Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024

Reid And Mark Tango In Toronto

Leslie Reid and the 10-year-old, Dutch Warmblood gelding Mark earned the right to represent Canada at April's FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Las Vegas.

Reid and Mark, 2003 Pan Am Games individual gold and team silver medalists, won the Grand Prix and Grand Prix freestyle at the Canadian League Final for the FEI World Cup at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, Ont., Nov. 10-11.
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Leslie Reid and the 10-year-old, Dutch Warmblood gelding Mark earned the right to represent Canada at April’s FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Las Vegas.

Reid and Mark, 2003 Pan Am Games individual gold and team silver medalists, won the Grand Prix and Grand Prix freestyle at the Canadian League Final for the FEI World Cup at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, Ont., Nov. 10-11.

This spring the pair scored victories at California CDIs with scores higher than 70 percent in the Grand Prix, giving them a bye onto the Canadian Olympic team. Just weeks after returning from their Olympic debut, Reid and Mark swept the Grand Prix and Grand Prix freestyle at Dressage at Devon (Pa.), earning the necessary points to be eligible for the World Cup.

“I didn’t really have enough horse in Athens,” Reid said. “At Devon he was fresher and I had more energy. I rode with a lot more conviction.”

Mark was fresher still in Toronto, showing great presence and occasional distraction at the 6,000 spectators. The freestyle evening at the Royal is always sold out, making it the most-attended dressage competition on the continent and a rival to any indoor European show for numbers and atmosphere.

Following the freestyle, president of the ground jury Stephen Clarke said, “There was as much atmosphere tonight as any indoor show I’ve ever been to. I loved it. The nice thing about it, too, is that the crowd was right behind everybody.”

This year, the field was strong, with Olympic and World Cup Final veterans. “We had two 8-year-olds, two 9-year-olds and two 10-year-olds. When can you remember a Canadian Final that had no teenagers in it?” asked Reid.

Only the top five ranked horses are invited to compete at the League Final, but a sixth horse provides a demonstration ride, with a commentary to help the audience understand the intricacies of assessing each movement. This year’s demonstration rider was Nancy MacLachlan on Ariston, an 8-year-old gelding that MacLachlan found in the Ukraine earlier this year.

“There are Trakehner bloodlines a few generations back, but the Ukrainian horses are their own breed,” said MacLachlan, who has bought several horses from the Ukraine this year.

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An Electric Atmosphere

Once the top five horses have been determined, the slate is wiped clean for the Canadian League Final. The FEI judging panel consisted of Clarke of Great Britain (who was on the Athens ground jury), Lisette Vega de Purcell of the Dominican Republic, American Lilo Fore, and Canadians Lorraine Stubbs and Elizabeth McMullen.

Reid and Mark had a fairly clean Grand Prix with no real mistakes, but Mark was visibly electrified by the atmosphere, and some of his usually fluid transitions were a little bumpy. Still, his score of 69.62 percent, with his highest marks for the flying changes, set the bar high for those who followed.

Cindy Ishoy was the most experienced competitor in the Canadian Final; 2004 marked the sixth time she has been named to an Olympic team. Her 10-year-old Athens partner Proton looked quite at home at the Royal, though it was his first appearance there. The only significant flaw in an otherwise smooth test was between the two canter pirouettes on center line, when Proton almost halted–the result of an apparent miscommunication. A score of 68.75 percent put them less than a point behind Reid.

Like Ishoy, Evi Strasser is no stranger to the Royal; she is a past World Cup finalist and was the alternate for Athens with Quantum Tyme. This is the 9-year-old Oldenburg’s first season at Grand Prix. He shared some of Mark’s show nerves, though they manifested themselves a little differently. He was brilliant in the half-pass in trot, but the passage and piaffe were not always through and correct. The canter pirouettes were a highlight of his test, which scored 67.79 percent, putting Strasser into third place.

Jacqueline Brooks and Gran Gesto, another 9-year-old, finished fourth (64.58%); 8-year-old Wholio, ridden by Jon Costin, was fifth (62.79%).

If Reid’s scores were divisive, with a high of almost 73 percent and a low of 66.25 percent, the judges were even more undecided about Strasser. One judge had her tied for first with Reid, one had her tied for second with Ishoy, and a third had her winning the class. With the scores so close and the judges not unanimous in their placings, the freestyle was anticipated to be a tight contest.

Best For Last

The order of go for the freestyle was the same as it is in the World Cup Final, with horses entering in reverse order of standing. Costin and Wholio performed their freestyle, though their score was not counted; only the top four from the Grand Prix actually compete in the freestyle.

Brooks rode an elegant program with Gran Gesto, who shows an excellent attitude toward his job but lacks a little of the strength that he will gain with mileage. They remained in fourth place (66.87%). Strasser and Quantum Tyme put on a crowd-pleasing performance, and though there were a couple of technical mistakes, his passage and piaffe were better than the previous day. They were rewarded with 71.65 percent, which put the pressure on Ishoy.

Proton was once again more relaxed than his rivals, but in top level dressage that is not necessarily a good thing. His gaits lacked the sparkle of Quantum Tyme’s, who was more wound up but also more brilliant. Ishoy again had a problem in the canter work, when Proton dropped suddenly into passage. It took Ishoy several seconds to re-establish the canter. A door had opened for Strasser and Quantum Tyme. Ishoy’s score of 70.72 percent put her behind Strasser in the combined standings, since the freestyle is more heavily weighted than the Grand Prix test.

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When Reid and Mark began their freestyle, which is a collection of Tango music, Mark looked to be perfectly on his game, though he was still very aware of the audience. When he performed a difficult sequence of double canter pirouettes to two tempis on a diagonal to one tempis around the short side, the crowd erupted in applause. Mark erupted too.

“When he goes into the one tempis he’s really concentrating, and I think it scared him,” said Reid. “He’s usually OK with the clapping.”

She quickly got Mark’s mind back on his job, and most of the freestyle was as exceptional as the horse has ever been. A score of 73.92 percent put them easily into first place. “His piaffe and passage were much better tonight,” said Reid. “He was a lot calmer.”

As he develops at the Grand Prix level, Mark is getting hotter. “[That’s] a good thing,” said Reid. “I felt it in the warm-up. He acts a little bit like a race horse now–he knows when it’s time.”

Reid was not at all certain that she would win the freestyle. “That was a tight class. I know what everyone could do,” she said.

This was a two-for-two victory at the Royal for Reid. Her only other trip to the Canadian League Final, in 1996 with Seafox, resulted in a win. She and Mark will train at home through the winter; they will compete in California in the weeks leading up to the Final in Las Vegas.

“Mark is probably the horse of a lifetime,” Reid said. “He has the brains and the talent to do it.”

And Mark’s owner Deryol Andrews just might be the owner of a lifetime. A Vancouver businessman, Andrews has sponsored Reid with his company, St. John’s Fishing Lodge, since she began competing on Mark five years ago. Andrews was honored for his commitment at the Royal Winter Fair this year, with the Dressage Canada owner of the year award.

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