Breaking a record seems to be music to Pearce’s ears

Two Australians, a dressage rider and a young Victorian carriage driver, have put in strong performances while competing in Europe competitions.

Simone Pearce and her Freestyle partner Destano. Picture: Anett Somagyvari

Australian dressage rider Simone Pearce made the long trek across Europe with three horses to Budapest to compete in the World Cup dressage.

With just a little over four weeks until the Tokyo Olympics, Pearce continues to impress with outstanding results.

Pearce rode the beautiful stallion Destano to win the World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle and set a new Australian record score for a freestyle to music and claim all three Big Tour records for Australia.

Pearce and Destano scored a very impressive 81.38 per cent for only their second ever Grand Prix Freestyle. It was also the fourth straight win for the partnership in the past six weeks.

The score beat the previous Australian record of 80.145 per cent set by Mary Hanna on Calanta in February last year.

With the Australian team for Tokyo of three riders and horses expected to be announced this week, only four combinations have been able to earn qualifying scores or have had enough preparation as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pearce joins Mary Hanna on Calanta, Kristy Oatley on Du Soleil and Kelly Layne on Samhitas in an anxious wait, but the Germany based combination must be very high on the list.

The success with Destano capped off an exciting show for the Australian who earlier won the CDI4* Grand Prix Special on Double Joy with a score of 70.553 per cent as well as the Grand Prix with 71.826 per cent, also an Olympic qualifying score.

Pearce now has three horses, Destano, Double Joy, and Amandori all qualified for selection to the Australian team. Both Destano and Amandori are owned in partnership by the German stud Gestüt Sprehe GmbH and Pearce while Double Joy is owned by Sabine Ruben.

“Together we can do anything, it’s been an absolutely incredible run,” Pearce said.

— Liz Richardson

DAMSMA TAKING REINS AND DRIVING COURSE TO WORLD STAGE

Young Victorian carriage driver Andrew Damsma continues to build his reputation against strong competition in Europe.

A competition in conjunction with the Dutch National Championships for Single Horses and Horse Pairs at CAN Maasdijk, Netherlands, saw Damsma drive his two KWPN geldings, Flynn and Jensen in the Horse Pair (international) Class for second place.

The event was a follow up to his first three-star international competition three weeks ago at Kronenberg, Netherlands, where he put down a super dressage performance to score 56.77 and drove a tough marathon course against the Horse pairs best drivers.

Some unlucky cones down in the final phase kept him out of the placings but it was a strong learning experience for his young horses.

Andrew Damsma is making a name for himself in Europe. Picture: Krisztina Horvath Hoefnet

At Maasdijk, Damsma’s dressage performance began strongly scoring 58.13 points totalling to 63.67 per cent for a third place.

“My horses were much more relaxed today and I am very happy with the strides they are making at this top level,” he said.

Marathon day conditions were perfect for tackling the championship-worthy, very technical obstacles.

The pair travelled perfectly and finished that phase in second place, lifting them to the overall lead prior to the cones phase.

The final cones competition was tricky and competitors had struggled to make the time allowed. There were no clear rounds, so Damsma tackled the course hoping to make time, but a small error in the middle of the course and a few balls down saw him slip into second place overall.

The young driver’s training and competitions this season are in preparation for this year’s FEI World Championships for Horse Pairs at Kronenberg on the September 8-12, 2021, which will put Australia among the world’s best.

— Fran Cleland

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