It was a mixed day for the Australian Dressage Team at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

The team placed 8th out of 14 teams, which is the best-ever result at a World Championship.

“It is a great result,” said Dressage Chef d’Equipe Deb MacNicol “there were not many points between us and a number of teams above us which demonstrates the quality of our team.”

Brett Parbery and Carolyn Lieutenant’s Victory Salute did a great test to score 70.085%.

“I am really pleased, it was great,” said Parbery. “My goal was to get 70 percent and I have done that. There were small mistakes that cost us marks but to get that score at a World Championship is really great,” he added.

Today was the second and final day of the Team competition. Lyndal Oatley (Potifar) and Rachael Sanna (Jaybee Alabaster) performed well yesterday scoring 65.574% and 68.809% respectively. The best three scores from the team count toward the final result.

Unfortunately, 2008 Olympic representatives Hayley Beresford and Relampago do Retiro were disqualified from today’s competition.

After a very good warm-up with no indication of a problem Hayley and Relampago do Retiro entered the competition arena. However, during the second extended trot the horse became uneven. The Ground Jury rang the bell and Hayley was disqualified.

Relampago do Retiro was inspected by an FEI Veterinary Commission and found to have no abnormalities and to be completely sound. The conclusion is that the horse has done something during the test that momentarily caused uneven strides. Further Veterinary examinations will be undertaken.

“As long as he is fine then that is the most important thing,” said Hayley referring to her horse. “It is really disappointing but sometimes these things happen.”

Parbery and Sanna have qualified for tomorrow’s Grand Prix Special which is the second individual qualifier.

The team competition was won by the Dutch with best performances by Edward Gal on Moorlands Totilas (84.043%), Imke Schellekens-Bartels and Hunter Douglas Sunrise (73.447%) and Hans Peter Minderhound on Exquis Nadine (72.255%). Great Britain won the silver medal and Germany won the bronze

Equestrian Australia