zaneta Skowronska-Kozubik Back to Gold

The 2023 Polish Dressage Championships turned out to be successful for last year's Polish Champion Zaneta Skowronska – Kozubik, who won again but this time on a different horse, the 15-year old Hanoverian Love Me (by Locksley II x Walt Disney). The pair won the Grand Prix with 65,848 and was second in the Kur with 71,245. Their total of 137,093 points put them on the highest step of the podium. This is Zaneta's fourth title in her career.

Poplawska, Skowronska, Mazurek on the
senior podium

"On one hand I have had a very good season (Zaneta was a part of the Polish team that qualified to Paris 2024), on the other it’s been a very difficult season for me since I parted with my main horse Romantic P," Skowronska said on Sunday afternoon. "I continued competing thanks to Love Me – my beloved chestnut boy. We won silver here last year and I’ve had him for 11 years. Now he’s 15. Love Me was out of the game for a while and we made some mistakes in test today but I hope everything will get better now. My dream is to finish where we started in Pilsjashfalu with Romantic P when qualifying as a team. I have worked for that success for many years. Love Me is a braveheart and that silver medal today means a lot for me. He helped me a lot competing in such heat. Now he needs some time off and we’ll get ready for CDI Wroclaw.”

The fight for Gold was intense till the very last moment – Aleksandra Poplawska and her 17-year old Holsteiner Capo (by Cracker Jack x Alcatraz) were the high scorers in the freestyle with 72.150%, but with a second place in the Grand Prix on 64.804% the secured silver, the first ever Polish Senior Championship medal for Aleksandra.

“I’ve had Capo for two years now. He was bought as a small tour horse for me after he had done Grand Prix already, but he was so willing to work the Grand prix movements that we decided to compete in GP," Aleksandra explained. "Step by step we got better working on little GP elements. He is 17 years and still improving. Today he was 120% with me. He knows that Kur and was fully engaged from the very beginning till the end. Despite the heat he was fully focused all the time and I am very proud of him."

The junior podium: Solecka, Plata, Blachno

When asked if she is dreaming of Paris, Aleksandra replied, "I have three GP horses at the moment and would love to reach the highest results with all of them on international arenas yet he is the most experienced one. I will do my best to qualify and have a chance to become a member of Paris 2024 team, yet I am fully aware that other Polish GP riders are both great and experienced horsemen. It makes me happy that there are so many candidates for the team. We are all now at the same point except for Aleksandra Szulc who already got the MER scores."

Riding in a big field of international starters gives her a good drive. "I am pretty optimistic because the level of the judging here was really high," said Aleksandra. "I love being evaluated by demanding judges because they motivate me more and here I have also competed together with such elite riders like Morgan Barbancon Mestre and Raphael Netz. Competing and even warming up together with them gave me wings. After my Freestyle I was placed right after them which proved I’m heading into good direction together with Pawel Dabrowski, my personal coach.”

The bronze medal went to Karola Mazurek and the Polish bred Lider (by Pastisz x Pegasus HB), who was fourth in the Grand Prix (63.935%) and moved to third place in the freestyle with 69,495%

The YR podium: Golubinska, Stelmaszyk, Rogoswka

“I have already won bronze at the Polish Indoor Championships, but the Outdoor Championships are totally different," said Mazurek. "The feeling now is the best in the world. That’s what all the riders are living for. Such a medal is priceless. Lider was great today despite the heat. He is the horse which always wants to go. Our piaffes could have been better today. We need more experience in such competitions. I am generally very pleased with my new Freestyle which I rode today for the first time with the great music prepared by Marcin Kural – a real pro who takes care of every detail."

Is she also aiming for Paris 2024? "Every athlete dreams about Olympic Games," she admitted "It’s not a shame to make these dreams come true. It’s a shame not to have them. One has to remember that dreams without goals are only dreams. My next goal is to compete at CDI Wroclaw in October and then we’ll talk with Andrzej Salacki, our team coach. I also want to compete abroad till the end of the year. it all depends on my horse’s shape and the plan of my personal coach – Juan Matute."

Results - 2023 Polish Dressage Championships - Bialy Las

Pony Riders (this Championship was held in Barlomi on 7 - 9 July 2023)

1 Veronica Pawluk - Golden Diamond W - 70,769 (1) 71,342 (1) 72,692 (1) --- 214,803
2 Barbara Rynkowska - Leuns Veld's Winston ( - 68,419 (2) 69,268 (2) 69,667 (2) --- 207,354
3 Lena Sławek - Gluckspilz - 66,197 (4) 67,764 (3) 68,658 (3) --- 202,619
4 Lea Zatońska - Don’t Forget Cr - 66,496 (3) 66,098 (4) 66,858 (4) --- 199,452
5 Julia Maksajda - Dulcamero/malik - 64,188 (5) 63,374 (5) 64,900 (7) --- 192,462
6 Zuzanna Kołodziejczak - Vinkenhove Zarah - 62,179 (7) 62,277 (7) 66,450 (5) --- 190,906
7 Kalina Kopczewska - Little Bear - 62,479 (6) 62,508 (6) 65,667 (6) --- 190,654

Children

1. Sophia Kaczmarek - Lady Legend - 76,090 (1) 80,525 (1) 77,685 (1) --- 234,300
2. Julianna Przybyła - Photos - 75,643 (2) 75,000 (2) 71,264 (3) --- 221,907
3. Liwia Strzeszewska - Harley Zof - 69,340 (3) 70,275 (3) 71,755 (2) --- 211,370
4. Sara Doroftei - Zenel Galo - 67,572 (5) 66,375 (4) 67,727 (4) --- 201,674
5. Hanna Gawron - Been Gone - 69,197 (4) 65,100 (5) 64,570 (5) --- 198,867

Junior Riders

1. Natalia Plata - Dolcetto - 69,798 (2) 69,951 (1) 77,025 (1) --- 216,774
2. Nelly Solecka H - igh Bid V.d.t - 70,606 (1) 69,559 (2) 74,158 (2) --- 214,323
3. Aleksandra Blachno - Travenort's Diabolo - 69,646 (3) 68,823 (3) 73,367 (3) --- 211,836
4. Julia Jokiel - J'adore - 67,929 (5) 66,667 (5) 71,975 (4) --- 206,571
5. Weronika Usiadek - Mr. Despo - 69,394 (4) 68,284 (4) 68,333 (6) --- 206,011
6. Hanna Mikołajczyk - Fantastic Surprise - 65,909 (6) 66,225 (6) 71,267 (5) --- 203,401
7. Weronika Wiącek - Blask Aron - 65,505 (8) 63,824 (7) 67,758 (7) --- 197,087
8. Karolina Popławska - Lacoste M - 65,858 (7) 62,892 (8) 65,333 (9) --- 194,083
9. Maja Grzywacz - Fairytale - 64,747 (9) 61,814 (11) 63,717 (11) --- 190,278
10. Julia Janecka - Juliovanck Pp - 61,818 (11) 62,500 (9) 64,250 (10) --- 188,568
11. Nadia Paszylk - Kapitein - 59,697 (16) 61,961 (10) 65,533 (8) --- 187,191
12. Zuzanna Gradowska - My Flair - 62,273 (10) 60,039 (13) 61,600 (12) --- 183,912

Young Riders

1. Maria Stelmaszyk - Slowly - 68,794 (1) 71,235 (1) 73,625 (1) --- 213,654
2. Ewa Golubinska - Radiant - 65,941 (3) 63,000 (5) 65,270 (2) --- 194,211
3. Julia Rogowska - the Baton Rouge M - 66,529 (2) 61,588 (7) 64,995 (3) --- 193,112
4. Claudia Hallela - Chikoto - 63,441 (5) 64,559 (2) 64,395 (4) --- 192,395
5. Tatyana Berezhnov - Romantic - 62,088 (7) 62,382 (6) 64,390 (5) --- 188,860
6. Martyna Butryn - Qiu - 64,235 (4) 64,559 (2) 60,000 (6) --- 188,794
7. Olivia Miotke - Sweet Life - 62,853 (6) 63,088 (4) Elim --- 125,941

Under 25

1. Klara Woźnicka - - Go Go Borneo - 63,795 65,670 --- 195,083

Seniors - Grand Prix

1. Zaneta Skowronska-kozubik - Love Me - 65,848 (1) 71,245 (2) --- 137,093
2. Aleksandra Poplawska - Capo - 64,804 (2) 72,150 (1) --- 136,954
3. Karolina Mazurek - Lider - 63,935 (4) 69,495 (3) --- 133,430
4. Filip Kowalski - Bel Fleur - 64,369 (3) 67,390 (4) --- 131,759
5. Mateusz Cichon - Herzregent - 63,826 (5) 65,610 (6) --- 129,436
6. Anna-maria Gawlowska - Cardamon - 62,348 (7) 66,220 (5) --- 128,568
7. Susanne Krohn - Titolas - 62,022 (8) 65,235 (7) --- 127,257
8. Aleksandra Lesner - Force - 61,456 (9) 64,875 (8) --- 126,331
9 Agnieszka Domagała - Don Kennedy - 62,891 (6) 62,155 (9) --- 125,046