Christoph Koschel on Dünensee. ©susanjstickle.com.
Wellington, FL – March 26, 2022 – The culmination of top-level international action in the final week of the 2022 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) season came in the form of Saturday’s showcase class: the Grand Prix Special CDI4*, presented by The Dutta Corp. On the penultimate day of the final CDI week, Christoph Koschel (GER) claimed the richest purse of the day, scooping the blue ribbon thanks to a 69.957% victory on Dünensee.
Susan Dutta (USA) logged 69.255% for second place on her and her husband Tim’s Don Design DC, a 12-year-old gelding by Der Designer. Naïma Moreira Laliberté (CAN) added to her already lucrative week with a 68.915% third-place finish on Statesman, KML Inc’s 15-year-old Sandro Hit gelding.
“I had a super nice feeling today, and he was really light in my hand,” said Koschel of Dünensee, Diamante Farms’ 13-year-old Dancier gelding. “There was one mistake on the centerline in the ones that was maybe a little bit my fault; I was a little too forward, and it’s always a little bit of a risk if you want to do it too nice. We’re at the end of the season and maybe you don’t have the same energy like the first CDI, but I was super happy because he was really fighting for me in there still.”
Koschel has been riding Dünensee for less than four months and he is for sale, so his competitive future remains undecided.
“He was pretty consistent today, maybe a little lighter in everything [compared to the Grand Prix],” added Koschel. “He really lets me ride now, and then we grow more and more together. It’s now our second special and maybe fifth or sixth test together.”
Valentine Delivers Sweet Results for Holzer
Ashley Holzer (USA) made it two wins from two starts this week with Valentine, topping the Grand Prix Special CDI3*, presented by Adequan®, just a day after winning the qualifying Grand Prix. These were the pair’s first international grand prix wins. Last to go of the 13 starters, Holzer produced a test worthy of plenty of eights, finishing with a final score of 72.17%. She relegated Katie Duerrhammer (USA) and Paxton, who scored 70.255%, to second place. Laurence Vanommeslaghe (BEL) finished third, riding Havalon to 70.106%.
Of her own 12-year-old mare by Sir Donnerhall I, Holzer said: “I was honestly really thrilled with her, because all of the hard stuff she did really well. The mistakes were little glitches of miscommunication, but that’s a long test and when she passages as high as she passages, it takes a lot out of her. On that last centerline she really was so honest for me. She’s green; she hasn’t done this test a lot and I’ve had issues with her being very spooky and getting nervous.”
For more information and results, visit www.globaldressagefestival.com.