Saturday, October 28, 2006

Washington International Horse Show Invitational Dressage Championship

Ashley Holzer and Pop Art Win $25,000 Grand Prix Freestyle

Washington, D.C. – October 27, 2006 – Ashley Holzer of New York, New York, aboard Pop Art wowed the crowd and the judges with their Grand Prix Freestyle tonight at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. to win the class with a score of 72.565%, which when added to her second place score last night of 67.813% in the Grand Prix, gave her a total overall mark of 70.189% and victory in the $25,000 Washington International Horse Show Invitational Dressage Championship. As winner of the event, Holzer takes home $10,000 in prize money.

Holzer, 43, a Toronto native who has represented Canada at two Olympic Games, two World Equestrian Games, and two Pan American Games, came into this competition as the defending champion, having won it last year with the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion Gambol. Pop Art is a nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Holzer and Ian Nicoll, her father, who made his Grand Prix debut at this championship event. Mr. Nicoll attended the show and watched his horse win the Invitational Championship.

Tonight, Holzer rode a freestyle to Irish-inspired music track created by Karen Robinson of Applause Dressage, based on music from the theatrical show Riverdance. Though Pop Art started his test showing some tension, he relaxed as he performed the movements, especially his precision piaffe and passage, which he nailed dead on to the music. Holzer included movements that elicited applause from the crowd several times, such as a machine-like piaffe that burst into an energetic extended trot.

The freestyle also showed how creative and clever Holzer is as a rider. As this was Pop Art’s first Grand Prix Freestyle, Holzer acknowledged that she had to "wing it" during some of the ride. "I did a little adlibbing in there because he was very nervous," Holzer explained and added that because Pop Art is so young, she did not want to over-face him. "Normally the freestyle is pretty difficult and he was worried in the beginning. I took him off the pattern and then he was normal and he really settled in. He’s a fabulous horse to ride. I’m very lucky to have him. He’s just Mr. Dependable. He’s never bad. He was just looking at the crowd. He’s never seen anything like this, so to get him to turn around today and do what he did, I’m thrilled."