Britain’s Alex Bragg had a tricky ride in the Mars Maryland 5 Star dressage today (Thursday, 16 October), scoring 39.2 with The Roe Family’s Quindiva to lie seventh of the 11 starters so far.
“It’s very windy here, but she seemed quite settled outside,” Alex told H&H. “But when she came up to the main arena with the flags she got very lit up and tense and then she becomes quite sensitive. I thought hopefully she’ll get around the boards and relax, but then she was spooking at the camera and judges’ boxes, so I didn’t quite have the ride I wanted, but we got through test and in those situations that’s all you can do.”
Quindiva certainly looked bright in her Maryland 5 Star dressage test, as Alex Bragg said, and swung her quarters out to the left in her first halt and put her head up. She was also reluctant to settle in the mid-test halt, repeated the quarter swing in her final halt and struck off on the wrong lead in the transition to canter. She did pull off some clean flying changes and gained her best marks, 7.5s, from Robert Stevenson at B, for her medium trot and canter.
“Rather than soldier through it, we wanted to make sure she was ok, so we didn’t target her at Badminton,” said Alex. “We took the time to take some embryos from her, so they are now in surrogate mothers – so we made use of that time in the first half of the season and she’s now fully recovered here for an autumn campaign. We couldn’t quite get her back in time for Burghley, which then opened up the option of coming to Maryland, which is why we’re here.
“It maybe makes it a touch more difficult that she’s had limited competition runs this year, especially at such big venues – perhaps that’s why she was more sensitive today, but that’s horses and you’ve got to get them fit for these events and deal with what comes. At least we posted a score on the board and it’s definitely not going to be a dressage competition.”
Quindiva’s two forthcoming embryo transfer progeny are by Leprince Des Bois, the former five-star horse ridden by Germany’s Kai Rüder.
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“The cross-country course is almost like being at home with big parkland – it’s a real galloping track,” said Alex. “There are some very technical lines and how they marry up to the undulations of Maryland we’ll find out on Saturday.”
Alex described Pierre’s Puzzle and the French Horn (fences 16abc and 17) – a rail to ditch to two hanging brush shoulders as “the toughest five-star question I’ve seen all year”.
“It will be interesting to see how and whether people tackle that – there is an alternative,” he said.
The other fence Alex picked out as likely to be influential was Maryland’s iconic “Crab water” – the Mars Sustainability Bay (fence 23abcd) and Mars Blue Crab (fence 24) – which features an angled brush shoulder into the water with a gap in front of it, an angled brush in the water and a step up to a skinny final element.
“It’s an amazing combination, challenging all the skills needed for cross-country, and it’s eight and a half minutes into the course, so you’ll be on a horse who’s feeling a little more tired, so I think that will take a lot of riding,” said Alex.
The British rider said the event in general is “amazing”.
“We’ve had a phenomenal welcome from everyone here – they really do make you feel at home and if you need anything they will bend over backwards for you,” he said.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
