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April1, 2007

Leslie More and Tip Top Take a Break and Come Back in Rare Form

Leslie Morse was clearly thrilled about earning the trip to Vegas. This will make it her fourth World Cup competition, but she’s clearly not bored with them yet.

“I love the Las Vegas World Cup and I love the freestyle. I think it’s just a fabulous, fabulous event. I’m speechless to be going with Tip Top and we’re going to do the best we can.”

Tip Top also had a bit of time off this year. After returning from Europe last summer, the stallion went into quarantine in Florida at Michael Barisone’s farm and only returned to California in November. Morse said she gave him a bit of a let-down because she was busy putting her new property in order.

“We bought new property and were building and I wanted to give Tip Top time off and trail ride him,” she said. Morse also wanted to focus a bit on some of her younger horses. But then, she said that she got the show urge again and went back to work with the World Cup in mind.

Peters and Morse are both from California. King, who is from Connecticut, is doing some training with Peters and will remain in California until the World Cup. They will be joined there by Catherine Haddad who was granted a fourth spot on the U.S. team by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) based on scores earned in Europe. She and her horse will travel from Europe on the charter flight with the other European competitors. And Balkenhol, will now remain in California to work with all of the team members leading up to the World Cup competition being held in Las Vegas April 19-22.

Of the three remaining competitors, Florida’s Arlene (Tuny) Page took the fourth-place spot with some inconsistencies. Her mount, Wild One, was the youngest at age 11 and looks to have a bright future. New Jersey’s Michael Barisone chose to debut a completely new freestyle aboard Jane Suwalsky’s Neruda. There was no shortness of excitement, but there is work to be done on transitions. Small bobbles seemed to plague their test. This was most likely the final competition for Jennifer Smith’s mount named Parocco ridden by Jeremy Steinberg. Steinberg rode a steady test, but said the also 17-year-old gelding may retire when returned home to Washington.

Peter’s repeated his comment from yesterday that it was not quite the same without friend and fellow competitor, Guenter Seidel, who had to withdraw after his horse, Aragon (owned by Dick and Jane Brown), came up lame in the warm-up following a jog earlier in the week. Donna Richardson was also forced to withdraw today when her Jazzman developed a temperature.

Peters, King and Morse will spend the next few weeks working with Balkenhol in California in preparation for the Rolex FEI World Cup Dressage Finals. They will ship together to Las Vegas on April 16. They will be joined there by Catherine Haddad who was granted a fourth spot on the U.S. team by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) based on scores earned in Europe. She and her horse will travel from Europe on the charter flight with the other European competitors.

Four American riders at the World Cup held in America – we’ve come a long way. Leslie Morse summed it up when she said, “This is kind of fun!”

Results Grand Prix Freestyle for Freestyle Champions

• 1 - Steffen Peters - Floriano - 78.700
• 2 - Courtney King - Idocus - 75.500
• 3 - Leslie Morse - Tip Top 92 - 73.00
• 4 - Arlene Page - Wild One - 71.050
• 5 - Michael Barisone - Nerudo - 70.750
• 6 - Jeremy Steinburg - Parocco - 67.800