Olympic Selection Heats Up for Aussie Dressage Athletes

 

The bid for Olympic selection has heated up for Australia’s elite dressage riders with the first of the Nomination events getting underway overnight at the Mannheim CDI in Germany.

Rain storms and cold weather didn’t dampen the mood among the Aussies who pulled out all stops to impress selectors who were onsite.

Highest ranked Aussie of the day was Lyndal Oatley and Sandro Boy who recorded a score of 69.723%.  Oatley was faced with the worst of the conditions, with the rain storm hitting just as she was due to enter the arena.  With proceedings called to a halt, she retreated to the stables before coming back out and giving a strong performance.  

“I feel very happy with my performance and the decision to go with Sandro Boy.  His performance really justified my belief in him.  Bring on the special tomorrow!” said Oatley.

With the top 15 going through to tomorrow’s (Sunday) Grand Prix Special, Oatley who finished 7th overall will be joined by fellow Aussie Hayley Beresford and Belissimo who finished 11th on 68.872% and her cousin Kristy Oatley and Ronan who finished 13th place on 68.553%.

For the remaining Australian riders, they will now turn their attention to the second and final Olympic Nomination event in Compiegne CDI (FRA) from 31 May -3 June 2012.

National Performance Director for Dressage Deb MacNicol, said she was very pleased with the performances by the Aussie team.

“We had eight very good horses compete today in a good, quality field and it was pleasing to see the strong results,” she said.

“They came up against very tough weather with the severe rain and cold – but they were able to come out and perform extremely well.

“Today’s performances again showed the strength of horses Australia has and given that we lost two of our top horses in the last 12 months (Victory Salute and Relampago do Retiro), it shows great depth in our Dressage program,” said MacNicol.  

Aussie riders results from Mannheim CDI:

Lyndal Oatley                              Sandro Boy                          69.723%

Hayley Beresford                         Belissimo NRW                     68.872%

Kristy Oatley                                Ronan                                  68.553%

Chantal Wigan                             Ferero                                 66.702%

Mary Hanna                                 Sancette                              66.362%

Rozzie Ryan                                GV Bullwinkle                        65.553%

Rachael Sanna                            Jaybee Alabaster                  63.532%

Brett Parbery                              Lord of Loxley                       60.12%

Quick Link

• For full results from the Grand Prix at Mannheim – click here.