The 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup Final in Las Vegas, 16-18 April has been a final to remember with an American winning on home soil for the first time.

 

The 44-year-old German-born Steffen Peters rode Ravel to victory, beating Germany’s Isabell Werth and Satchmo by a fraction. This was despite the latter combination being placed first by three of the five judges.

 

Peters and the 11-year-old Dutch-bred gelding by Contango scored 84.95% while Werth and the 15-year-old Hannoverian gelding by Sao Paulo finished their freestyle performance on 84.5%.

 

Peters moved to San Diego, California, in 1985, having spent time until that point training with some of the biggest names in Germany, such as Jo Hinnemann and the late Dr Reiner Klimke.

 

The nine-times winner and defending champion, Holland’s Anky van Grunsven rode the 12-year-old IPS Painted Black and had to be content with third place on 82.15%, having not managed to qualify her top horse Salinero.

 

The winner of the Olympia World Cup qualifier, Holland’s Adelinde Cornelissen and Parzival and Sweden’s Minna Telde and Don Charly both withdrew due to injury.

 

For full results, visit www.worldcuplasvegas.com and you can watch the riders in action on www.feitv.org.