Chris Stafford returns with news and interviews from around the world of equestrian sport by counting down to this year’s Land Rover Kentucky Three Day Event and featuring some of the first timers to the only 5 star competition in North America. The first guest is California based Frankie Thierot Stutes who had a bumper season last year with her 11 year old Oldenburg gelding Chatwin when they culminated by winning the FairHill three star event. I spoke to Frankie after her dressage at the Galway Downs International 4star short event last week which was the third outing of the year for the partnership as they prepare for the big event.
Later in program we will hear from Katherine Bateson-Chandler who, together with the 14 year old Dutch gelding Alcazar, won the FEI four star Grand Prix Freestyle last week in week 12 of the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Florida scoring a personal best with her long time partner.
The World Cup Dressage and Jumping Finals takes place this week in Gothenburg, Sweden and if you’ve been following the World Cup season it may seem that if Germany’s Isabell Werth is on form she will always be the one to beat and certainly with five World Cup titles to her name the doyen of dressage will be giving it all she has with Weihegold to make it a hat-trick of World Cup titles.  There are combinations who could deny her the title again including one of the US ladies and Laura Graves will know this is her best chance to add this to her career highlights with Verdades.
Veteran show jumper Beezie Madden is also going for a hat-trick and will be under no illusion of the stiff competition the popular American rider faces if she is to bring it home again with Breitling. She has three other women joining her on the US contingent the 20 year old Eve Jobs and twenty-one year old Kelli Cruciotti (21) will be two of the youngest riders in action along with Georgina Bloomberg. American women have a great record at the World Cup Show Jumping Final. Melanie Smith won the title in 1983, Leslie Burr Lenehan in 1986) and Katharine Burdsall in 1987.
The World Cup Finals mark the end of the indoor season so once the dust has settled in Gothenburg the focus will turn to the spring season of Nations Cups and selection for the Pan American Games which take place in Lima, Peru this summer and the European Championships. Both competitions are the last chance for nations to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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