Saturday July 2, 2005

Damon Hill and Florencio In the Lead at the 2005 World Young Horse Championships in Verden

Dutta Stands Out in the American Team

In the American delegation, it was Wellington based Susan Dutta who rose to the occasion and became the best performing American of the team of three.

In the 5-year old class, Dutta rode a perfectly clean test with the Oldenburg gelding Currency DC (Clintino x Classiker). The bay showed a very honest contact between hand and bit and was very attentive to Dutta's aid. The trot was well engaged and Currency stayed light. Only in the corners he lost a bit of balance. The walk was good and the canter showed good self carriage. Dutta can be praised for her professional presentation of her horse. She rode the cleanest test of all and scored 8.30 and placed tenth.

Hokan Thorn and Donegal (Davignport x Grundstein) ranked 29th with a 7.04 mark. Donegal's conformation is quite old fashioned compared to the other modern athletes competing in Verden, but the horse is extremely rideable and focused on his rider. The walk was the highlight gait with two hooves overtrack. The trot was good, but needed to show more push. The canter work was decent as well, but looked a bit plain. Thorn and Donegal had a clean ride, but there was no real brilliance in this combination.