DEL MAR, CA - "It's all coming together now," said Olympian Guenter Seidel after his winning ride in the Grand Prix Special on the final day of California Dreaming Productions' Dressage Affaire CDI3*/Y/J/U-25, held March 10-13 in Del Mar. Next-to-last to go in the class order, he and his mount Zero Gravity easily cruised to the top of the leaderboard and earned the unanimous win under all five judges with a score of 73.471%. Finishing in second with 68.176% was Leona Pollack's 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Zuperman (Sir Sinclair x Rosella by Inspekteur), whose CDI debut proved to be a successful one under the guidance of former FEI World Equestrian Games bronze medalist Kathleen Raine.
Seidel and Zero Gravity (KWPN gelding [Royal Hit x Naica by Contango] owned by James and Charlotte Mashburn) proved they are on a roll. Prior to Sunday's Grand Prix Special win, they came off of a solid performance and second-place ribbon in Friday's Grand Prix test. This was preceded by a big win in the Grand Prix Freestyle at the Mid-Winter Dressage CDI-W in Burbank two weeks ago - a victory which also punched the pair's ticket as one of only two North American representatives to the Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final, coming up on March 23-27, 2016 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
"I'm thrilled. He's starting to mature now and everything's starting to fall into place," Seidel explained. "The Grand Prix was a good start on Friday, and then he came back today in the Special very relaxed and seemed to go through it with ease. I think we're also figuring out how to work together even better at the shows. For example, he can be a hot horse and a little fresh the first day and then be better the second, so I made some adjustments at this show to take him out for a short morning work before the afternoon's test, and it worked out well so we'll continue with that strategy for the future."
Now Seidel shifts his sights to making final preparations for the upcoming World Cup in Gothenburg, for which he departs on Wednesday. "My goal for this show in Del Mar was to use it as one more outing to further develop Zero Gravity's confidence and consistency in the ring, and it worked out perfectly. I'm super happy because today's ride was a great last test to have before we leave," said Seidel. "Of course the World Cup will be a whole new ball game - there are very few venues where you can simulate that type of electric environment. But it will be a great experience for Zero Gravity to get under his belt for the future."
