Sunday, June 18, 2006

USEF Festival of Champions 2006

Elisabeth Austin and Olivier Win Inaugural Brentina Cup at Gladstone

Elisabeth Austin, 22, of Williston, Vermont, is the first winner of the Brentina Cup, an award launched this year at the USET Foundation Dressage Festival of Champions presented by Paul Miller, Inc. Austin topped a class of six entries aboard Olivier, a 10-year-old brown Dutch warmblood stallion (Idocus x Rowillie), earning a score of 70.390% in the FEI Intermediaire II. Olivier was bred and is currently owned by the winner’s mother, Madeleine Dammers Austin.

Bethany Peslar, 24, of Wellington, Florida, riding More Magic (Maraschino x Radetta) owned by Everglades Dressage, LLC, claimed second with a score of 69.171%. Lauren Sprieser, 21, of Oak Brook, Illinois, riding her own Bellinger placed third, earning 64.927%.

Debbie McDonald, who rode Brentina to a 2004 Olympic Team Bronze Medal, 2003 World Cup Championship, and 2002 Team Silver Medal at the World Equestrian Games, made the award presentation to Austin.

The purpose of the USEF Brentina Cup Championship Program is to assist and encourage U.S. Young Riders aged 18-26 in making the transition to Senior Grand Prix competitor. The eight horse/rider combinations with the highest overall average scores according to USEF rankings from qualifying competitions held nationally January through June 2006 were invited to Gladstone to compete.

“I’m so excited, I’m so proud to be a part of it,” Austin said of the program. “Brentina and Debbie have done so much for this sport in this country and certainly around the world. They make it fun, so I think to be part of that and to represent that is really, really important.”

Austin noted that for her, one of the most important parts of the program is that the riders did not have to qualify through CDIs. “For me, that made it financially possible,” Austin explained, who qualified through local shows. Austin also pointed out that for horses that are 9,10, and 11 years old, “it’s the perfect stepping stone” to Grand Prix.

Austin has literally known her winning mount all his life. “I was there when he was born and I remember when he came out my mom said ‘oh, look he has expensive markings!’ He has four white feet,” she explained. Olivier, known as “Fizzy,” has only competed at nine horse shows, and the Brentina Cup is only his third recognized FEI competition. Because she has been exhibiting another stallion, Austin explained that financially she couldn’t show both simultaneously. “I didn’t feel we needed to campaign him a lot. He’s very happy in his job. He loves to show, but for me I don’t think it’s important to show a lot. I really like training,” Austin said, and added that her horses like that schedule as well. “They love it – they’re excited to be away from home.”

Prior to the Brentina Cup qualifiers, the talented stallion’s show records included competing at Third and Fourth Level, and one Prix St. Georges at Lendon Gray’s Youth Dressage Festival (unrecognized competition). Austin and her mother have done all the training, and one season he accompanied 2003 Pan American Team member Pierre St. Jacques to Florida. Olivier is also a breeding stallion. “I’m so proud of him. He’s just a wonderful horse,” Austin enthused, acknowledging that the stallion earns his way through his breeding fees. In today’s ride, Austin described Olivier’s piaffe and passage as “amazing,” especially coming down the centerline where he got “better and hotter in a really nice way. He loves to show and he loves to show off. It’s so easy.”

Austin, a student at the University of Vermont, took time off to compete in Florida this year and to work as an assistant trainer for Lendon Gray at Gleneden Dressage in Bedford, New York. She plans to return to college in the fall.