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2008 CDI Sydney
Sydney Saddles Up for Hong Kong at 2008 CDI Sydney
April 30, 2008
 Australia’s most elite equestrian athletes will
compete this weekend at the nation’s premiere
dressage event – the Sydney CDI. While final
official Olympic team selections take place on the
other side of the world in Germany, an Australia-based
contingent will make a last-ditch effort for inclusion
on the Australian Olympic team.
Part of the EFA-supported ‘Return of the Horse’ series
of events - a move to get equestrian sports back on
track after the crippling effects of EI – the
Sydney CDI has featured on the Australian equestrian
calendar for more than 15 years.
Hosting international-level
competitions, together with the crème-de-la-crème
of young horse classes, the Sydney CDI showcases Australia’s
best dressage riders and horses.
With all Olympic short-listed
competitors, bar one, currently based in the Northern
Hemisphere, and all
competing head-to-head in two selection events in May,
there will be at least one top level competitor at
the Sydney CDI who will be trying to change the selectors’ minds.
Grand
Prix competitor, Heath Ryan, originally entered on
two horses, one of which has been short-listed for
Beijing – Greenoaks Dundee. Given the closeness
of the German-based selection event to the Sydney CDI,
Mr Ryan has opted to fly the horse to Germany prior
to the CDI in order to allow sufficient time for ‘Dundee’ to
settle-in.
Meanwhile, Hunter Valley-based Ryan says
he can win the Grand Prix at the CDI on his stunning
black stallion ‘Regardez
Moi’. “I think Regardez Moi is the best
horse in Australia in Grand Prix dressage. I want to
be the first to crack 70% - he’s that good. I
am trying hard to work towards that because I want
to take him to Beijing. I am not rich so I can’t
afford to take both horses to Germany for the selection
events so I will be appealing to the selectors to choose
the best horse.”
 Ryan sees Rachel Sanna and the Bev Edwards-owned stallion
Jaybee Alabaster as a real threat in the Grand Prix
event, commenting that “Rachel knows nothing
else other than going for the jugular (in the nicest
possible way). She did a rip-roaring display at the
Sydney three-day event recently and will explode at
the CDI. She will leave people’s mouths open
and will be a huge challenge!”
Delighted to hear Heath Ryan is ‘running scared’,
mother of two Rachel Sanna described her preparation
for the CDI as “wet – we are travelling
well and all prepared for a wet arena! We will just
put our best foot forward and a top placing would be
very good. Jaybee Alabaster and I are a new combination
to Grand Prix – we can put together a nice Grand
Prix test but it needs seasoning. There has been so
little competition because of EI; I try to take him
out at every opportunity.”
Another seriously experienced Grand Prix competitor
who Ryan says you can “never write her off” is
Judy Dierks. Married to Australia’s previous
Olympic coach, Clemens Dierks, Judy has been riding
at the Sydney CDI since its early days at Lochinvar.
Like Rachel Sanna, Judy described her horse HP Frontier
as “an inexperienced young Grand Prix horse.
There is nothing I can really do to prepare him for
it – the stands in the indoor at SIEC are higher
than their heads, they are in there on their own and
they can’t see another horse – that is
the greatest challenge.”
Dierks, who represented Australia at the World Equestrian
Games at Den Hague, Netherlands, in 1994 in a team
with Mary Hanna and Maurie Bruce, commented that “the
CDI is one of our biggest, if not the biggest, dressage
competitions. The Nationals are bigger but they are
all levels – the CDI is predominantly FEI level
(international). Being a CDI it’s something for
everyone to aim towards – it is inspirational.”
With one of the largest fields of Grand Prix competitors
in its history, some friendly competitive rivalry and
approximately 40 trade stands at which to shop yourself
senseless, the 2008 Sydney CDI is shaping up to be
a nail-biter and a whole lot of fun. Saturday’s
events feature a stallion show with eleven top stallions
on parade, together with a full program of events,
all under cover and culminating in the spectacular
Grand Prix Freestyle to Music on Saturday night.
Back to the 2008 CDI Sydney Index
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