David Marcus, pictured here with Don Kontes, won both the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special riding Chrevi’s Capital at the CornerStone Summer Festival. Photo by Mike Werner.
Palgrave, Ontario – Canadian Olympian David Marcus of Campbellville, ON, and Chrevi’s Capital won both the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special at the CornerStone Summer Festival held July 12 to 14 at the Caledon Equestrian Park in Palgrave, ON. Caledon Equestrian Park will be the site of equestrian competition for the 2015 Pan American Games.
Marcus contested the grand prix division with Chrevi’s Capital and Don Kontes, both owned by Deborah Kinzinger. With his 2012 Olympic mount Chrevi’s Capital, a 13-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding (Chrevi’s Cavallo x Weinberg), Marcus topped a starting field of nine entries to win Friday’s Grand Prix test with a score of 72.50%. Marcus also placed fifth with Don Kontes, a 13-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding by Don Schufro, scoring 67.07%.
“I have not done a national show with these two horses since they did their very first Grand Prix,” said Marcus. “I wanted to take them this weekend to a competition where I could just experiment a little bit with each of them. It was about making corrections, experimenting with where I could add, where I could take back, and seeing how that worked. I just wanted to play around with taking some risks.”
In Saturday’s Grand Prix Special, Chrevi’s Capital again emerged victorious while Don Kontes was third.
“Both horses were great,” said Marcus, 32. “With Capital, I think the risks I took paid off, because he had his highest score to date in a grand prix test from FEI judges. With Don Kontes, we made a few mistakes in the test this weekend because I was trying something new, but I think the risks I took will be good for his training in the long run.”
In his last FEI-sanctioned competition, the CDI3* Angelstone International Dressage Tournament held June 14 through 16 in Rockwood, ON, Marcus scored a rare grand prix hat-trick, winning the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle with Chrevi’s Capital, and the Grand Prix Special with Don Kontes.
Marcus will return to international competition by competing at two CDI-W events in August and September in Saugerties, NY, followed by CDI-W Dressage at Devon, PA, where he is a defending champion, having won last year’s Grand Prix for Freestyle with Chrevi’s Capital and Grand Prix for Special with Don Kontes. His long term goal is to represent Canada at the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Normandy, France.
Marcus operates David Marcus Dressage in Campbellville, ON, just west of Toronto, and spends the winter season competing on the highly-competitive show circuit in Wellington, FL. For more information, please visit www.davidmarcusdressage.com.
Contact: Jennifer Ward
Starting Gate Communications
Cell: (613) 292-5439
www.startinggate.ca