Cassidy Competed by Cathrine Dufour Out of World Equestrian Games After Minor Injury, Loss of World No. 4 Blow for Denmark’s Medal Hopes
6 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Cassidy Competed by Cathrine Dufour Out of World Equestrian Games After Minor Injury, Loss of World No. 4 Blow for Denmark’s Medal Hopes
Aug. 17, 2018
Cathrine Dufour and Cassidy will not compete for Denmark at the World Equestrian Games next month after the 15-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding sustained a minor injury that the rider said will not heal in time for Tryon.
Cathrine, 26, and Cassidy are ranked No. 4 in the world and were tipped as possibly helping Denmark to a team medal and a contender for an individual medal at the World Games where dressage is scheduled to start Sept. 12.
“Cassidy has made a minor injury in the field,” Cathrine reported on her Facebook page, “which means that we currently can’t work him.
“It’s of course very disappointing as he’s been better than ever during this season. We will do everything we can to take care of Cassidy in the best way possible, and therefor we won’t push him to do anything he’s not ready to.
“I’m sad that we won’t be a part of the Danish team, but we wish our team mates and colleagues all the best for WEG 2018.
“We will be back!”
The team for Tryon, North Carolina now is:
Daniel Bachmann Andersen, 28, and Blue Hors Zack, 14-year-old KWPN stallion;
Anders Dahl, 42, and Selten HW, 14-year-old Hanoverian gelding;
Betina Jæger, 44, and Mane Stream Belstaff, 11-year-old Hanoverian stallion, and
Anna Zibrandtsen, 24, and Arlando, 13-year-old KWPN stallion.
Cathrine and Cassidy, that competed at the 2016 Olympcs, became a star of the 2017 European Championships and the only Danish combination to make it to the dressage-news.com “80% Club” for achieving that score in a Grand Prix.
The pair was dressage champion with the highest combined percentage from the CDIO5* Grand Prix, Special and Freestyle at the highly competitive Aachen, Germany competition last month. The duo beat Isabell Werth and Emilio in both the World Cup Grand Prix and Freestyle in Gothenburg, Sweden last winter.
Since the World Games was created in 1990 as a combined world championships of dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, jumping, reining, vaulting and para equestrian staged once every four years, Denmark has won only a single medal–individual bronze by Andreas Helgstrand on Blue Hors Matine at Aachen, Germany in 2006.
