Viva Las Vegas

Vegas has once again hosted the World Cup, marking only the third time in its 22 year history that this competition has been held on American soil. Seventeen riders from ten countries were invited to show in the Grand Prix. From there, only twelve would advance to the Freestyle Finals where the scores from the kur alone determined the outcome. Those who did not advance competed In the Grand Prix Freestyle B class.

The 12,000 who attended this premiere international event saw three Klassic Kur freestyles. In the Grand Prix B, Canada's Evi Strasser and Quantum Tyme put in a fine performance to African based music. The canter work featured tempis on a diagonal line, directly connected to 1.5 pirouette, followed by an extension. Her canter music was "Circle of Life" from The Lion King. In the Grand Prix Freestyle Final, Courtney King and Idocus delighted everyone with a walk down Broadway, strutting to tunes from Fiddler on the Roof, Cats, & Gypsy. They even took a side trip down the Yellow Brick Road, passaging to the Wizard of Oz. Their canter was highlight by several very difficult sequences including a broken line of twos directly connected to ones. Excellent musical interpretation and strong execution earned this pair a 79% in the artistic, and an overall 73.20% to bring them into sixth place. Going last for the evening was Steffen Peters and Floriano. The steady, 17 year, Westfalian gelding did not disappoint his fans and earned a 77.80% to take home the Bronze.

2006 In Review

Klassic Kur freestyles were a common occurrence in the victory lane during the 2006 season. Most notably were Steffen Peters and Floriano topping the bill at the USET Foundation Festival of Championships held at its home in Gladstone, New Jersey. The pair danced to a medley of rock tunes featuring "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac, "Give A Little Bit" by Supertramp and "Imagine" by John Lennon. The well-balanced choreography included an extended canter quickly followed by piaffe, as well as other difficult transitions. This duo went on to have a great showing in Europe, finishing off with a sixth place freestyle finish in the World Equestrian Games. Guenter Seidel and Aragon were second in the Grand Prix at Gladstone, which also gave them the opportunity to represent the United States at the WEG.

In the Intermediare championships Pan American Gold Medalist Jan Ebeling and his new mount Rafalca took third, and Katherine Poulin-Neff and Brilliant Too earned the Intermediate Reserve Championship title. Kate and her 15.1 dynamo "Zuel", named after the Ghostbusters character, performed to an energetic, horn-based program that perfectly exemplified the pair. Their strong performance dripped with personality, and when they flashed their final salute, the crowd roared its approval and left no doubt that this diminutive but mighty team had stolen the show.

Amanda Harlan and Liberté had a strong showing at North American Young Rider Championship, finishing the last day with a Silver Medal in the Freestyle. On their heels were Caroline Roffman and Bulgari coming in to take the Freestyle Bronze. Cesar Parra and Galant du Serein took home the blue ribbon from the 2006 Dressage at Devon freestyle competition.

In other notable news, Klassic Kur's Terry Ciotti Gallo joined six-time Olympian Robert Dover, O judge Axel Steiner, and fellow designer Marlene Whitaker on a freestyle symposium panel. The informative, weekend-long national symposium was held at the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park. Terry also volunteered her time for the fifth annual Challenge of the Americas, selecting and editing the music for five of the evening's seven presentations. This spirited but friendly competition of pas de deux and quadrilles raised over $200,000 for breast cancer research. Terry is "proud to be part of such a worthwhile cause."

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Guenter and Steffen have entrusted
their freestyles to Klassic Kur for over 15 years.

Steffen and Guenter take a side-by-side victory lap.

Intermediate Reserve Champs Katherine
Poulin-Neff and Brilliant Too

Terry Gallo and Marlene Whitaker
in the "driver's seat"