Harmony, balance, willingness. That’s how English Judge Mary Seefried described Brentina and Debbie McDonald’s winning Grand Prix ride in the U.S. League Finals and USEF Freestyle Championships, Burbank, Calif., April 2.
In her first appearance since the Athens Olympics in August, Brentina showed herself fit and ready to try her luck at the FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas, Nev., April 20-24, winning the class with a 73.20 percent. Gunter Seidel on the gray Aragon finished second with a 69.62 percent and Leslie Morse was third on her green Grand Prix mount Tip Top (69.29%). Morse also finished fourth on Kingston, just a mere 0.04 percentage points behind Tip Top and Steffen Peters and Floriano were fifth (68.83%).
Seidel also finished sixth on Nikolaus (67.66%). Carol Plough and Komo were seventh (65.58%); Emmy Adwers and PF Robinson were eighth (63.75%) and Suzanne Dansby-Phelps and Cooper were ninth (61.58%).
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Like the World Cup Final, the Grand Prix in the U.S. League Final serves only to establish the order of go for the Grand Prix freestyle and the scores of the Grand Prix do not count towards the final outcome of the Grand Prix freestyle.
Seefried said had Brentina showed a little more power in her test, her scores would have come up considerably. Asked if she had ridden a deliberately conservative ride, McDonald laughed and said.
