Only four short years ago, Laura Graves and Verdades secured their spot among the nation’s best dressage riders by taking reserve at the U.S. Dressage Championships in Gladstone, N.J. Graves and Verdades have since claimed some of the most prestigious accolades in the sport and most recently captured their career best score at the FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Paris, France on April 13.
Graves made the most of her third FEI World Cup Dressage Finals by topping Germany’s Isabell Werth, the dubbed “Queen of Dressage,” with first place in Friday’s Grand Prix test. On Saturday’s Grand Prix Freestyle, Graves piloted her 16-year-old KWPN gelding Verdades through an impressively crafted and fairly new choreography to earn a score of 89.082 percent. With an uproar of applause from the AccorHotels Arena crowd, she had achieved the best score of her career so far. Although the pair’s freestyle finished only 1.575 points behind reigning champion Werth to claim second overall, it was a major win for Graves.
As a long-time sponsor of Graves, Premier Equestrian congratulates her and Verdades on their most recent accomplishments and contributions to the international equestrian community.
