Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

Definite entries for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games dressage competition were released Friday night with 66 horse and rider combinations from 24 nations scheduled for the Grand Prix that will decide the team competition between 14 of those countries.

The Grand Prix dressage will start at 8:34 a.m. Monday in the Outdoor Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park and will be held over two days. The only changes to the definite entries would be for any fitness issues or personal emergencies for horses and riders that could arise in the meantime and assuming all horses pass the veterinary check Sunday.

The Grand Prix Special will be held Wednesday and the Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday night under lights in the world championships that are held only once every four years and outside Europe for the first time in their 20-year history.

There were no surprises in the definite entries. The nations fielding teams requiring a minimum of three horse and rider combinations but four can compete with the lowest score discarded, are: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Spain, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United States of America.

Considered virtually unassailable for team gold is the Dutch squad that includes Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas, the No. 1 ranked combination in the world and holders of all three record scores at Grand Prix level, and Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival, the second ranked pair and the only combination to beat Edward and Totilas–twice–as well as Imke Schellekens-Bartels and Hunter Douglas Sunrise and 2008 Olympian Hans Peter Minderhoud and Exquis Nadine. Anky van Grunsven, Holland’s dressage superstar for more than a decade, is competing on the Dutch reining team at these Games.

The German team that is favored to take silver includes a mixture of success and experience in Isabell Werth and Warum Nicht FRH, a horse on which she won the 2007 World Cup Final but has played second fiddle to her 2008 team Olympic gold medal mount Satchmo, and newcomers to the biggest stage in the sport. Her team mates are Anabel Balkenhol and Dablino, Christoph Koschel and Donnperignon and Matthias Alexander Rath and Sterntaler-Unicef. All three are children of some of Germany’s outstanding competitors and trainers and Matthias was key in helping his nation medal at the 2009 European Championships with a squad whose chances were written off. Anabel is the daughter of the U.S. coach from 2000 to 2008, Klaus Balkenhol.

The United States that just a few months ago was looking beyond these championships to next year’s Pan American Games to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London has made enormous strides under Technical Advisor Anne Gribbons and is now given a real chance of being on the medals podium Tuesday afternoon.

Led by Steffen Peters and Ravel, the 2009 World Cup champions and winners of all the CDIO competitions at Aachen, Germany, in 2009 the team includes Katherine Bateson-Chandler and Nartan, Tina Konyot and Calecto V and Todd Flettrich and Otto.

Knowledgeable observers say that Ravel is looking the best in his competition career and is given a serious shot at an individual medal.

Although his three team mates are all new representing the U.S., the team spirit of the Americans is rated as good as it has ever been and the two weeks of intense training, including sports psychology and critiquing by elite judges at the U.S. Equestrian Team headquarters in Gladstone, New Jersey, has created a squad that other teams have expressed admiration.

On Great Britain’s team, expected to be the biggest challenge to the Americans, Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mistral Hojris, ranked third in the world, Carl Hester and Liebling II and Maria Eilberg and Two Sox were on the squad that won team silver at the Europeans last year. Fiona Bigwood and Wie-Atlantico de Ymas is the fourth member.

The British, as host of the 2012 Olympics, automatically qualify for those Games.

The complete list of definite entries:

AHO Netherlands Antilles
KLEIN, Susan de – Prins 32

AUS Australia – Chef d’Equipe: Deborah MacNicol
BERESFORD, Hayley – Relâmpago do Retiro
OATLEY, Lyndal – Potifar
PARBERY, Brett – Victory Salute
SANNA, Rachael – Jaybee Alabaster

AUT Austria
GMOSER, Peter – Cointreau

BEL Belgium – Chef d’Equipe: Jeroen Van Lent
DEVROE, Jeroen – Apollo van het Vijverhof
FASSAERT, Claudia – Donnerfee
JORISSEN, Philippe – Le Beau
VAN INGELGEM, Stefan – Withney van ‘t Genthof

BRA Brazil – Chef d’Equipe: Johan Louis Florent Zagers
ALEXANDRE, Marcelo da Silva – Signo Dos Pinhais
CLEMENTINO, Rogério da Silva – Portugal
TAVARES DE ALMEIDA, Luíza – Samba

CAN Canada – Chef d’Equipe: Gwynne Rooke
BONNELLO, Bonny – Pikardi
HOLZER, Ashley – Pop Art
TRUSSELL, Belinda – Anton
WINTER, Victoria – Proton

COL Colombia – Chef d’Equipe: Juanita Bernal
BERNAL, Marco – Halbgott

DEN Denmark – Chef d’Equipe: Kimi Nielsen
HANSEN, Sune – Gredstedgårds Casmir
OLST, Anne van – Exquis Clearwater
SAYN-WITTGENSTEIN, Nathalie zu – Digby
TROENSEGAARD, Anne – Seduc

ESP Spain – Chef d’Equipe: de Bobby Bobadilla
CASTILLA RUIZ, Claudio – Jade de MV
GARCIA MENA, José Antonio -Norte
MUÑOZ DIAZ, Juan Manuel -Fuego XII
ORTIZ, Rafael – GNidium

FIN Finland – Chef d’Equipe: Riitta Holopainen
KANERVA, Emma – Sini Spirit

GBR Great Britain – Chef d’Equipe: Richard Waygood
BECHTOLSHEIMER, Laura – Mistral Hojris
BIGWOOD, Fiona – Wie-Atlantico de Ymas
EILBERG, Maria – Two Sox
HESTER, Carl – Liebling II

GER Germany – Chef d’Equipe: Klaus Roeser
BALKENHOL, Anabel – Dablino
KOSCHEL, Christoph – Donnperignon
RATH, Matthias Alexander – Sterntaler-Unicef
WERTH, Isabell – Warum Nicht FRH

IRL Ireland – Chef d’Equipe: Bettina Hinnemann
REYNOLDS, Judy – Remember 143

ISR Israel – Chef d’Equipe: Arlene Page
SHIMONI, Oded – Granada

ITA Italy
BORDONE, Susanna – Dark Surprise
SANGIORGI, Pierluigi – Flourian

JPN Japan – Chef d’Equipe: Yasumitsu Miyaki
HOKETSU, Hiroshi – Whisper 115
KITAHARA, Hiroyuki – Why Me
KITAI, Yuko – Sig Fairytale
YAGI, Mieko – Dow Jones 13

LUX Luxembourg – Chef d’Equipe: Claude Niedner
CHELIUS, Gaston – Flamenco R

NED Netherlands – Chef d’Equipe: Sjef Janssen
CORNELISSEN, Adelinde – Jerich Parzival
GAL, Edward – Moorlands Totilas
MINDERHOUD, Hans Peter – Exquis Nadine
SCHELLEKENS-BARTELS, Imke – Hunter Douglas Sunrise

NOR Norway – Chef d’Equipe: Bjarne Nielsen
FARBROT, Ellen Birgitte – CC Royal
JEBSEN, Lillann – Pro-Set
KALSETH, Camilla – Carte d’Or
RASMUSSEN, Cathrine – Orlando III

POL Poland
MILCZAREK, Katarzyna – Ekwador
RAPCEWICZ, Michal – Randon

POR Portugal – Chef d’Equipe: Carlos Lopes
CARVALHO, Gonçalo – Rubi
GALIZA MENDES, Mafalda – D’Artagnan
PINTO, Daniel – Galopin de la Font

SUI Switzerland – Chef d’Equipe: Peter von Grebel
EVERSFIELD-KOCH, Elisabeth – The Lion King B
KRINKE SUSMELJ, Marcela – Corinth

SWE Sweden – Chef d’Equipe: Bo Jenå
KITTEL, Patrik – Watermill Scandic H.B.C
TELDE, Minna – Larina-Höm
VILHELMSON-SILFVEN, Tinne – Favourit

USA United States of America – Chef d’Equipe: Eva Salomon
BATESON-CHANDLER, Katherine – Nartan
FLETTRICH, Todd – Otto
KONYOT, Tina – Calecto V
PETERS, Steffen – Ravel

Nations: 24
Competitors: 66
Horses: 66