No Margin for Error for Devon Kane in This Week’s Freestyle

This week’s qualifier brings a five-entry Grand Prix Freestyle field that’s intimate, but not predictable. Devon Kane, Michael Klimke, and Susan Dutta arrive with averages and personal bests just close enough to keep us guessing, even if one combination enters as a narrow statistical favorite.

Kane: The Narrow Favorite

Devon Kane and Vamos enter with the strongest numbers in the class, carrying a 72% average across nine FEI freestyles and a personal best of 75.305%. Friday marks their first freestyle of the season after a summer spent competing in Europe and rolling out a reworked floorplan.

Their average comes with a pesky asterisk, however. A single mid-60s score from Hagen last summer — the result of a missed element in their first outing with the new choreography — is dragging down their average more than their form would suggest. Without that mix-up, Kane and Vamos are sitting on an average closer to 73%, which is far more in line with what they typically deliver.

That puts them in the precarious position of “favorite.” It does not, however, give them much room to be casual about it.

Klimke & Dutta: Not Far Behind

Michael Klimke and Susan Dutta are the two riders most capable of keeping Kane from a casual romp in the Wellington area this weekend.

Klimke is contesting his third of four counting legs in the Open, which means any finish improves his leaderboard position, while a win would move him into a tie with Geñay Vaughn. Klimke and Harmony’s Fado debuted their FEI freestyle earlier this season with a 71.445%. It’s only one score, but it places them right alongside Kane and Dutta on raw numbers, even without a long freestyle resume behind it. And, as most dressage fans know, it’s rarely wise to count out a Klimke.

Dutta and Don Design DC return for their second Open appearance of the year, currently ranked 21st with seven points. While they sit just outside the finals cutoff line, any finish this weekend would move them into that range, but their scoring ability keeps them firmly in the podium discussion.

Dutta’s personal best of 73.950% sits comfortably within reach of Kane. Her average trails both Kane and Klimke slightly, but not by a margin that removes first place from the equation. A ride near, or just beyond, that personal best would be enough to topple the statistical order.

Tune In

With Kane, Klimke, and Dutta clustered tightly on averages and personal bests, this shapes up as a competitive podium for such a small field. Kane carries the edge on depth of results, but the numbers leave little room for error. 

The freestyles begin Friday at 8:15 ET, live on the USEF Network. Sign up for free as a fan to stream the action.