Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

LEXINGTON, Kentucky, Sept. 28–The vaunted Dutch team led by Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas lived up to their billing by capturing their first ever gold medal at a World Equestrian Games despite the dramatic disqualification of Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival for a tiny nick on the tongue that drew blood at the start of their Grand Prix ride.

Great Britain beat perennial powerhouse Germany for the silver medal while a plucky but inexperienced USA team came  fourth and within 2.467 percentage points of pulling off a miracle in perhaps the most competitive and exciting world championships held once every four years and the first time outside Europe.

The medals were undecided until the ride by Steffen Peters and Ravel, the last of the 65 riders to start the two-day competition, finished third individually on 78.596 per cent behind Edward and Totilas on 84.043 per cent and British superstar Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mistral Hojris on 82.511 per cent. Complete team and individual results are below.

At the end of the team competition, it was clear that the spectators–generous in their applause for all rides–showed their appreciation for the level of competition.

All three top finishers received standing ovations from the crowd in the main arena of the Kentucky Horse Park for the finale of the team competition. It drew the biggest crowd so far to the WEG, 24,237, double the figure for Sunday and Monday and more than for the opening ceremony.

Amazing performances, high drama, tears of joy and heart break and an abundance of great sportsmanship were the highlights of these world championships. Even questions about substantial discrepancies in the scores of the five judges were answered with candor, an admission the judging was “not good enough” and a pledge to get to work immediately to thrash out the differences before Wednesday’s Grand Prix Special.

Thirty-one combinations made it through to the Grand Prix Special.including all four members of the Dutch, British and German teams. Steffen and Ravel, Tina Konyot and Calecto V and Katherine Bateson-Chandler of the USA qualified, as did Ashley Holzer and Pop Art and Belinda Trussell and Anton of Canada.

The Grand Prix Special starts at 10:04 a.m. US ET (1604 CET) with the top half-dozen riders from the Grand Prix scheduled to ride in reverse order with Edward and Totilas last to go at 5:14 p.m. US ET (2314 CET).

Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas were the stars of the show, as they have been wherever they have competed in the past two years and this time for the first and perhaps only time in America.

Edward said that the 10-year-old black stallion (yes, he really is only 10 and already holds all three Grand Prix level world records) was a little tense entering the ring to thunderous applause and flag waving. However, he quickly settled down and went on to produce another outstanding performance that was well short of their world record

Although, he said, the disqualification of their team mates Adelinde and Parzival and the only combination ever to beat them–which they have done twice–was “difficult.”

“On the one side it is very sad,” he said, “but on the other side it is nice to win the gold medal. We have mixed feelings.”

Totilas’s amazing gaits were what the spectators came for and they got it.

Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mistral Hojris produced a superb ride that team mate Carl Hester said her status as a superstar had pushed British riders to perform better and better.

“It was definitely the best score and the best ride I’ve ever had, no mistake about that,” the 15-year-old Laura said. “I’ve never been able to ride with him so full of energy but relaxed and easy.”

Asked whether she and Mistral could beat Totilas she said, “It depends on Totilas and how he is… but if my horse goes as well as he did today then of course the sport is wide open. It’s not going to be easy to stay where we are let alone go up even further, but I can guarantee you the next few days are going to be exciting!”

Carl Hester, who scored 72.128 per cent, with Liebling II, a horse he sold earlier this year as a mount for Canada’s Cheryl Meisner but who got the ride back when she did not qualify for the Canadian team, said: “I’m old enough to have been on a team where the best British mark was 66 and we thought that was good, but British dressage has changed–we’ve been waiting for a superstar like Laura but our horses could not have gone better and for that we’re all happy with all of our results and for everyone back home that we’ve finally come good.”

Isabell Werth, the multi Olympic gold medalist who rode her 2007 World Cup champion Warum Nicht FRH to the highest score for Germany, described the Dutch as out on their own and that the British “were just better – we need to work to come closer and it might take one, two or three years before we get back to sitting in the middle of this table!”–the gold medal position.

Germany, though, had a team of two riders and horses new to championship competition.

The final rankings for the teams:

Rank	Nation	Members	Score
1	NED	A. Cornelissen / E. Gal / H. Minderhoud / I. Schellekens-Bartels	229.75
2	GBR	L. Bechtolsheimer / F. Bigwood / M. Eilberg / C. Hester	224.77
3	GER	A. Balkenhol / C. Koschel / M. Rath / I. Werth	220.60
4	USA	S. Peters / T. Konyot / K. Bateson-Chandler / T. Flettrich	218.13
5	DEN	N. Sayn-Wittgenstein / A. van Olst / S. Hansen / A. Troensegaard	212.47
6	ESP	C. Castilla Ruiz / J. Garcia Mena / J. Muñoz Diaz / R. Ortiz	209.91
7	CAN	B. Trussell / B. Bonnello / A. Holzer / V. Winter	206.09
8	AUS	R. Sanna / B. Parbery / H. Beresford / L. Oatley	204.47
9	BEL	J. Devroe / C. Fassaert / P. Jorissen / S. Van ingelgem	200.43
10	SWE	P. Kittel / M. Telde / T. Vilhelmson-Silfven	200.26
11	POR	G. Carvalho / M. Galiza Mendes / D. Pinto	199.57
12	NOR	C. Kalseth / E. Farbrot / C. Rasmussen / L. Jebsen	196.60
13	JPN	H. Kitahara / M. Yagi / H. Hoketsu / Y. Kitai	194.00
14	BRA	R. Clementino / L. Tavares de Almeida / M. Alexandre	188.68

Final individual rankings:

Rank	Num	Nat	Rider	Horse	Total %	Score
1	53	NED	E. Gal	Moorlands Totilas	84.043	1975
2	58	GBR	L. Bechtolsheimer	Mistral Hojris	82.511	1939
3	66	USA	S. Peters	Ravel	78.596	1847
4	55	GER	I. Werth	Warum Nicht FRH	75.404	1772
5	54	ESP	J. Muñoz Diaz	Fuego XII	73.957	1738
6	61	DEN	N. Sayn-Wittgenstein	Digby	73.830	1735
7	23	NED	I. Schellekens-Bartels	Hunter Douglas Sunrise	73.447	1726
8	25	GER	C. Koschel	Donnperignon	72.638	1707
9	39	GER	M. Rath	Sterntaler-Unicef	72.553	1705
10	5	NED	H. Minderhoud	Exquis Nadine	72.255	1698
11	41	GBR	C. Hester	Liebling II	72.128	1695
12	59	CAN	A. Holzer	Pop Art	70.383	1654
13	51	SUI	M. Krinke Susmelj	Corinth	70.340	1653
14	10	GBR	F. Bigwood	Wie-Atlantico de Ymas	70.128	1648
15	64	AUS	B. Parbery	Victory Salute	70.085	1647
16	48	USA	T. Konyot	Calecto V	69.915	1643
17	32	USA	K. Bateson-Chandler	Nartan	69.617	1636
18	44	DEN	A. van Olst	Exquis Clearwater	69.532	1634
19	45	POL	M. Rapcewicz	Randon	69.191	1626
20	29	DEN	S. Hansen	Gredstedgårds Casmir	69.106	1624
21	28	CAN	B. Trussell	Anton	69.021	1622
22	11	FIN	E. Kanerva	Sini Spirit	68.851	1618
23	31	AUS	R. Sanna	Jaybee Alabaster	68.809	1617
24	57	JPN	H. Hoketsu	Whisper 115	68.681	1614
25	38	ESP	J. Garcia Mena	Norte	68.638	1613
26	27	GBR	M. Eilberg	Two Sox	68.213	1603
27	56	POL	K. Milczarek	Ekwador	68.085	1600
28	2	SWE	M. Telde	Larina – Höm	68.000	1598
29	50	NOR	L. Jebsen	Pro – Set	67.957	1597
30	8	GER	A. Balkenhol	Dablino	67.702	1591
30	35	AUT	P. Gmoser	Cointreau	67.702	1591
32	36	BEL	J. Devroe	Apollo van het Vijverhof	67.532	1587
33	30	POR	M. Galiza Mendes	D´Artagnan	67.489	1586
34	24	ESP	C. Castilla Ruiz	Jade de MV	67.319	1582
35	62	POR	G. Carvalho	Rubi	66.766	1569
36	12	CAN	V. Winter	Proton	66.681	1567
37	52	BEL	S. Van ingelgem	Withney van´t Genthof	66.638	1566
38	18	USA	T. Flettrich	Otto	66.553	1564
39	20	AHO	S. de Klein	Prins 32	66.511	1563
40	63	SUI	E. Eversfield-Koch	The Lion King B	66.340	1559
41	13	ISR	O. Shimoni	Granada	66.298	1558
42	3	BEL	C. Fassaert	Donnerfee	66.255	1557
42	21	SWE	P. Kittel	Watermill Scandic H.B.C	66.255	1557
44	34	SWE	T. Vilhelmson-Silfven	Favourit	66.000	1551
45	65	ITA	P. Sangiorgi	Flourian	65.830	1547
46	16	AUS	L. Oatley	Potifar	65.574	1541
47	15	DEN	A. Troensegaard	Seduc	65.447	1538
47	42	CAN	B. Bonnello	Pikardi	65.447	1538
49	46	POR	D. Pinto	Galopin de la Font	65.319	1535
50	22	BEL	P. Jorissen	Le Beau	64.809	1523
51	33	NOR	C. Rasmussen	Orlando III	64.468	1515
52	49	ITA	S. Bordone	Dark Surprise	64.340	1512
53	19	NOR	C. Kalseth	Carte d´Or	64.170	1508
54	26	JPN	Y. Kitai	Sig Fairytale	64.000	1504
55	14	BRA	L. Tavares de Almeida	Samba	63.574	1494
56	60	BRA	M. Alexandre	Signo Dos Pinhais	63.234	1486
57	7	ESP	R. Ortiz	GNidium	63.021	1481
58	43	BRA	R. Clementino	Portugal	61.872	1454
59	40	JPN	M. Yagi	Dow Jones 13	61.319	1441
60	17	LUX	G. Chelius	Flamenco R	61.149	1437
61	6	IRL	J. Reynolds	Remember 143	61.021	1434
62	9	JPN	H. Kitahara	Why Me	58.170	1367
63	4	COL	M. Bernal	Halbgott	57.362	1348
64	47	AUS	H. Beresford	Relâmpago do Retiro	10.128	238
65	37	NED	A. Cornelissen	Jerich Parzival	9.745	229
66	1	NOR	E. Farbrot	CC Royal	0.000	0