WELLINGTON, Fla.--Canada’s Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu on All In won again, this time in the FEI Grand Prix Freestyle CDI-W on Sunday, Feb. 14.

Brittany Fraser Beaulieu on All In (Photo by Susan Stickle)Personal best scores for every big tour class winner in the FEI Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special CDI 3* and FEI Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle CDI-W were recorded this week.

Fraser-Beaulieu was among that group, beating her personal best with a 79.330 percent, while earning two scores above 80 percent from judges at both M and B.

“I’m so happy,” said Fraser-Beaulieu. “This is like a dream come true, to be back here with a personal best. At the five star and the Nations Cup last year we had great rides, and after such a long break you hope that it’s going to be the same, but after 10 months I was a little nervous. You want to keep those scores and keep hitting personal bests, and All In has come out this season and really proven that he knows his job so well. He tries his heart out for me every time we go down centerline, and I just have to hang on for the ride. I’m ecstatic with him.”

 

FRASER-BEAULIEU rode to a freestyle created by Joost Peters, with Celine Dion music beginning and concluding the ride.

“Joost Peters made new music for me for the Nations Cup last year,” she said, “so this is only the second time I’ve ridden to this new freestyle. I love Celine Dion. My husband is French, I live in Montreal now, and I love the song, so I asked him to incorporate it into the beginning and the end, and I think he did a great job.”

“For me, the entire class was a nice quality to judge." said President of the Ground Jury, William Warren. "It challenged us judges to up our game and really get it right. Brittany hit a lot of strong technical points, and to really have a good freestyle, it has to be technically solid. Today everything was spot on. That really supports the artistic side of the freestyle, because if the ride has technical issues you have a problem. There was wonderful harmony between horse and rider.”

“I thought my extended trots today were nice," said Fraser-Beaulieu. "My changes and pirouettes, I was very happy with them. I felt that the whole freestyle really flowed today. I wanted to go mistake free again today. He was a little nervous in the first piaffe and pirouette, so I had to make it a bit bigger than I would’ve liked, but we were with our music, the whole test flowed nicely, and sometimes that last extended trot is exuberant, but everything worked really well today. I came out with a 17-minute warmup, and thought maybe I could’ve done even less. All of these things are learning opportunities. He’s 16, and I thought I’d have him all figured out by now, but each show you learn something new!”

After being a part of impressive performances from Canadian riders all week, the 32-year-old said, “I think Canada is really strong right now, maybe the strongest we’ve ever been, and we’re getting great marks and are all so supportive of each other. If Tokyo happens, I think we will have a very strong team for Canada.”

Second place went to Ashley Holzer on Valentine, who also earned a personal best in the mare’s first FEI Grand Prix Freestyle, with 78.365 percent, and in third was Anna Buffini riding FRH Davini la Douce, with 75.505 percent.

In the FEI Intermediaire II CDI 3*, Mikala Münterwon on Skyfall with a 66.500 percent. and in the FEI Intermediare I Freestyle CDI 3*, Cesar Parra on Mr. Bumblebee won with a score of 78.950 percent.

 

ON SATURDAY,  Canada’s Lindsay Kellock on Sebastien won the FEI Grand Prix CDI 3* Special over a class of 13 entries.

LindsayKellock on Sebastian (Photo by Susan Stickle)Kellock received a 73.319 percent from the judges, concluding a momentous weekend for the duo.

“I had more confidence going in today based on his performance in the Grand Prix on Thursday,” Kellock said. “He went in and really tried his heart out and gave me a good feeling, which then gave me confidence to ride him a bit more in the ring today. Normally I’m like, ‘Oh, can I do this? Maybe I can push this button?’ but today he just felt so great. I was able to really ride him, take a deep breath, and I think that showed a lot more with those higher scores.”

Though Kellock didn’t enter an international competition arena for almost 10 months, she spent her time at home perfecting the basics and working on their overall performance together.

“2020 was a very unfortunate year in many ways,” Kellock said, “but it was a positive for my horse because he was still green last year. I was really able to work through the training last summer and then getting back to work with Ashley Holzer in November, ramping up the training then, and having the time to work on weaknesses from last year has been huge for us. We’ve worked really hard at that all summer.”

Kellock posted a personal best score in the Grand Prix on Thursday with a 72.326 percent and came back Saturday to earn yet another.

“I can’t describe the feeling; it’s amazing,” Kellock said. “I couldn’t be happier, and I’m speechless. The horse is an incredible horse, and I’m glad that I’m finally able to bring that out in him.”

With Tokyo being their main goal for the year, Kellock will play the rest of the season by ear and focus on what’s best for her mount.

“I’m going to go show-to-show with him,” she said. “The big plan is to qualify for the Olympics, so I’m going to see how he’s feeling. I think I’d like to do the five star and then after that we’ll see.”

Second place in the FEI Grand Prix CDI 3* Special was Jennifer Williams on Millione with 71.979 percent, and Great Britain’s Susan Pape was third on Harmony’s Eclectisch, earning a 71.489 percent.