Dressage-News

TALLINN, Estonia, Oct. 4, 2014–Inessa Merkulova on Mister X won the World Cup Freestyle Saturday to put the Russian pair in contention for a start in the Final at Las Vegas next April.

Inessa and the 10-year-old Trakehner gelding posted a personal best score of 76.875 per cent to log the ninth victory in 25 starts since beginning the Big Tour in June last year. The pair won the Grand Prix Friday on 73.020 per cent, also a personal best.

The Ukraine’s Inna Logutenkova on Don Gregorius placed second on 71.725 per cent with Sweden’s Malin Hamilton on Fleetwood third on 71.550 per cent.

The victory for Inessa and Mister X came a month after competing at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France and the World Cup Final in Lyon, France last April–the fourth WEG and the third title appearance in the annual individual championship for the 49-year-old Russian rider.

Their previous best Freestyle result was 75.700 set in June his year.

The result gave Inessa a total of 40 points and second place in the World Cup Central European League standings behind fellow Russian Tatiana Dorofeeva on 43 points. This was the sixth of seven Central European qualifiers for the 2014/15 series with the last scheduled for Kaposvar, Hungary next week.

The CEL is one of four leagues–North America, Pacific and Western Europe are the others–that are organized to qualify for the World Cup Final that is scheduled to be staged with the jumping championship in Las Vegas April 15-19.

Central European League standings after six of seven qualifiers:
1. Tatiana Dorofeeva/RUS – 43 points
2. Inessa Merkulova/RUS – 40
3. Dina Ellerman/EST – 36
4. Elena Sidneva/RUS – 35
5. Marina Aframeeva/RUS – 28
6. Vera Khalikova/RUS – 26
7. Anna Lukasik/POL – 22
8. Zaneta Skowronska/POL – 21
9. Regina Isachkina/RUS – 20
10. Katsiaryna Varchenia/BLR – 19
10. Nataliya Kazakova/RUS 19
12. Inna Logutenkova/UKR 17
12. Csaba Szokola/HUN – 17
14. Hanna Karasiova/BLR – 15

Results:

Rank			Rider	Horse	€	E	H	C	M	B	TOTAL
1			Inessa MERKULOVA Russia	MISTER X Egeus Inessa Merkulova	800	77.000  81.000 79.000  1	74.750  76.000 75.375 1	77.500  78.000 77.750 1	77.750 77.000 77.375 1	74.750  75.000  74.875 1	76.350  77.400 76.875 1
2			Inna LOGUTENKOVA Ukraine	DON GREGORIUS Don Cardinale – Placido LLC Vian-Group	650	69.500  71.000 70.250 2	70.500  71.000 70.750 3	72.000  75.000 73.500 2	72.250  75.000 73.625 2	69.000  72.000 70.500 2	70.650  72.800 71.725 2
3			Malin HAMILTON Sweden	FLEETWOOD Florestan I – Bormio xx Malin Hamilton	500	68.500  71.000  69.750 4	72.500  73.000 72.750 2	69.750  75.000 72.375 4	70.500  75.000 72.750 3	69.250  71.000 70.125 3	70.100  73.000  71.550 3
4			Dina ELLERMANN Estonia	LANDY S AKVAREL Landcruiser – Noble Champion Dina Ellermann & Genofen Ltd	350	67.500  69.000 68.250 6	68.250  71.000 69.625 4	69.500  73.000 71.250 5	69.750  72.000 70.875 4	66.000  69.000 67.500 6	68.200  70.800 69.500 4
5			Elisabeth EHRNROOTH Finland	WIZARD II Wetano – Allegretto Equiettan Ab	200	67.250  72.000 69.625 5	65.750  67.000 66.375 8	71.000  75.000 73.000 3	67.000  72.000 69.500 6	67.250  70.000 68.625 4	67.650  71.200 69.425 5
Not placed
6			Tatiana DOROFEEVA Russia	KARTSEVO UPPERVILLE Cabochon – Creool Sonina Varvara & Bronnikova Nataliya		68.000  72.000 70.000 3	68.000  70.000 69.000 5	67.500  71.000 69.250 6	68.750  70.000 69.375 7	65.250  70.000 67.625 5	67.500  70.600 69.050 6
7			Per DUVEFELT Sweden	EDVIN Tip-Topp – Amiral 764 PD Ridsport Per Duvefeldt		66.250  69.000 67.625 7	66.500  69.000 67.750 6	65.250  71.000 68.125 7	68.750  72.000 70.375 5	65.500  69.000 67.250 7	66.450  70.000 68.225 7
8			Kira KANERVA Finland	DORAZIO Kira Kanerva		63.750  65.000 64.375 8	66.250 67.000 66.625  7	61.000 70.000 65.500 8	63.500 66.000 64.750 8	65.250  65.000 65.125 8	63.950 66.600 65.275 8