WELLINGTON, Fla.--Alice Tarjan on Candescent beat 15 competitors to win the Grand Prix Special CDI3* on Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Global Dressage Festival.
Tarjan on her 13-year-old mare Candescent scored 72.638%, just 0.06 percentage points off their best performance ever in this test, achieved in the very same arena at the Festival in 2021.
Fellow American Anna Marek posted another plus-70% score to finish second on Fire Fly,, scoring 70.234%, and Belgium’s Laurence Vanommeslaghe on Havalon scored 68.809% to place third place.
Tarjan has been training Candescent since she was a 4-year-old.
“Overall everything’s going in the right direction,” said the 43-year-old from Oldwick, N.J., who has a number of horses at grand prix level. “It’s been a long road and she hasn’t been the easiest. I’ve had her for nine years and she’s always been a real challenge.
“I DON'T think anyone wrote a book on how to train this horse," said Tarjan, who has been coming to Wellington for almost a decade. "She’s been doing grand prix now for a few years but what I’ve learned is that being able to do the movements in the grand prix and then putting everything together in a cohesive and harmonious test are two very different things."
"Now I finally feel like I have a horse that’s on my side and we’re finally starting to form a partnership," she said.
A large field of 24 competed in the Intermediate I CDI1*, won by Charlotte Jorst on Federle with 71.863%.
Yvonne Losos de Muñiz of the Dominican Republic was second by just 0.29 percentage points with 71.569% on another mare, Idwinaretto, and Jessica Howington on Indigo TC was third on 70%.