Steffen Peters could barely hold his emotions in check until the end of his final halt. Normally as cool as ice when he competes, Peters’ façade cracked as the crowd of 6,119 spectators roared to their feet in applause, and he pumped his fist in the air. He and Ravel put in an extraordinary Grand Prix test to win the first leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup Dressage Final.
No U.S. rider has ever won any portion of the World Cup Final before. (Debbie McDonald did win the 2003 World Cup Final, but her win came post-Final after Ulla Salzgeber and Rusty were eliminated for a drug infraction.) “I dreamed pretty big, but today was bigger than my dream,” said Peters. “It sends a nice message to Europe that we’re finally moving up in the world in America. I’m very delighted that Ravel was the one to earn that distinction today.”
It was Peters’ highest score to date, 77.91 percent, and he finished almost 4 points above second-placed Anky van Grunsven and IPS Painted Black (74.17%). Germany’s Isabell Werth took third with Satchmo (73.74%) ahead of Hans Peter Minderhoud on Exquis Nadine (73.06%) and Ashley Holzer on Pop Art (72.51%). Peters scored straight 9s in the collective marks for his position.
“I keep looking at the score to make sure this really happened,” said Peters. “There was no doubt I got very emotional about it. I need to give all the credit to Ravel. He made me look good. I didn’t have to push him that hard. He offered the movements. It really felt like he wanted to be there and wanted to do it. I’m beside myself. I can’t believe it.”
However, Peters was very realistic about the fact that Van Grunsven and Werth aren’t finished yet, especially since neither one rode a mistake-free test today.
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“When you look at the performances of Anky and Isabell over the years, there’s no doubt that the two ladies are always on top. It will be interesting to see when they both have a really clean ride, how far Ravel will be away from them in the judging,” he said.
Van Grunsven made a mistake in her two-tempi changes and had some difficulty in her piaffe-passage transitions with Painted Black, although in general the Dutch Warmblood stallion looked engaged and expressive.
“For today, I was really happy,” said the nine-time World Cup winner from the Netherlands. “It was his best Grand Prix of the season. It’s a new challenge for me to ride him in the World Cup Final. I wasn’t secure about how he was going to be here. He’s not normally scared, but he gets a bit nervous inside. That’s why I had the mistake in the two-tempis. But after that, he got his confidence back. When I came out, I was really happy. I know we can do better, but for this moment I was very satisfied and happy with my second place.”
Van Grunsven had hoped to bring her Olympic champion IPS Salinero, but back injuries prevented her from riding him in enough qualifiers.
Werth rode a tentative test with Satchmo, her Olympic silver-medal mount. She blamed photographers for making him nervous along the sides of the arenas, and the Hanoverian gelding broke to trot in his first pirouette.
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“I wanted the photographers to be a bit more quiet,” said Werth. “They were really disturbing Satchmo on the sides. The sound didn’t stop—tac, tac, tac, tac, tac! That’s the reason why I was careful with the introduction to the first pirouette, because he was really scared to turn. He stopped because I was a bit too careful. But it’s OK—we have to come through it, and I hope we can manage better on Saturday.”
Despite the thrill of a U.S. victory, Peters has a long way to go for an overall win. The Grand Prix test merely determines starting order for the freestyle on Saturday night, and both Van Grunsven and Werth will be gunning for the top spot.
This isn’t a new position for Peters either. In January, he won the Grand Prix at the Exquis World Dressage Masters (Fla.) only to place third in the freestyle when Ravel acted up during his piaffes.
“It’s very important that you stick to your routine. Anky gave me this advice in Florida,” said Peters. “When I came [into the arena at the Masters,] I knew Anky had a pretty high score. I looked at the score and tried to catch up, and it was one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. I’ll stick exactly to my routine. I’ll find out how far Ravel allows me to push him on Saturday. If he offers the same as he did today, we could be in good shape, but I know what both ladies are capable of. We certainly can’t rest on this score.”
