By Joanie Morris

Las Vegas, NV – The Dressage world has changed.

American rider Steffen Peters and Ravel are at the center of the

universe.

The suspense built throughout the night at the 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup

Final in the Thomas & Mack Arena, and with only one American horse

remaining in the competition, the crowd had to wait until the third to

last horse in the ring. With $102,000 USD on the line and a Rolex watch,

the competition was fierce.

Ravel, in first World Cup Final with Steffen Peters, rose to the

occasion in a very difficult Freestyle. His flying changes and piaffe

and passage were foot perfect, the movements were incredibly tough and

the horse just thrived. He got better as the test went on and was

rewarded with a mark of 84.95%. It was plenty for the win.

“It is fair to say, and I think I speak for Ravel too,” said Peters. “It

was magic soil in there. To share that moment in time with the most

amazing dressage fans in the world is an incredible feeling. It hasn’t

quite sunk in yet.”

Owned by Akiko Yamazaki, Ravel, an 11-year-old Dutch gelding, won the

Rolex Grand Prix on Friday afternoon, the first time an American has

ever won that competition.

“Ravel has an amazing mind,” said Peters. “I honestly didn’t have to

push him. Tonight I could ride him a little more sensitively, he was

with me so much. Naturally he’s a very, very solid horse. He was

extremely confident when we schooled, so I knew he wasn’t too bothered

by the atmosphere, I can’t take credit for his mind he was born like

that. I’m one of those really lucky guy who gets to ride a horse like

that.”

Fourth in the Olympic Games, Ravel has continued to improve and had

beautiful piaffe half pass at the end of his test, showing his strength

and concentration. The transitions were flawless and the crowd were

rewarded for their patience for their hero. He changed his music from

the Games, but the basic choreography stayed the same.

“We worked on the timing,” said Peters. “We changed the trot music, it

had an Asian theme in Hong Kong and I didn’t think that would be

suitable for Las Vegas. We changed it to Coldplay Vida la Vida.”

Isabell Werth and Satchmo, Team Gold and Individual Silver medalists for

Germany at the 2008 Olympic Games turned in another stellar effort.

But 84.500% just wasn’t quite good enough.

The 15-year-old Hanoverian gelding sometimes shows objection in the

piaffe and passage (as he did at the Olympic Games) but tonight he

cooperated and tried very hard. As usual his half-pass and canter work

were fantastic.

“Really, really happy with Satchmo,” said Werth. “He was super, he had

no problems inside the arena. We both were really concentrated so it

worked.”

Werth rode him very, very confidently. This pair won the 2007 World Cup

Final in this same venue. The horse was very accurate and correct, but

it wasn’t a match for Ravel.

Anky van Grunsven, nine-time World Cup Champion and Painted Black were

third on a score of 82.150%.

The day kicked off  with the Las Vegas Grand Prix for the Jumpers. Open

to non-World Cup competitors and the bottom 1/3 of the finishers from

the Final got a crack at $75,000 this afternoon.

American Rich Fellers (who was fourth in the World Cup Final II on

Friday on Flexible) rode Kilkenny Rindo to an impressive win by almost

two seconds. Five horses went through to the jump-off over Anthony D’

Ambrosio’s track, picking up $22,500 for Harry and Mollie Chapman in the

process.

Fellers, from Wilsonville, OR lays fourth in the World Cup Standings

with Flexible. The dynamic chestnut gelding takes four converted World

Cup points into the Finale tomorrow.

The last leg of the show jumping begins tomorrow at 12.00 PST, when the

curtain closes, a second 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup Champion will be

crowned.

ENDS