2023 Australian Dressage Championships kick off at Boneo Park

The first day of the Stable Ground 2023 Australian Dressage Championships has kicked off today at Boneo Park Equestrian Centre on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. The venue has been set up to perfection with a full trade village, immaculately groomed arenas and all the best facilities for competitors and spectators alike.

After a successful trot-up yesterday, the skills of the Para-Dressage riders were on display on sun-filled main arena. Today we saw the  CPEDI2* and CPEDI 3* competitors take to the sand for the first time and demonstrate why they are competing at this level.

The CPEDI2* had a number of riders who were newly classified, so this was a fantastic opportunity for them to compete at this level and gain some experience in front of FEI Judges.

This event is extremely significant for Australlia as it is our final opportunity to record a team result to qualify us for a place at the Paris Paralympics. For the CPEDI 3* combinations this was also the first opportunity to collect scores to count towards possible selection for Paris.

Today was a day of many personal best (PB) scores for competing combinations, with 16 PBs recorded over the day.  There is still plenty of competition ahead of us, but this is great opportunity to celebrate the winners from today's classes:

CPEDI 2*

Grade II Intermediate Test A
Rebecca Webber and Glenayre Skyline on 59.588%

Grade IV Intermediate Test A
Darcy MacAulay and Parklands Faltango on 68.600% PB

Grade V Intermediate Test A
Georgina Bills and Chapplehurst Wynter on 69.286% PB

CPEDI 3*

Grade I Grand Prix Test A
Stella Barton and Lord Larmarque on 72.361% PB

Grade II Grand Prix Test A
Maddison Cooke and Byalee Magic II on 67.874%

Grade III Grand Prix Test A
Kelly Ffrost and Karabil Park Janz on 63.667%

Grade IV Grand Prix Test A
Dianne Barnes and Sorena on 69.028%

Grade V Grand Prix Test A
Chelsea De Jonge and Don Dancier on 67.991% - PB

We look forward with much anticipation to what will undoubtably be another brilliant day tomorrow.

Full results can be found at: https://equestrian-hub.com/public/show/179862