KILDARE’S Judy Reynolds and her loyal partner Vancouver K returned to the dressage arena for the first time since placing fourth at the FEI World Cup Finals in April and landed two four-star wins in Fritzens-Schindlhof, Austria, in their preparation for the European Championships in August.

The Olympic combination picked up their first win of the weekend in Friday’s Grand Prix with the Joe and Kathleen Reynolds-owned 15-year-old gelding. Reynolds scored 75.58% to take the top prize, more than three percentage points ahead of German runner-up Dorothee Schneider with Fohlenhofs Rock’n Rose (72.340%).

That score was incredibly close to breaking her own Irish international Grand Prix record score of 75.66% achieved when winning the Grand Prix at the CDI-W show in Devon, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA in October 2016.

DELIGHTED

The German-based rider was delighted with their winning return to the ring. “This was our first international outing since finishing fourth in the FEI World Cup Final in Omaha on April 1st. I was expecting JP [Vancouver K] to be a little bit rusty but he was amazing in training yesterday. He was fantastic today, easy to ride and I could set him and he was there for me.

“This is part of our preparation for the European championships in Gothenburg in August as we haven’t competed in a Grand Prix Special since the Olympic Games in Rio.”

Reynolds completed her double on Sunday the Grand Prix Special with a score of 72.255%. The win was her first ever Grand Prix Special victory.

The Grand Prix Special test, which consists of Grand Prix movements arranged in a different pattern, is considered to be technically more difficult than the Grand Prix.

“This was an important part of our plan for the Europeans as the Grand Prix Special is the second individual qualifier for the Grand Prix Kür (Freestyle to Music) individual European dressage championship final,” she said afterwards.

“Today was our first Special since Rio last August and JP needs the practice runs in advance of the Euros. There were a couple of glitches but I felt the piaffe was better than the Grand Prix on Friday and we finished the test very well.

“It was great to win both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special on our first outing in three months and I’m planning to compete in Aachen and Verden in advance of the European dressage championships in Gothenburg next month.”