Laura Graves Earns Fifth Win of AGDF Season Aboard Verdades

Wellington, Fla. – March 1, 2018 – On a very hot afternoon, Laura Graves and Verdades proved that it could not slow them down as they powered through the heat to clinch the win in the CDI-W Grand Prix during the Adequan Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) Week 8.

The crowd waited for the very last ride to see the winner as they watched Graves and her 16-year-old gelding perform an impressive test. Even with a small miscount in their one tempi-changes, the pair proved to be unbeatable.  Graves and Verdades earned a score of 78.022 percent to claim the blue ribbon and the victory.

Laura Graves and Verdades
Laura Graves and Verdades

Coming in second was fellow American Adrienne Lyle aboard the 11-year-old stallion Salvino owned by Betsy Juliano. While relatively new to the Grand Prix arena, Salvino was unphased by the test and the pair put in a solid effort to receive a score of 74.457 percent for the red ribbon.

Adrienne Lyle and Salvino
Adrienne Lyle and Salvino

Third place was awarded to Chase Hickok and Sagacious HF who earned the yellow ribbon with a score just shy of 70 percent. Hickok and the 19-year-old gelding owned by Hyperion Farm rode a smooth test and were awarded a score of 69.5 percent to take third place.

Chase Hickok and Sagacious HF
Chase Hickok and Sagacious HF

Competition will resume at the AGDF on Friday, March 2, with the CDI1* Prix St. Georges class. The CDI-W Grand Prix Freestyle is set to begin at 7 p.m.

FROM THE WINNER’S CIRCLE

Laura Graves – First Place

On Her Ride:
“We had that little mistake in the ones, but nothing that I can’t take the blame for today. I’m super, super happy with how he went in this heat and it’s just nice to know looking ahead to Tryon that he’s fit in this weather. He came out today and was obviously sweating and breathing hard, but I never got the feeling that he was out of power.”

On Verdades:
“He’s such an honest horse. He’s so respectful when you ride him and he just waits for you. He’s very smart and he doesn’t want to rush through his test. I get the feeling he really likes doing it – he still lets me ride him through every step and it’s rather amazing that a horse in his fifth year of doing the Grand Prix still feels like this.”

On Looking Ahead to Tryon:
“Today was necessary and tomorrow is necessary to qualify for the World Cup, but it’s nice since this horse has a little more experience that we can take a little bit of a different path to get to Tryon. I don’t want to have to show him a lot. I’m going to try to be where I have the toughest competition and that looks to be the World Cup and probably Aachen where we get to come head to head with some of the other top five in the world – that’s how we’ll know where we stand going into North Carolina.”

Laura Graves and Verdades
Laura Graves and Verdades

CDI-W Grand Prix Results

1. Laura Graves / USA / Verdades / 78.022
2. Adrienne Lyle / USA / Salvino / 74.457
3. Chase Hickok / USA / Sagacious HF / 69.500
4. Juan Matute Guimon / ESP / Don Diego Ymas / 68.935
5. Yvonne Losos De Muniz / DOM / Aquamarijn / 66.652
6. Ellesse Tzinberg / PHI / Triviant 2 / 64.935
7. Ariana Chia / CAN / Teo / 63.500
8. Sahar Daniel Hirosh / ISR / Whitman / 63.391

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