Martin and Lagoy-Weltz Top Small Tour Classes at the 2014 Palm Beach Derby

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2014 Palm Beach Dressage Derby

Americans Silva Martin and Olivia Lagoy-Weltz topped the leader board in the Prix St Georges and Intermediaire I at the 2014 Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI-W in Wellington, Florida, on Friday 28 February and Saturday 1 March 2014. Martin came out on top with Rosa Cha W in the Prix St Georges, while Lagoy-Weltz aced the Intermediaire I aboard Rassing's Lonoir.

Martin Takes the Prix St Georges

Martin characterized her test on Rosa Cha, an 8-year-old Australian Warmblood mare by Regardez Moi, as the best she's had with the mare, particularly because she felt she rode better. Martin credited much of her progress over the last six weeks to coach Debbie McDonald.

"I so much enjoy working with Debbie. I've been working with her for a while now. She's helped me so much, and she makes me very confident. Over the last six weeks, it's just been getting better and better and better. I love having her at the ring!" Martin expressed.

Of her PSG, Martin commented, "She can be a little bit of a tense mare. She gets a little tight sometimes, but today she was really relaxed and I let her do her job. Sometimes I override things and she does it better on her own, actually!"

Friday's win was especially meaningful for Martin as she and husband Boyd, an Olympian eventer, bred the mare themselves. "I was there when she was born. It's emotional for me because she's come such a long way, and I've had her all her life," Martin smiled

Martin's husband was on hand to cheer her on, which Martin especially enjoyed since it was the first time he had attended one of her tests.

"Boyd is not easy to get away, so it was exciting that he came and that I won when he was here. That was awesome. He's leaving tomorrow morning, so he won't see tomorrow. He's a terrible spectator, but it's so exciting that he's here," Martin remarked.

Also in the crowd was American show jumping legend George H. Morris, who stopped by the show grounds to watch Martin ride after hosting a clinic with Martin's husband in Aiken, SC. "Wasn't that an honor? That made me more nervous than anybody else being here! He was so nice and said 'I love watching you ride.' It was exciting that he was here. He came here specifically to watch me. He was teaching Boyd last week, so it was pretty cool having him here!" Martin concluded.

Lagoy-Weltz Aces the Intermediaire I

LaGoy-Weltz and Rassing's Lonoir, a 10-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding owned by the rider, finished first in the Intermediaire-1 on a score of 73.596%. Americans swept the top three, with Christopher Hickey and Ronaldo earning second place with a score of 72.149% and Silva Martin and Rosa Cha W finishing third with a score of 70.439%.

Saturday's test was the first time LaGoy-Weltz had ridden a CDI with Rassing's Lonoir, known as "Lono" in the barn, and she was thrilled with how the gelding performed. The pair finished third in the Prix St. Georges on Friday, and LaGoy was pleased to see improvement in his trot work, which can be challenging for the big-bodied gelding.

"He definitely clicked into a much fancier place today than he did yesterday in his trot. Clearly he still deals with some excitement or tension in the canter, but I went through that went I first started showing him nationally as well. We dealt with that in the [national] horse shows and now it's just going to be a phase of dealing with it and him learning to breathe and let go," LaGoy-Weltz described.

The finer points of the test were where LaGoy-Weltz saw the biggest improvements, particularly with how Lono dealt with the CDI atmosphere.

"It's the little details, like how he went around the ring on the outside. The fact that we trotted in, picked up the canter, and went down centerline and nailed the halt [was great]. There's still work to do in all of it, particularly in the canter, just his strength for the collection," LaGoy-Weltz explained. "He was just more relaxed. Yesterday, even just in the warm-up he wasn't quite as connected. He just wasn't finding his groove in the trot. He still has lovely basic gaits, but in order to click in to that other place, finding that other notch of thoroughness, and him just relaxing and letting go and me just focusing and thinking about it. He was just in a better place."

Lono is not the first horse LaGoy-Weltz has competed at CDI level and having that experience under her belt has made this time around much less stressful.

"It's fun for me, because I've done one other horse in the CDIs and he was a much hotter, spookier, more difficult horse. With Lono, since I've done it, I can be like 'Oh, alright we're through the paperwork, the jog, now it's just riding the St. Georges in another ring or the I-1 in another ring.' So I can be a lot less like, 'Oh my god, it's a CDI.' It's nice that I've gotten to that point," LaGoy-Weltz smiled.

Photos of the 2014 CDI-W Palm Beach Derby can be ordered by emailing us at info@eurodressage.com