Dressage-News

Aug. 16, 2014

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

With definite entries confirmed for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games dressage, the question most asked these days is “Who do you think is going to win the medals?” or variations thereof, mostly about the team competition.

Although dressage-news.com covers dozens of shows in Europe and the United States every year, the prediction business should not be any more reliable than a casino crap shoot, but this is dressage and past performances seem to count for a lot even when they shouldn’t.

So, finding that the scores for about 70 per cent of the top 20 placed combinations at the World Games in Kentucky in 2010 were less than two percentage points different than results from the show before the championships, dressage-news.com calculated the scores of all 25 teams for 2014 using that crude formula.

A couple of judgement calls were made. The main one: assume Great Britain’s world record-holding partnership of Charlotte Dujardin on Valegro will more than likely turn in a better result at Normandy when dressage starts Aug. 25 than the 76.900 per cent they produced at Aachen, Germany last month? The evidence is that the No. 1 pair in the world will perform at championship level in the Grand Prix that will determine the Nations Cup.

The seemingly inevitable order of the top three teams is:

–Surprise! Surprise! Germany for gold by a big margin with the three highest scores from the team of Matthias Alexander Rath on Totilas, Helen Langehanenberg on Damon Hill NRW, Isabell Werth on Bella Rose and Kristina Sprehe on Desperados FRH could easily average more than 80 per cent for a result of about 243.520.

–The Netherlands team of Adelinde Cornelissen on Jerich Parzival, Edward Gal on Glock’s Undercover, Danielle Heijkoop on Kingsley Siro and Hans Peter Minderhoud on Glock’s Johnson TN looks like a lock for silver on about 238.720.

–Great Britain with Charlotte on Valegro (arbitrarily awarded 85 per cent here), Carl Hester on Nip Tuck, Michael Eilberg on Half Moon Delphi and Gareth Hughes on DV Stenkjers Nadonna get the nod for the bronze on about 233.620.

The most closely fought battle could be for fourth place with about 3 1/2 percentage points separating four nations–Denmark, Sweden, Spain and the United States.

The Danish team of Anna Kasprzak on Donnperignon, recovered from a delicate eye operation, the “unretired” championship horse Digby ridden by Nathalie zu Sayn Wittgenstein and Lars Petersen on Mariett and Mikala Müunter Gundersen on My Lady from the expatriate community in Florida is ranked fourth on 223.600.

Sweden’s squad of Tinne Vilhelmsson-Silfvén, a Florida snow bird, on Don Auriello, Patrik Kittel on Watermill Scandic also doing duty as coach of half the Australian team, Minna Telde on Santana and Jeanna Högberg on Darcia VH is ranked fifth on 221.440.

Spain led by Jose Daniel Martin Dockx on the American-owned Grandioso, Morgan Barbançon on the one-time Anky van Grunsven mount, Painted Black, José Antonio Garcia Mena on Norte Lovera and Borja Carrascosa on Hicksteadt rank sixth on 220.600.

The United States team of American champions Steffen Peters, recovered from severe pneumonia, on Legolas, the rapidly rising young star Laura Graves on Verdades, 2010 WEG and 2012 Olympic team pair of Tina Konyot on Calecto V and the Olympic partnership of Adrienne Lyle and Wizard are ranked seventh on 220.080.

The big gain in U.S. prospects in recent months is unlikely to put them on the medals podium so with the rest of the Americas, the team will have to fight it out at the Pan American Games in Toronto a year from now for the single team berth at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics or do it the hard way by qualifying one rider at a time.

Many will be hoping for the unexpected–such as the showmanship of Spain’s Juan Manuel Muñoz Diaz that roused the crowd on his PRE stallion Fuego at Kentucky or another spectacular gray, Blue Hors Matine ridden by Andreas Helgstrand at the World Games in Aachen in 2006.

The dressage-news.com rankings:

Germany – 243.520 – 1.
LANGEHANENBERG, Helen – Damon Hill NRW – 81.220
RATH, Matthias Alexander – Totilas – 82.300
SPREHE, Kristina – Desperados FRH – 79.700
WERTH, Isabell – Bella Rose 2 – 80.00

Netherlands – 238.720 – 2.
CORNELISSEN, Adelinde – Jerich Parzival N.O.P. – 80.980
GAL, Edward – Glock’s Undercover N.O.P. – 80.780
HEIJKOOP, Danielle – Kingsley Siro N.O.P. – 76.960
MINDERHOUD, Hans Peter – Glock’s Johnson TN – 76.680

Great Britain – 233.620 – 3.
DUJARDIN, Charlotte – Valegro – 85.00
EILBERG, Michael – Half Moon Delphi – 74.020
HESTER, Carl – Nip Tuck – 74.600
HUGHES, Gareth – DV Stenkjers Nadonna – 72.757

Denmark – 223.600 – 4.
GUNDERSEN, Mikala Münter – My Lady – 71.800
KASPRZAK, Anna – Donnperignon – 76.620
PETERSEN, Lars – Mariett – 69.720
SAYN-WITTGENSTEIN, Nathalie zu – Digby – 75.180

Sweden – 221.440 – 5.
HÖGBERG, Jeanna – Darcia VH – 68.740
KITTEL, Patrik – Watermill Scandic H.B.C – 74.940
TELDE, Minna – Santana – 69.580
VILHELMSON SILFVÉN, Tinne- Don Auriello – 76.920

Spain – 220.600 – 6.
BARBANÇON, Morgan – Painted Black – 73.260
CARRASCOSA, Borja – Hicksteadt – 70.980
GARCIA MENA, José Antonio – Norte Lovera – 72.700
MARTIN DOCKX, Jose Daniel – Grandioso – 74.640

United States of America – 220.080 – 7.
GRAVES, Laura -Verdades – 73.000
KONYOT, Tina – Calecto V – 70.000
LYLE, Adrienne – Wizard – 71.740
PETERS, Steffen – Legolas 92 – 75.340

Austria – 214.780 – 8.
KOSAK, Karin – Lucy’s Day – 68.060
MAX-THEURER, Victoria – Augustin OLD – 76.180
SCHUMACH, Christian – Auheim’s Picardo – 66.540
VOGLSANG, Renate – Fabriano – 70.540

Australia – 213.260 – 9.
HANNA, Mary – Sancette – 71.280
OATLEY, Kristy – Ronan 2 – 69.300
OATLEY, Lyndal – Sandro Boy 9 – 72.680
TOMKINSON, Maree – Diamantina 4 – 67.320

Canada – 212.48 – 10.
LANE, Megan – Caravella – 70.460
MARCUS, David – Chrevi’s Capital – 72.300
PAVICIC, Karen – Don Daiquiri – 68.00
TRUSSELL, Belinda – Anton – 69.720

France – 211.760 – 11.
AYACHE, Alexandre – Lights Of Londonderry – 69.740
BOBLET, Marc – Noble Dream Concept Sol – 70.480
MICHEL, Jessica – Riwera de Hus – 70.740
SERRE, Arnaud – Robinson de Lafont de Massa – 70.540

Russia – 209.320 – 12.
AFRAMEEVA, Marina – Vosk – 67.680
DOROFEEVA, Tatiana – Kartsevo Upperville – 60.380
MERKULOVA, Inessa – Mister X – 70.660
SIDNEVA, Elena -Romeo-Star – 70.980

Belgium – 208.500 – 13.
DE DEKEN, Julie – Lucky Dance – 68.480
DEVROE, Jeroen – Eres DL – 68.420
FASSAERT, Claudia – Donnerfee – 70.640
VANOMMESLAGHE, Laurence – Avec Plaisir – 69.380

Italy – 207.880 – 14.
SCOLARI, Federica – Beldonwelt – 68.180
SOLDI, Ester – Harmonia – 64.620
TIOZZO, Leonardo – Randon – 64.440
TRUPPA, Valentina – Fixdesign Eremo del Castegno – 75.080

Portugal – 206.854 – 15.
CAETANO, Maria – Xiripiti – 67.614
CANELAS, Filipe – Der Clou – 68.980
PINTO, Carlos – Soberano III – 70.260
VEIGA, Manuel – Ben Hur Da Broa – 67.360

Norway – 206.420 – 16.
HESTENGEN, Trude – Tobajo Pik Disney – 68.980
JEBSEN, Lillann – Pro-Set – 67.480
KALSETH, Camilla – Carte d’Or – 63.760
RASMUSSEN, Cathrine – Fernandez – 69.960

Switzerland – 204.800 – 17.
HÄCKI, Caroline – Rigoletto Royal CH – 61.480
HOFMANN, Melanie – GB Cazzago C – 66.000
KRINKE SUSMELJ, Marcela – Smeyers Molberg – 72.180
STAUB, Hans – Warbeau – 66.620

Finland – 204.620 – 18.
HAGELSTAM, Stella – Chopin III – 66.020
LINDH, Mikaela – Skovlunds Más Guapo – 67.840
PORTHAN-BRODDELL, Eevamaria – Solos Lacan – 66.600
STEGARS, Terhi – Axis TSF – 70.180

Ireland – 202.880 – 19.
CONNOR, James – Casino’ Royal – 64.260
MERVELDT, Anna – Vancouver – 68.380
REYNOLDS, Judy – Vancouver K – 67.860
TONG, Roland – Pompidou – 66.640

Poland – 202.780 – 20.
LUKASIK, Anna – Stella Pack Ganda – 64.500
SKOWRONSKA, Zaneta – Mystery – 65.880
STREMLER, Beata – Rubicon D – 72.400

Ukraine – 202.060 – 21.
KISELIOVA, Svetlana – Parish – 67.660
KOVSHOV, Maksim – Flirt – 65.460
LOGUTENKOVA, Inna – Don Gregorius – 68.940

Luxembourg – 199.360 – 22.
ERPELDING, Diane – Woltair TSF – 65.780
HENSCHEN, Veronique – Fontalero – 67.280
SCHULZ, Sascha – Wito Corleone 2 – 66.300

Brazil – 197.98 – 23.
OLIVA, João Victor – Signo Dos Pinhais – 66.080
TAVARES DE ALMEIDA NETO, Manuel – Vinheste – 62.020
TAVARES DE ALMEIDA, Luíza – Pastor – 67.400
TAVARES DE ALMEIDA, Pedro – Samba – 64.500

Kazakhstan – 192.540 – 24.
BOUMAN, Janette – V.Power – 62.860 –
BUIKEVICH, Sergey – Ispovednik – 65.060
YURKEVICH, Natalya – Donpetro H.L. – 64.620

South Africa – 188.769 – 25.
BURGER, Chere – Adelprag Anders 451 – 63.129
HALLION, Denise – Wervelwind – 60.000
SEYMOUR, Tanya – Ramoneur 6 – 62.700
SMITH, Nicole – Victoria – 62.940