WELLINGTON, Fla.--Jemma Heran, 27 of Australia, won the CDI3* Grand Prix with a new personal best on Saphira Royal 2 on Thursday, Feb. 29 at the Global Dressage Festival.
Jemma Heran on Saphira Royale 2 (Photo by Susan Stickle)Heran scored 70.717% to win her first international victory.
Her trainer, Frederic Wandres of Germany, placed second on Joy Game, scoring 69.913% in the horse’s debut CDI.
At just 10 years old, the Davino gelding was the youngest horse in the class.
Three of the top four competitors had new personal bests, including the Canadian riders who were third and fourth: Danielle Gallagher scored 69.239% on Come Back De Massa, and Camille Carier Bergeron was fourth on Finnländerin on 69.087%.
Heran has owned Saphira Royal for just over a year.
“I saw her at a show in Europe and I thought she was spectacular,” said Heran. “She was small-ish, elegant, super flashy moving, fine boned — my style of horse. Today she was amazing. She was full of energy, super fit and ready to go. We had a little mistake in the ones, but she looked up at the crowd and she’s just so epic. She tries her heart out for me like not many other horses I’ve ridden.”
“THIS SEASON'S been really good,” said Heran, referring to strong placings in previous weeks. “Being here gives us the opportunity to show and show and show and we’re really getting to know each other in the ring. When I moved to Europe we trained for the first 12 months, so this is our first back-to-back showing stint. In the past we haven’t really had that ability, and we can now take that to Europe and continue on.
Kevin Kohmann on Dunensee (Photo by Susan Stickle)“If the Olympics happens it happens, and I don’t want to jinx anything, but that would be amazing,” said Heran, who also has the grand prix level Total Recall — whom she lent to Wandres for the Nations Cup show in AGDF 7 — with her in Florida.
In the World Cup Grand Prix, Kevin Kohmann on Dünensee won on a score of 68.891%.
Susan Dutta finished just 0.152 percentage points behind on Don Design DC.
Argentine rider Micaela Mabragaña, who was last to go in the class of nine, finished third on Bradley Cooper on a score of 66.5%.
“Dünensee has already surpassed all the goals I had for him, even if we quit today," said Kohmann. "I’m just so grateful to the horse. Keri Kane, who is the owner, and my mother-in-law, is so generous and kind and supportive that even when things don’t work out so well, like today where I didn’t get enough points, it means it’s not stressful for me. Today in the zig-zag I gambled a bit and lost because I tried to show the judges a perfect zig-zag, and then there was a late change. But he and I have a relationship going here that is something special.”
Kohmann rode the Dancier son as a 5-year-old, and he then had a succession of riders as he was a little tricky.
When Dünensee finally came back to Kohmann, it was a combination of his wife Devon Kane and his friend and trainer Christoph Koschel who urged him to compete the horse, even though Kohmann was unsure he could coax high quality performances from him in the ring.
“They told me, ‘That’s your horse,’ and I said, ‘No, it’s not,’ and they were right,” said Kohmann. “So thanks to them for pushing me to do this. We built a relationship after that first show, and at this point we both love each other. I come in the barn and he yells for me.”
Kohmann is going into Friday night’s World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle in pole position, seeking a win and the 20 ranking points that would earn a starting berth at the World Cup Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April.
“My personal goal is to ride once in a five-star, that would make me really happy,” said Kohmann, “And, if tomorrow works out, we’re going to the World Cup final. That’s a goal I didn’t think even existed for me, but now it’s very close.”
Like Heran, Kohmann plans to spend the summer competing in Europe, based at Kasselmann’s.
“I’d love to make it into the top eight to go to Europe, but either way we’ll stay in Europe because last year when we went it slingshotted us into the show ring so much better,” he said. “If we make it into the top eight, the U.S. will determine which shows we go to. If not, then we’re going to go for the prettiest castle I can ride in front of!”
In the opening round of the Palm Beach Dressage Derby, sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings, each of the three horses performed a Prix St. Georges test with their usual riders.
Canada’s Sven Steffens-Smienk won on A Cappella on 69.314%, Australian Kelly Layne on Fidelio was second on 67.549%, and Franki Kesner, 18 years old, finished third on Il Divo, with 61.471%.
In the knock-out rounds, on Friday night, in which top riders team up with unknown horses and tackle a Prix St. Georges test, Denielle Gallagher of Canada and Erin Nichols will each ride a test on Il Divo in the first round.
In the other qualifying round, both Anna-Cristina Abbelen of Germany and Spain’s Pablo Gómez Molina will ride Fidelio.
The rider with the highest score in each knock-out round will go head-to-head in the final, both riding a Prix St. Georges test on A Cappella to determine the 2024 champion.
