Dressage by the Sea 2019 Declared Success by Top Judges & Athletes

Willinga Park was home to the Southern Hemisphere’s first-ever CDI 4* Dressage Competition from 21 February through 2 March.

The event drew the best combinations from across Australia and three 5* international judges who could help our Aussie riders understand their progress and ranking on a world stage—something that usually only happens if you have the means to go to an international competition in the United States or Europe.

“We are proud to have offered this competition to our Australian Equestrian community and Australian Olympic hopefuls,” says Terry Snow of Willinga Park.

“These kinds of events will raise the profile of Australian Equestrian sports around the world.”

Dressage by the Sea 2019 is a big step toward success in Tokyo, offered record prize money and it was also the first competition in Australia to use paperless scoring, allowing the elite judges to enter their scores on iPads for real-time scoring.

Winner Sue Hearn says the paperless scoring was a unique experience in her career. “By the time I left the arena and had ridden to ‘A’ I heard the call, looked at the screen and knew we had won!!”

Jean Michael Roudier, a 5* international judge from France, says he has, “never seen a venue like Willinga Park, anywhere in the world.”

He commented that it is “the best purpose-built equestrian facility in the world.”

Eddy De Wolff (FEI5* NED) was quoted saying Dressage by the Sea event is, “the best he has ever been involved in.”

20-year-old Mary Warren will go home with more than $17,000 in cash and more fans after her wins at Dressage by the Sea.

“It’s amazing to have been able to earn so much prize money over the past 10 days,” says Mary.

“Normally in Dressage we make our money selling our horses. This prize money will really help.”

This event was a game changer for athletes, and audiences at both Willinga Park and those watching live streaming across the country.

Thanks to the paperless scoring, riders often had their result before they left the arena, viewers at home watching on the livestream could see the trend from the judges in real time, and results were known within minutes of the class finishing.

Spectators could even crowd score with an app and have a go at judging themselves. All of this meant that Willinga Park’s Dressage by the Sea continues to help Australian equestrian sport lead the field.

“While we had many Willinga Park staff members and volunteers working around the clock, it was disappointing to think that the first-ever CDI 4* Dressage event run in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere was missing a representative from Equestrian Australia and Equestrian New South Wales,” says Terry.

“I have been vocal about the administration of Equestrian sports in Australia before and as a group we need to look at how we can better administer the sport, help foster young riders and horses, retain elite horse ownership and encourage people to invest in the sport, its athletes and Australia.

It seems unproductive that we have an organisation that doesn’t have discipline-based boards, letting people who are passionate and educated lead their sport. It is time that we disband the state branches, allow Dressage athletes, coaches, supporters and patrons to drive the direction of Dressage in Australia. Likewise, this would work for Showjumping, Eventing, Carriage Driving, Reining and Show Horse.”

Dressage by the Sea was a success on many levels, thanks to all the hard-working team members and volunteers that made it all come together, the judges who travelled around the world to be part of this inaugural event and the judges and officials from Australia who also travelled a long way to witness the best in the sport.

Thank you also must go to the athletes, their support teams and the spectators. We loved having you as part of this history-making event, and we hope you enjoyed it too. We would love to continue sharing all of the exciting events with you.

Visit www.willingapark.com.au for videos and news articles about each day of competition. 

Supplied by Willinga Park.