WELLINGTON, Fla.--Kate Kyros (of Australia finished Nations Cup week with a gold medal on Sunday, Feb.25 at the Global Dressage Festival.
Kate Kyros on Chemistry (Photo by Susan Stickle)Kyros, 19 years old, won the CDIO Under-25 Grand Prix Freestyle, and with it the Nations Cup individual gold, scoring 73.50 on Chemistry.
Two USA riders joined her on the podium, both with personal best scores.
Josh Albrecht, 22, on Goldenboy Vinckenburgh scored 70.13% to win the silver medal, while 21-year-old Dennesy Rogers scored 68.8% on Chanel to win the bronze.
“I was very emotional,” said Kyros, who rode to an Alice in Wonderland soundtrack. “Turning from my final piaffe pirouette I was thinking, ‘I am going to cry!’ I’m so ridiculously proud of him today. This is huge. I was nervous because he’s never done a freestyle with this big atmosphere before, and he’s been a little nervous with the clapping, but the minute I got in there today I just knew I had him, we were totally together and we were going to be fine."
“IT'S MY FIRST ever time representing Australia, my first ever Nations Cup, and my first time ever wearing all the uniform,"she said. "Doing it on this big of a level is incredible. I don’t think many other Young Riders have medalled at the Nations Cup for Australia, so it’s super exciting.”
“My mom does all my floor plans and we stay up countless nights watching other European kids and all the big competitions," she said. "I think it’s really important to cater to your horse’s strengths, so that’s what we aim to do.”
The Kyros family bought Chemistry a few years ago, but he remained with his previous rider, New Zealand’s John Thompson, until Kate took over the reins in early 2023.
“We bought him as a future U-25 grand prix horse because we knew they were so hard to find, and we spent years looking for him,” she said. “So even though I couldn’t ride him at the time because I was still too young in Australia, we saved him for later."
“We haven’t even been competing him a year yet, so we’ve gone very quickly and had some super success. He gives his heart 100% of the time, he never says no and I don’t think he’ll ever let me down,” said Kyros, who revealed that Chemistry lives with a giant stuffed carrot in his stable.
Kyros had another victory on Sunday, this time on Intro K in the CDIY Young Riders Freestyle, scoring 75.745% to win by more than 6.5 percentage points over the runner-up, Kat Fuqua on Vitosko.
Catherine Haddad on Sola Diva beat 11 starters in the Future Challenge Prix St. Georges with 70.294%. and she got a coveted ticket to the final, which is for developing horses aged 7 to 9.
Second-placed Jill Irving of Canada on Knight scored 68.676% to win the second qualifying spot.
Haddad imported Sola Diva a couple of years ago, but the Hanoverian mare didn't do well in Florida.
“She had a rough entry into the USA,” said Haddad, who is based between Florida and New Jersey. “Some horses don’t take to the Florida environment so well, she had skin issues, didn’t want to eat much, and we had to do a lot of things to get her happy and comfortable. So we really took our time with everything including the riding and training. I actually had to go into her stall and speak German to her because you could see that the horse was homesick."
“It took us a lot of time to come together, but I feel like we’re a real partnership now," she said. "She has a lot of expression, and I maybe tapped 60% of that today. She’s an extremely beautiful horse inside and out, and I’m a sucker for a beautiful horse. She’s a horse I’m preparing for the grand prix; she’s got beautiful gaits so it looks nice in the Prix St. Georges, but her collection is really remarkable. That mare glides, she has a hyper elastic body. She can cross her legs like a spider. Today I had the hind legs pushing up toward the bit so I could ride her in a higher, more upward frame.”
“It’s such an incredibly great opportunity to ride in this division because with a top horse like this you can get her in this arena without pressure,” said Haddad, who has recently switched nationalities to ride for her father’s native Lebanon after carrying the US flag for two decades. “I can show her around and give her some experience so that when I ride her next year on the international tour, I’ll know what to expect. I love this young horse tour.”
