‘Shout out to the chestnut mares of the world’: expressive mare sets grand prix special off to a cracking start at World Dressage Championships
José Antonio Garcia Mena and Divina Royal, pictured at the Tokyo Olympics.
(Image credit: Friso Gentsch/dpa)
Spain’s José Antonio Garcia Mena and the striking chestnut mare Divina Royal set the tone for a top-class grand prix special day with a new personal best in the World Dressage Championships results.
This partnership has solidified their partnership since their first appearance on the world stage at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, which came just months after their first international grand prix together.
José Antonio and the 12-year-old mare were first into the arena in the grand prix special at the Blue Hors FEI World Dressage Championships today (Tuesday, 8 August), setting the bar with a score of 73.88%.
Jose Ignacio Diaz Bravo’s mare showed scopey trot work, trending around the 74% mark, with her light, expressive passage a treat for viewers. The highlights kept coming, with a flowing canter zig-zag and bold, forward two- and one-time tempi changes.
José Antonio said afterwards that he was able to take more risks today than in the grand prix team test, where he scored 71.82 % – helping Spain to team seventh.
“Today I had nothing to lose and our chance to be very on the limit in the special,” he said, adding the special suits this mare better than the grand prix. “Tokyo last year was a very fast year, because my first CDI [big tour] with her was in April last year, so some three months later, she was in the Olympic Games.”
He added the winter has been pivotal in building their relationship and now they are “on their way”.
José Antonio’s team-mates Jose Daniel Martin Dockx, riding Malagueno LXXXIII, and Alejandro Sánchez del Barco, aboard Quincallo de Indalo, are also in this first grand prix special session, which will decide the first set of individual World Dressage Championships results.
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