WELLINGTON, Fla.--Anna Buffini’s last-minute decision to bring FRH Davinia La Douce from San Diego, Calif., to Florida for the Global Dressage Festival paid off as she won the FEI World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday evening, March 3 to qualify for the World Cup Final in Omaha, Neb., next month.
There are three starting spots allocated at the FEI World Cup Final to the North American League, and Steffen Peters and Alice Tarjan had already won the top two spots.
Heading into the freestyle, the final North America qualifier before the Final, it was neck and neck between Buffini and Sarah Tubman.
Second to go in the class, Tubman on First Apple scored 77.45%, and held the lead for more than two hours, until Buffini, second-to-last to go, scored 78.28% test on FRH Davinia La Douce for the win.
Morgan Barbançon of France on Bolero was third with 77.41%, just 0.04 percentage points behind Tubman.
“It could have been either of us, it was a battle to the end and she deserves to go just as much as I do," said Buffini. "I’m very grateful to have the outcome that we did. It was a tricky ride, but in the past if we’ve had a tricky ride then the score wouldn’t have turned out so well. Our partnership and the work we’ve put in together the last couple of years has really come together, so now even if the ride is a little tricky we can still come out with a solid test. She’s a chestnut mare and they all come out a little bit different at every single show.”
“I AM GLAD we had this ride because it’s given us so many tricks and things we can do to prepare for Omaha, so it was a very good preparation show,” said Buffini, 28, who trains with Olympic medalist Guenter Seidel, whom she credits for much of her success. “He’s the reason I ride how I ride and I am who I am. He changed my life and I wouldn’t be here without him. He has so much wisdom to share and I try to take that into the arena.”
“I could not have asked for more," said Tubman. "First Apple was with me 100% of the time. A zero mistake test. Of course, we could have had a little more energy. It’s hot and he doesn’t like it so hot, but at this stage of the game I’m extremely happy with him.”
“I have to say tonight was our best test so far,” said Barbançon. “Bolero was really with me. I had a great ride and so much fun with him tonight. The last two freestyles there were a couple of hiccups, whereas today I felt like he really wanted to go and we were on it.
“It’s a great experience being here; we can compete a lot, get mileage and experience without having to tire our horses traveling throughout Europe,” she said of her first season in Wellington.
the Palm Beach Derby pits riders head-to-head to ride a Prix St. Georges on an unfamiliar horse whom they are given just five minutes to get to know before tackling the test in the main arena.
This year, the ever popular class ended in a battle between 26-year-old Anna-Christina Abbelen of Germany and 23-year-old Benjamin Ebeling.
Both riders had emerged victorious from the semi-final knock-out rounds earlier in the day and stepped forward to contest the final under lights during the freestyle.
They both rode Helgstrand Dressage USA’s 9-year-old Sezuan stallion Zidan-DN, and it was first-to-go Abbelen who won with 72.426%.
Ebeling missed the final change in the line of three-times and finished on 71.359% to give the win to Abbelen in her first ever Derby competition.
“It was really fun,” she said. “This was a super nice horse and it’s awesome that Helgstrand gave us such nice horses. It felt good and it was a fun atmosphere between us riders. In the five minutes, I tried to feel how Zidan does all the exercises and then push him to my aids, have him in front of my aids, soft in the contact and know how much I needed to touch the snaffle or the curb. It’s quite cool to win in my first Derby experience and I hope I can be back here next year to defend my title.”