Para-Dressage Competitors Shine on Day Two at Sydney International Three-Day Event

As Eventing riders prepared to head out on the cross country course this morning at the Sydney International Three-Day Event the Para-Equestrian athletes were already taking to the dressage arena on day two of the CPEDI competition, this time competing in the individual test.

The competition moved to Arena 2 bringing with it a change in atmosphere as well as scenery as the crowds gathered to watch the competition.

This is first of the International qualifying events for Australian based riders campaigning for Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and is the first FEI qualifying event in the Oceania region that will count towards a team ranking on the FEI Paralympic Ranking List, allowing riders to attain their minimum eligibility score of 62%.

The winners of the individual competition were:
Grade II – Victoria Davies & Celere on 67.01
Grade IV – Zoe Vorenas & Neversfelde Kipling on 68.98
Grade V – Lisa Martin & In Time on 67.28

After Zoe Vorenas and Neversfelde Kipling’s success yesterday, the new partnership, is clearly shaping up to potentially give them a chance at Tokyo 2020 team selection.  “I have had Kip for just three weeks now, we are a new combination which is really exciting, we have had some exciting results this competition so looking forward to the next one for sure.

I have never competed him before so it was a situation to go in and see what he was like and have a little bit of fun and today I got to play around in the ring now that I know what he is like and it has been really good” said Zoe of the weekends performances thus far.

Once again Grade II combination Victoria Davies and Lusitano stallion Celere finished the competition in first place with a beautiful test. In addition to being a competitive dressage mount Celere is also a breeding stallion and has progeny on the ground both in Australia and Portugal. “My mum and dad have been breeding PRE Spanish horses since 1982 and they are still heavily involved in the breed. They just have magnificent temperaments, especially the stallions, they are very reliable and very with you all the time.

They are great for me because I have so many medical issues. They are highly intelligent and with my body I need something that is comfortable and they are just like an armchair to ride” explains Victoria.

A full list of results can be found at: http://www.snafflebytes.net/snafflebytes_SS/snafflebytes_dressage_scoring.asp

The competition continues tomorrow with the Freestyle test, commencing at 8:00am in the Indoor Arena at Sydney International Equestrian Centre.