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By Stacey Nedrow-Wigmore
June 8, 2002, Gladstone, NJ--Despite Brentina's breaking out into hives
just two hours before her ride time, Debbie McDonald and the Hanoverian
mare took the gold medal in the second Grand Prix of the selection
trials for the World Equestrian Games (WEG) dressage team. "I was very
emotional at the end of the test," said McDonald after her second win
during the trials with a 71.28 percent. She went into the test riding a
little conservatively, looking for a strong, clean performance. McDonald
said that even though the mare wasn't feeling 100 percent, "she really
came through for me." Her scores moved her into first place over Sue
Blinks and Flim Flam in the overall standings, with Sunday's freestyle
score to count for the final 15 percent.
Christine Traurig and Etienne took second with 69.96 percent. "I was
really happy with him," she said. "I couldn't have asked for more."
Traurig didn't expect to be in contention for a team spot since they
came into the trials toward the bottom of the qualifying list. "I just
wanted to ride a consistent test and do a good job," she said. The pair
kept their fourth place standings overall.
Traurig's 2000 Olympic teammate Guenter Seidel and Nikolaus 7 displayed
the bronze medal during the awards ceremony with 67.76 percent. "I had a
disappointing Grand Prix test today," he said. "Nikolaus came into it
today very good and very relaxed. He just needed a little push to get
going, and I didn't do it. He just slept through the whole test. I'm
not used to him being so relaxed." Their scores dropped the pair from
second to third place overall.
Tom Noone and Fresco withdrew after a fall in the schooling area, and
Shelly Francis and Gala withdrew as well.
Results
Jury: (E) Trond Asmyr, (H) Hilda Gurney, (C) Linda Zang, (M) Anne
Gribbons, (B) Volker Moritz
Place/Rider/Horse/Total/Percent/3-Day Total/3-Day Placing
- Debbie McDonald/Brentina/1782/71.82/60.086/1
- Christine Traurig/Etienne/1724/68.96/58.230/4
- Guenter Seidel/Nikolaus 7/1694/67.76/59.530/3
- Sue Blinks/Flim Flam/1680/67.20/59.626/2
- Steffen Peters/Grandeur/1664/66.56/56.856/5
- Guenter Seidel/Foltaire/1617/64.68/55.674/7
- Cherri Reiber/G Tudor/1608/64.32/53.640/9
- George Williams/Rocher/1593/63.72/57.570/8
- Betsy Steiner/Rainier/1586/63.44/56.466/6
- Susan Dutta/Gumshoes-DC/1565/62.60/52.992/10
- Lynda Cameron/Orion/1518/60.72/50.882/11
- Shelly Francis/Gala/Withdrawn
- Tom Noone/Fresco/Withdrawn
