Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro of Great Britain on Saturday set a Grand Prix world record of 87.129 per cent in the debut World Cup Final at Lyon, France for the Olympic and European Championship double gold medal partnership, smashing the previous mark of 85.942 per cent the pair set last summer.

“It’s crazy,” Charlotte declared in describing her ride on the 12 year-old KWPN gelding on whom she also holds the world records for the Grand Prix Special and the Freestyle that will decide the 2014 title on Saturday.

Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill NRW of Germany, defending champions, were second on 83.343 per cent and the Netherlands’ Edward Gal and Glock’s Undercover third on 79.957 per cent.

“I really enjoyed myself,” said the 28-year-old rider and the bay gelding that began their international Grand Prix career three years ago and on Saturday electrified the arena that holds up to 8,000 spectators.

“It’s crazy, considering what we’ve already achieved. Another year and he’s getting better and better. He makes me feel so confident that I can ride him to near the maximum.”

The performance lived up to the advance billing of the clash of titans with the 2012 Olympic and 2013 European Championships double gold medalist combination in a class by themselves. Early in the ride, Charlotte and the horse part-owned by her coach and mentor, Carl Hester, was above a 90 per cent level then dipped below their previous world record mark but completed the test with very strong movements including the final centerline.

Helen Langehanenberg and the 14-year-old stallion were slightly below their previous best score of 84.377 per cent that psted at the Europeans in Herning, Denmark last summer.

For Edward Gal, who won this annual gobal championship on Totilas in 2010, on Glock’s Undercover was also below their best of 81.860 per cent oer cent set in Amsterdam in January.

The day began with a disappointment for Denmark’s Nanna Skodberg Merrald whose Millibar failed a second veterinary inspection and was scratched that reduced the field to 17 from 11 nations.

The United States’ Tina Konyot of Palm City, Florida on her Olympic and World Equestrian Games mount, Calecto V, were first into the arena and their score of 70.443 per cent for 11th place was the highest of the four combinations that started the event after crossing the Atlantic.

“I was very happy with my horse,” Tina said. ” I made some mistakes that cost me. But I am very pleased and it is an honor to be here.” Being first to go, she said, “is always disappointing but someone has to go first. But I’ve been doing this awhile, so it didn’t affect me.”

Cesar Parra of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey and Van the Man, the second ranked American combination in the World Cup North American League, showed some of the same resistance that had put them at the center of a controversy during the Florida winter circuit. The pair broke into canter during the extended trot and was resistant in moving into the first passage tour and was reflected in their final score of 65.543 per cent and 16th place.

“At the beginning and going around the ring the feeling was very good and he was feeling very well,” he said. “He’s grown up a lot and he feels more and more confident.”

Mikala Münter Gundersen, who has lived in Wellington, Florida for the past decade, rode the American-owned My Lady to 12th place on 69.429 per cent that was below the level shown repeatedly during the Global Dressage Festival over the winter.

“I’m happy with how well My lady handled to atmosphere in the big arena today,” Mikala said. “We had a lot of tension in the warm up but it seemed like she was much happier once she was inside her sandbox. We had some good highlights and some expensive mistakes so overall I feel we did OK for our first time out in a show like this.Now we just can’t wait to go back and try harder tomorrow in our favorite Freestyle. My Lady and I both love the music and we always have fun riding to it.”

Dong-Seon Kim, the first Korean to compete in a World Cup Final and who is based in the New England area of the United States, scored 64.471 per cent.

Australia’s Mary Hanna and her 2012 Olympic mount Sancette scored 68.471 per cent that came close to her goal of improving on her personal best of 68.760 per cent in the Grand Prix but has a chance to better their Freestyle result on Sunday.

All 17 combinations qualified for the Freestyle on Sunday that is the sole deciding competition for the 2014 title–no results from the Grand Prix are carried forward.

Results:

Grand Prix							(K)	(E)	(H)	(C)	(M)	(B)	(F)	Total
1.	0505	Valegro	Dujardin,Charlotte	GBR		7.000,00 EUR	88.900 %	88.000 %	84.800 %	86.000 %	88.400 %	86.800 %	87.000 %	87.129 %
	bay / 12y. / G / Negro / Gerschwin / 102UB51						(1.)	(1.)	(1.)	(1.)	(1.)	(1.)	(1.)
2.	0507	Damon Hill NRW	Langehanenberg,Helen	GER		5.500,00 EUR	83.900 %	86.900 %	82.200 %	84.800 %	81.300 %	83.000 %	81.300 %	83.343 %
	dchst / 14y. / S / 69.429Donnerhall / Rubinstein I / GER26971 / Sauer,Heinrich						(2.)	(2.)	(2.)	(2.)	(2.)	(2.)	(2.)
3.	0511	Glock’s Undercover	Gal,Edward	NED		4.250,00 EUR	80.600 %	78.000 %	81.200 %	82.700 %	78.200 %	82.600 %	76.400 %	79.957 %
	black / 13y. / G / Ferro / Donnerhall / 103MH20						(3.)	(3.)	(3.)	(3.)	(3.)	(3.)	(3.)
4.	0516	Don Auriello	Vilhelmson Silfven,Tinne	SWE		3.250,00 EUR	77.600 %	74.400 %	74.700 %	75.500 %	73.400 %	74.200 %	75.800 %	75.086 %
	bay / 12y. / G / Don Davidoff / White Star / GER43436						(4.)	(5.)	(4.)	(4.)	(5.)	(7.)	(4.)
5.	0509	El Santo NRW	Werth,Isabell	GER		2.000,00 EUR	74.700 %	71.400 %	74.300 %	74.800 %	74.100 %	76.600 %	73.400 %	74.186 %
	bay / 13y. / G / Ehrentusch / Rythmus / GER44504 / ZG Horn,Dieter u.Christel						(5.)	(8.)	(5.)	(5.)	(4.)	(6.)	(6.)
6.	0513	Glock’s Johnson	Minderhoud,Hans Peter	NED		1.500,00 EUR	73.700 %	74.600 %	72.200 %	73.000 %	72.000 %	77.100 %	73.800 %	73.771 %
	bay / 12y. / S / Jazz / Flemmingh / NED41431						(8.)	(4.)	(8.)	(8.)	(7.)	(5.)	(5.)
7.	0512	Kingsley Siro	Heijkoop,Danielle	NED		1.000,00 EUR	74.300 %	70.100 %	74.100 %	74.700 %	73.300 %	72.700 %	70.800 %	72.857 %
	black / 15y. / G / Gribaldi / Hemmingway / 102NZ55						(6.)	(10.)	(6.)	(6.)	(6.)	(9.)	(8.)
8.	0506	Unee BB	von Bredow-Werndl,Jessica	GER		500,00 EUR	73.300 %	72.900 %	72.400 %	72.300 %	69.900 %	77.500 %	70.500 %	72.686 %
	dbay / 13y. / S / Gribaldi / Dageraad / 102YN67						(9.)	(6.)	(7.)	(10.)	(11.)	(4.)	(9.)
Other, non-placed competitors							(K)	(E)	(H)	(C)	(M)	(B)	(F)	Total
9.	0504	Noble Dream Concept Sol	Boblet,Marc	FRA			71.200 %	72.800 %	70.900 %	73.100 %	71.200 %	72.700 %	70.800 %	71.814 %
	black / 12y. / M / Caprimond / Donnerhall / FRA43253						(12.)	(7.)	(9.)	(7.)	(9.)	(9.)	(8.)
10.	0514	Mister X	Merkulova,Inessa	RUS			73.900 %	70.800 %	69.600 %	72.300 %	70.100 %	70.400 %	70.300 %	71.057 %
	bay / 10y. / G / Egeus / 102YZ81						(7.)	(9.)	(11.)	(10.)	(10.)	(11.)	(10.)
11.	0517	Calecto V	Konyot,Tina	USA			72.200 %	69.900 %	69.200 %	70.300 %	71.900 %	70.600 %	69.000 %	70.443 %
	bay / 16y. / S / Come Back II / Rastell / USA41206 / Inge Toft,Soenderborg,DK						(10.)	(11.)	(12.)	(12.)	(8.)	(10.)	(12.)
12.	0501	My Lady	Gundersen,Mikala Münter	DEN			68.200 %	68.400 %	70.100 %	71.400 %	69.500 %	68.800 %	69.600 %	69.429 %
	bay / 14y. / M / Michellino / 103KN32						(15.)	(14.)	(10.)	(11.)	(12.)	(12.)	(11.)
13.	0500	Sancette	Hanna,Mary	AUS			71.400 %	68.500 %	68.700 %	68.900 %	69.200 %	67.100 %	65.500 %	68.471 %
	bay / 13y. / G / Sandro Hit / Contender / USA41094						(11.)	(13.)	(13.)	(13.)	(13.)	(14.)	(14.)
14.	0515	Smeyers Lazander	Krinke Susmelj,Marcela	SUI			69.600 %	64.800 %	66.300 %	68.200 %	68.800 %	68.600 %	67.900 %	67.743 %
	chest / 13y. / G / Solos Landtinus / Lebensmann / DEN40387						(13.)	(17.)	(15.)	(15.)	(14.)	(13.)	(13.)
15.	0519	Romeo-Star	Sidneva,Elena	RUS			68.700 %	69.400 %	67.000 %	68.600 %	67.500 %	67.000 %	65.200 %	67.629 %
	bay / 13y. / S / Romantic Star / Mister A / RUS40441						(14.)	(12.)	(14.)	(14.)	(16.)	(15.)	(15.)
16.	0518	Van The Man	Parra,Cesar	USA			66.300 %	65.200 %	65.600 %	64.700 %	66.200 %	66.500 %	64.300 %	65.543 %
	black / 12y. / G / Obelisk / Landjonker (Fruhling) / 103BW14						(16.)	(16.)	(16.)	(16.)	(17.)	(16.)	(16.)
17.	0510	Bukowski	Kim,Dong-Seon	KOR			64.200 %	65.800 %	62.800 %	64.300 %	67.900 %	64.200 %	62.100 %	64.471 %
	bay / 15y. / G / Briar 899 / Junius XX / GER41640						(17.)	(15.)	(17.)	(17.)	(15.)	(17.)	(17.)