ON their first international outing of the year, it proved to be a Saint Patrick’s Day to remember for Irish Olympian Anna Merveldt, as she scored 69.370% with the 14-year-old Lusitano stallion ‘Esporim’, owned by Mario Greco and Giovanna Mazza, for second place and a podium finish in the Grand Prix class at the three-star show in Ornago, Italy on Friday, March 17.
Germany’s Franz Trischberger and ‘James Bond 2’ won the Grand Prix on a score of 70.565%. Swiss rider Andrina Suter and ‘Fibonacci’ completed the podium scoring 69.174% for third place.
A score of 73.680% saw Merveldt and ‘Esporim’ place fourth in the Grand Prix Kür (Freestyle to Music) class in Ornago on Sunday, March 19.
Reflecting on a positive set of results, Anna said: “We were performing a new freestyle floor plan with new music today. A real highlight is the Spanish Flame-themed flamenco music for the piaffe and passage trot sequence. It is more difficult than my previous freestyle and the degree of difficulty for the new freestyle choreography is high at 9.8. I need to do a bit of fine-tuning after today, as we were slightly out of sequence with the new music at certain times.
“I was really pleased with the Grand Prix result, ‘Esporim’ is learning all the time and he is now sitting much more on the hind leg. This helps the collection and, as a result, there was a notable improvement in our passage marks. My main aim this year is to be selected for the Irish team for the 2023 FEI Dressage European Championships in Riesenbeck, Germany, as we try to qualify Team Ireland for the Paris Olympics.”
Germany’s Franz Trischberger and ‘James Bond 2’ completed a big tour international double, winning the Grand Prix Freestyle to Music class on a score of 76.610%. Andrina Suter’s score of 74.355% with ‘Fibonacci’ saw the Swiss competitor claim second place. French rider Alexandre Ayache ended marginally ahead of Anna Merveldt, on 73.880%, for the final podium placing with ‘Jolene’.
RESULTS
Ornago CDI3* Grand Prix [17/3/2023]:
equiresults.com/competition/11163/226459/results
16 competed.
Ornago CDI3* Grand Prix Kür (Freestyle to Music) result [19/3/2023]:
equiresults.com/competition/11163/226465/results
14 competed.
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