Gemma Stevens has stamped her authority on the GFS Saddles eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S class, leading the first day’s dressage phase by 2.1 penalties at the Agria Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials.
Gemma was riding her Hickstead Eventers Challenge winner Cooley Park Muze, a nine-year-old gelding owned by the Rex Syndicate, who is known for his exceptional jumping ability and scored a huge personal best in this phase for 22.9.
“This was completely not expected!” said Gemma. “He’s still very green, having only evented for two years, since he was seven. But I’ve always believed he could get a really good score, it was just about getting it together on the day.
“He has the most amazing brain, he’s not bothered at all by any sort of atmosphere. Today he was really with me, happy and settled.”
Gemma was first into the GFS Saddles arena with Chilli’s Jester, scoring 33.3, but it was her second ride Cooley Park Muze who sauntered into the top spot towards the end of the first day of dressage. Fiona Kashel and Monbeg Cazador, who were 13th in this class last year, sit in second on 25. Gemma noted that the four-star test plays to her dressage leader’s strengths.
“He has an incredibly light contact, and I rode him in a thick rubber snaffle with a very loose noseband,” Gemma explained. “I managed to get him taking the bit more forward than I have done in his three-star tests. The four-star test suits him because you can ride him more forward and he likes being ridden like that.
“He has the most amazing canter, he’s very good at his sideways work and it all came off and the judges absolutely loved him.
“Even though it’s a shock today, I’ve known that he has it in him to do that sort of score. I just hope we can now do him justice and carry on like this for the rest of this show and career going forward. He’s a very exciting horse.”
How the Blenheim Horse Trials dressage phase played out on day one
For a long while, it had been a day of tight scores at the head of the leaderboard, ever since New Zealander Samantha Lissington was second into the arena on the Finnish-bred Lucas Stone, scoring 29.5 for top spot, where she stayed until lunchtime.
Australia’s Kevin McNab snuck into the lead by 0.1 of a penalty with Wilfred Lancer, and then Britain’s George Hilton-Jones crept ahead by the same tiny margin, for 29.3, aboard Feardorcha Diamond MH on the horse’s first attempt at four-star. Samantha also steered her second ride, Malibu TS, into this bracket for 29.8.
Finally the 29 deadlock was broken midway through the afternoon when Fiona Kashel sailed out in front on her own and Frank Breach’s Monbeg Cazador, who scored 25, and the floodgates opened. Gemma conjured by far the horse’s best mark at any level, before Sian Coleman also came into the mix with Kilroe Frolic on 26.8.
At the end of the day one, here are the dressage standings:
- Gemma Stevens and Cooley Park Muze: 22.9
- Fiona Kashel and Monbeg Cazador: 25
- Sian Coleman and Kilroe Frolic: 26.8
- George Hilton-Jones and Feardorcha Diamond MH: 29.3
- Kevin McNab and Wilfred Lancer: 29.4
- Samantha Lissington and Lucas Stone: 29.5
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