Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

HAGEN, Germany, May 8–Laura Bechtolsheimer dominated Horses & Dreans meets Germany CDI3*, riding Mistral Hojris to victory at a near personal best score in the Grand Prix Special and then topping the Freestyle with Andretti H for their highest ever points on Sunday.

Her European Championship and World Equestrian Games silver medal team mate Carl Hester and his flashy Uthopia posted their best ever result at an international competition to place second in the Special while Germany’s Anabel Balkenhol on Dablino added to the list of personal bests in placing third.

The emergence of several British combinations, driven by funding from the country’s World Class Performance program to boost Olympic sports, has sparked speculation throughout Europe that the nation will be a contender for gold at the 2012 Olympics in their nation’s capital of London.

In her best ever start to their outdoor competition season that unofficially launches at this hugely popular dressage and jumper show attracting top riders from around the world and packs the grand stands, Laura started in seven classes and won all seven–including two Grand Prix and the Special and Freestyle in the international division.

In the Special, Laura and Mistral Hojris, her triple silver medal mount from the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, scored 81.583 per cent. 0.125 per cent lower than their best ever score of 81.708 per cent attained at WEG.

This despite what Laura said was “Alf,” as she calls the 16-year-old Danish gelding, being in fifth gear and not yet in sixth gear in their first competition since last December’s London Olympia.

Carl Hester, who before Hagen showed in only two competitions at Grand Prix on Uthopia, a 10-year-old KWPN stallion scored 77.563 per cent that, according to a search of official records, was the highest Carl has ever posted on any horse in an international event.

He bought Uthopia as a four-year-old for a customer who, he joked, is a Catholic who has had lots of children that has allowed him to compete the horse.

Anabel Balkenhol, daughter of the Olympic gold medal-winning German Klaus Balkenhol who also was coach of the U.S. team, rode Dablino, her WEG mount, to third place with a score of 77.201 per cent.

Canadian Belinda Trussell, competing in Europe with her WEG steed, Anton, maintained their recent standard of staying above the 70 per cent level by scoring 70.417 per cent for 11th place while the USA’s Shawna Harding of Aiken, South Carolina, on Come on III was 15th with a score of 66.396 per cent.

Belinda, who is on a European competition circuit for the third year, said she was happy with her results but misses her two children and husband. “If I could transplant my family and home from Canada to here that would be the best of both worlds,” she said.

“If you want to be among the best in the world you have to compete against them,” she said, explaining why she travels the European circuit.

In the Freestyle, Laura and Andretti scored 78.725 per cent while Germany filled the second and third places, Nadine Capellmann on her 2008 Olympic horse Elvis VA with 77.650 per cent and Hubertus Schmidt on Twinkel with 77.425 per cent.

Jan Ebeling of Moorpark, California, on his World Cup mount Rafalca scored 73.875 per cent for eighth place in a ride to music from the Mission that was smooth and harmonious for the most part with a mistake in the one-tempis. The pair scored  to music from The Mission

This year is highlighted by the European Championships in Rotterdam in August, a qualifier for next year’s Olympics. Although Britain is already qualified on both championship performances and as the host nation, they are clearly looking to beat the 2009 continental championship team silver.

In addition to Sunday’s top two finishers, Charlotte Dujardin on Fernandez, Carl’s student, scored 71.146 per cent for seventh place.

Click for: Grand Prix Musical Freestyle Results

Grand Prix Special Results

Platzierte Teilnehmer							(E)	(H)	(C)	(M)	(B)	Total
1.	353	Mistral Hojris	Bechtolsheimer, Laura	GBR		2400 EUR	378.0	406.0	395.0	381.0	397.0	1958.0 Punkte
	F 16-j.W v.Michellino/M.v.Ibsen/DK/DEN02686/B: Bechtolsheimer,Mr. & Mrs.						78.750 %	84.583 %	82.291 %	79.375 %	82.708 %	81.583 %
							2.	1.	1.	1.	1.
2.	477	Uthophia	Hester, Carl	GBR		1900 EUR	380.0	364.0	373.0	364.0	379.0	1861.0 Punkte
	B 10-j.H v.Metall/M.v.Inspekteur/KWPN/GBR40907/B: Hester,Carl						79.188 %	75.854 %	77.730 %	75.854 %	78.980 %	77.563 %
							1.	3.	2.	3.	2.
3.	180	Dablino	Balkenhol, Anabel	GER		1400 EUR	370.0	372.0	373.0	366.0	366.0	1848.0 Punkte
	DF 11-j.W v.De Niro/M.v.Wanderbursch II/HANN/GER41335/B: Balkenhol,Klaus						77.104 %	77.521 %	77.730 %	76.271 %	76.271 %	77.021 %
							3.	2.	2.	2.	3.
4.	210	Don Auriello	Vilhelmson-Silfven, Tinne	SWE		1000 EUR	348.0	358.0	343.0	353.0	348.0	1750.0 Punkte
	B 9-j.W v.Don Davidoff/M.v.White Star/HANN/GER43436/B: Lövsta Stuterij						72.521 %	74.605 %	71.479 %	73.563 %	72.521 %	72.938 %
							5.	4.	6.	4.	4.
5.	182	D’Agostino	Lütkemeier, Fabienne	GER		800 EUR	341.0	345.0	339.0	351.0	343.0	1719.0 Punkte
	F 11-j.W v.De Niro/M.v.Shogun xx/HANN/GER42139/B: Capellmann-Lütkemeier,Gina						71.062 %	71.896 %	70.646 %	73.146 %	71.479 %	71.646 %
							6.	8.	8.	6.	5.
6.	551	Whisper	Theodorescu, Monica	GER		600 EUR	336.0	345.0	338.0	352.0	338.0	1710.0 Punkte
	F 13-j.W v.Welt Hit O/M.v.Weltstar 7/BAWÜ/GER26878/B: Linsenhoff, Ann Kathrin						70.000 %	71.875 %	70.417 %	73.333 %	70.417 %	71.250 %
							9.	8.	9.	5.	10.
7.	246	Fernandez	Dujardin, Charlotte	GBR		500 EUR	349.0	346.0	328.0	349.0	335.0	1707.0 Punkte
	F 11-j.W v.Florestan I/M.v.Weinberg/WESTF/103CD53/B: Miss C & Mrs J Dujardin						72.730 %	72.105 %	68.354 %	72.730 %	69.812 %	71.146 %
							4.	7.	14.	10.	12.
8.	880	Valentino G	Schmidt, Hubertus	GER		400 EUR	333.0	339.0	345.0	350.0	339.0	1707.0 Punkte
	B 9-j.W v.Ferro/M.v.Damiro/KWPN/102NV75/B: Arl, Joachim						69.375 %	70.625 %	71.875 %	72.917 %	70.625 %	71.125 %
							10.	11.	5.	7.	8.
9.	554	River of Joy	Schulten-Baumer, Ellen	GER		300 EUR	339.0	341.0	346.0	332.0	340.0	1699.0 Punkte
	B 12-j.W v.Ravallo 2/HANN./GER41600/B: Schulten-Baumer, Dr. Uwe sen.						70.646 %	71.063 %	72.105 %	69.188 %	70.855 %	70.813 %
							7.	10.	4.	13.	6.
10.	415	Romanov Blue Hors	Hansen, Sune	DEN		300 EUR	319.0	352.0	336.0	349.0	339.0	1696.0 Punkte
	B 11-j.H v.Rohdiamant/M.v.Grundstein II/OLD/DEN40408/B: Blue Horse Aps,						66.478 %	73.355 %	70.021 %	72.730 %	70.646 %	70.688 %
							13.	5.	10.	8.	8.
11.	20	Anton	Trussell, Belinda	CAN		200 EUR	337.0	328.0	335.0	349.0	340.0	1690.0 Punkte
	B 11-j.W v.Antaeus/M.v.Melit xx/SACHS/CAN40169/B: Trussell,Belinda						70.209 %	68.334 %	69.792 %	72.709 %	70.834 %	70.417 %
							8.	13.	12.	8.	6.
12.	235	Elmegardens Marquis	Faurie, Emile	GBR		200 EUR	329.0	349.0	333.0	338.0	330.0	1679.0 Punkte
	B 12-j.W v.Michellino/M.v.Lucky Light/DK/EST40062/B: Vaughan,Joanne						68.562 %	72.730 %	69.395 %	70.437 %	68.770 %	69.979 %
							11.	6.	13.	12.	14.
13.	266	Girasol	Capellmann, Nadine	GER		200 EUR	311.0	327.0	341.0	345.0	338.0	1664.0 Punkte
	F 10-j.S v.Gribaldi/M.v.Landioso/WÜRTT/102UM07/B: Capellmann,Nadine						64.791 %	68.125 %	71.041 %	71.875 %	70.416 %	69.333 %
							14.	14.	7.	11.	10.
14.	336	Louis D’Or	Anderson, Henrietta	GBR		200 EUR	325.0	332.0	336.0	331.0	334.0	1659.0 Punkte
	B 12-j.W /DK/B: Anderson,Henrietta						67.708 %	69.167 %	70.000 %	68.958 %	69.583 %	69.125 %
							12.	12.	10.	14.	13.
15.	785	Come On III	Harding, Shawna	USA		200 EUR	309.0	318.0	326.0	322.0	317.0	1593.0 Punkte
	B 12-j.W v.Come Back II/M.v.Lantaan/DWB/USA40973/B: Shawna L. Harding						64.395 %	66.271 %	67.938 %	67.105 %	66.063 %	66.396 %
							15.	15.	15.	15.	15.