Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

AACHEN, Germany, June 27–Germany was led by two horss and riders from last summer’s silver medal Olympic team to capture the dressage Nations Cup Thursday with another two Olympic combinations giving Denmark the runnerup position and a reinvigorated United States team finishing third.

Germany’s Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill NRW was the highest placed individual pair with 81.128 per cent, the only one of 37 starting combinations making up nine teams and several individuals to break the 80 per cent barrier, while fellow London Olympian Anabel Balkenhol and Dablino FRH placed second on 77.043 per cent.

Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein and her Digby, the 16-year-old veteran of both the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Games, and Anna Kasprzak on Donnperignon, their team mates in London, scored 75.638 per cent and 75.426 per cent, respetively to lock up second place.

Steffen Peters on Legolas, the leading American rider in a team that included the 2012 Olympic team partnerships of Jan Ebeling and the celebrity mare Rafalca and Tina Konyot and Calecto V, filled the third position in the lineup of nine teams.

This CDIO5* event was the third Nations Cup in a pilot program to try to develop a global series similar to show jumping’s international leagues to help popularize the sport. Vidauban, France staged a CDIO3* in May while Rotterdam held a CDIO5* last week with seven nations participating, including double Olympic gold medalists Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro who led Great Britain to victory. A fourth Nations Cup will be staged in Hickstead, England next month using the Freestyle as the team competition.

Helen Langehanenberg said after the event that Damon Hill was really fresh and willing and would get a rest befre the European Championships in Herning, Denmark at the end of August.

“We definitely had fun,” said this year’s World Cup victor.

Monica Theodorescu, in charge of a German Nations Cup team for the first time since being appointed the national coach, described Damon Hill as “very precise and very elastic” and “fit and harmonious.”

“The biggest surprise,” she said, “was Anabel Balkenhols and Dablino, that “everybody always believed in… and today she got to show it.”

She joked that Isabell Werth, one of the world’s most experienced and accomplished riders, had a mistake in warming up Don Johnson FRH “in timing” when she mistakenly thought there were four horses ahead of her when there were three so the horse was “not on the highest level” when they went into the arena.

The Danish combination of Andreas Helgstrand and Akeem Foldager provided the biggest shock of the competition.

The horse that Andreas started riding less than three months ago and described it as the best he’s ever had started off spectacularly to earn marks as high as 9.5 in the first piaffe and passage tour but did not walk and scores as low as a single point gave them a final total of 68.426 per cent, tied for 24th place and the drop score in the team result that is made up of the best three scores.

The team results:

Rank	Nation		Total
1	GERMANY		232.150
	[311] Fabienne Lütkemeier	D´Agostino 5	71.830
	[310] Anabel Balkenhol	Dablino FRH	77.043
	[326] Isabell Werth	Don Johnson FRH	73.979
	[312] Helen Langehanenberg	Damon Hill NRW	81.128
2	DENMARK		223.043
	[337] Lone Bang Larsen	Fitou L	71.979
	[300] Andreas Helgstrand	Akeem Foldager	68.426
	[324] Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein	Digby	75.638
	[329] Anna Kasprzak	Donnperignon	75.426
3	UNITED STATES		217.298
	[325] Shelly Francis	Doktor	69.596
	[369] Jan Ebeling	Rafalca	70.936
	[306] Tina Konyot	Calecto V	71.064
	[350] Steffen Peters	Legolas 92	75.298
4	SWEDEN		210.042
	[352] Jeanna Hogberg	Liza Minelli	68.723
	[338] Malin Hamilton	Fleetwood	70.234
	[382] Charlotte Haid Bondergaard	Triviant 2	67.787
	[381] Patrik Kittel	Toy Story	71.085
5	NETHERLANDS		208.532
	[389] Diederik van Silfhout	Vorst D	68.319
	[397] Laurens van Lieren	Ulysses la Haya	67.319
	[386] Stephanie Peters	Unlimited	68.064
	[348] Danielle Heijkoop	Kingsley Siro	72.149
6	BELGIUM		207.511
	[398] Simon Missiaen	Vradin	69.745
	[355] Julie de Deken	Lucky Dance	64.936
	[349] Philippe Jorissen	Le Beau	66.213
	[328] Claudia Fassaert	Donnerfee	71.553
7	SPAIN		207.127
	[334] Borja Carrascosa	Famous Boy 2	64.574
	[361] Severo Jesus Jurado Lopez	Numberto	71.106
	[342] Jose Daniel Martin Dockx	Grandioso	71.447
	[]
8	FINLAND		198.340
	[380] Stella Hagelstam	Soraya II	67.319
	[376] Mikaela Lindh	Skovlunds Más Guapo	71.447
	[375] Emma Kanerva	Sini Spirit	59.574
	[]
9	GREAT BRITAIN		196.298
	[364] Anna Ross Davies	Pegasus MK	66.511
	[357] Michael Eilberg	Marakov	68.681
	[391] Hannah Biggs	Weltzin	61.106
	[363] Nikki Crisp	Pasoa	68.426

Individual Grand Prix scores:

AACHEN, Germany, June 27–Germany was led by two horss and riders from last summer’s silver medal Olympic team to capture the dressage Nations Cup Thursday with another two Olympic combinations giving Denmark the runnerup position and a reinvigorated United States team finishing third