Dressage-News

AMSTERDAM, Jan. 31, 2015–Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro came close to their world record score in winning the World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle at Jumping Amsterdam Saturday ahead of defending the duo’s title in Las Vegas in April.

Charlotte and the 13-year-old KWPN gelding scored 93.900 per cent, 4/10ths of one perentage point off the world record of 94.300 per cent the pair set at London Olympia last month.

The British Olympic and World Games individual championship pair were awarded 26 marks of 10 by the five judges, including 10s from the entire panel for the piaffe.

Danielle Heijkoop on Siro was second on 82.350 per cent while Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on Unee BB was third on 80.900 per cent that was good enough to keep her at the top of the World Cup Western European League standing along with another German and a Danish combination.

The 29-year-old Charlotte, who returned from three weeks in New Zealand right before this competition, and the horse she calls “Blueberry,” won the World Cup at Lyon, France in 2014 in their first outing in the annual global championship. Carl Hester, one of three owners of Valegro and coach and mentor of Charlotte prepared the horse for this competition.

“Carl kept Blueberry (Valegro) ticking over while I was away in New Zealand, I’m always so grateful to him” she said.

She was not too pleased with her ride in Friday’s Grand Prix even though she won that by more than seven percentage points. “I was really jet-lagged and I was terrible, I was so angry with myself for the way I rode!” she said.

She talked about what Valegro has been doing since re-setting the Grand Prix and Freestyle world records at Olympia last month. “He had a couple of weeks off over Christmas and then I started riding him for a couple of days before heading off (to New Zealand). But I only had three days to ride after I got back this week, so he’s a pretty amazing horse!”

Looking ahead to the Final in Las Vegas, she said: “He won’t be doing anything until then. He isn’t the kind of horse that needs competition all the time, so our next outing will be Las Vegas, and after that we’ll be concentrating on getting ready for the European Championships.” Those championshiops will be in Aachen, Germany in August.

The 27-year-old Danielle Heijkoop said that although she and Siro had a higher score at Mechelen, Belgium over the Christmas holidays “I’m very happy with how we went today.”

Talking about her trainer, Anky van Grunsven, the nine-time winner of the World Cup title, she said: “We think alike, our attitude is that things can always be better, but for me the most important thing right now is that you can see our score is getting a little higher everywhere from last year, it’s all improving”.

The European riders are thinking ahead to how their horses will respond to the bright lights and electric atmosphere of the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas in just over two months.

“I’m so excited about it,” said Charlotte. “I know the crowd starts clapping before the finish, and the place is buzzing all the time, but hopefully Blueberry will be OK with all that and will put on a great show”.

Danielle admitted Siro, can be “a little bit crazy” during the prize-giving ceremony and after he comes out of the arena, but that he is usually a thorough professional during his test.

“Actually I think he will love it in Las Vegas, when he’s doing a test he really enjoys the crowd, and I hope it won’t be a problem for him.”

This was the sixth of nine Western European League qualifiers with the next scheduled for Neumünster, Germany Feb. 15.

Results:

Grand Prix Freestyle

Judge E: Stephen Clarke (GBR) Judge H: Isabelle Judet (FRA) Judge C: Eduard de Wolff van Westerrode (NED) Judge M: Adriaan F. Hamoen (NED) Judge B: Peter Engel (GER)

Rank		HORSE – Breeding sex\color\born\sire x siredam\		€	Judge E	Judge H	Judge C	Judge M	Judge B	%
		RIDER owner			technical artistic	technical artistic	technical artistic	technical artistic	technical artistic
1		Valegro – KWPN G \ Bay \ 2002 \ Negro x Gerschwin	GBR	11000	92.25	89.75	92.50	90.75	91.75	93.900
		Charlotte  Dujardin Mr C Hester, R Luard, A Barrott			98.00	96.00	98.00	97.00	93.00
2		Siro N.O.P. – KWPN G \ Black \ 1999 \ Gribaldi x Hemmingway	NED	8000	80.75	81.00	81.25	80.00	77.75	82.375
		Danielle  Heijkoop D.Heykoop & T.E.G.Van Grunsven & J.J.V.Verseveld			89.00	84.00	84.00	83.00	83.00
3		Unee Bb – KWPN S \ dark bay \ 2001 \ Gribaldi x Dageraad	GER	6000	79.00	77.25	81.00	77.75	76.00	80.900
		Jessica  Von Bredow-Werndl Bã¼rchler-Keller Beatrice			88.00	83.00	84.00	83.00	80.00
4		Arlando NH N.O.P. – KWPN S \ Darkbay \ 2005 \ Paddox x Mytens	NED	4500	79.50	79.25	77.50	77.50	75.75	79.950
		Diederik  Van Silfhout A.P. Both & S.J. Kat			86.00	83.00	80.00	81.00	80.00
5		Glock´s Flirt – CH G \ Chestnut \ 2001 \ Florestan x Gauguin De Lully	NED	2500	78.00	77.75	77.75	76.00	76.00	79.250
		Hans Peter  Minderhoud Ing. Gaston Glock			83.00	82.00	81.00	81.00	80.00
6		Jojo Az – HSH G \ Darkbay \ 2003 \ Ginus x Justboy	DEN	2000	78.25	75.00	73.25	75.50	74.50	78.050
		Agnete  Kirk Thinggaard Julianelyst Aps			84.00	83.00	79.00	80.00	78.00
7		Favourit – RHEIN G \ Dark chestnut \ 1999 \ Fidermark x Worldchamp	GER	1500	77.75	76.75	75.50	74.50	74.75	77.325
		Sönke  Rothenberger Rothenberger Im Gestã¼t Erlenhof Ohg			81.00	80.00	78.00	78.00	77.00
8		El Santo NRW – RHEIN G \ Bay \ 2001 \ Ehrentusch x Rythmus	GER	1000	75.50	73.50	73.75	73.75	74.25	76.775
		Isabell  Werth Madeleine Winter-Schulze + Isabell Werth			79.00	81.00	81.00	77.00	79.00
9		Uzzo – KWPN G \ Bay \ 2001 \ Lancet x Indoctro	NED	500	75.75	75.50	74.25	71.50	71.25	75.725
		Patrick  van der Meer Trainingsstal De Hoeve			79.00	80.00	78.00	77.00	75.00
10		Axis TSF – TRAK S \ Black \ 1999 \ Sixtus x Angard	FIN	500	75.50	71.75	74.00	72.50	74.00	75.675
		Terhi  Stegars Stegars Terhi + A Bis Grand Prix			80.00	78.00	78.00	76.00	77.00
11		Ulysses la Haya – KWPN G \ dark bay \ 2001 \ Gribaldi x Ulft	NED	500	72.25	70.50	73.25	71.00	72.50	73.950
		Laurens  van Lieren O.M.Boucher & J.H. Alberts			76.00	75.00	77.00	76.00	76.00
12		Biggles 1015 – SWB S \ Bay \ 1998 \ Briar x Krevad	SWE	500	73.25	72.25	71.50	71.75	73.00	73.775
		Kristian  Von Krusenstierna Fam. Ingrid Lundbergpersson			76.00	75.00	74.00	75.00	76.00
13		Eres Dl – BWP G \ Bay \ 2004 \ Sir Lui x Balzflug	BEL	500	73.25	74.75	70.50	70.50	69.75	73.275
		Jeroen  Devroe Lousberg Daniel			77.00	79.00	71.00	74.00	73.00
14		Sunny Boy S \ Bay \ 2004 \ Stedinger	ESP	500	73.25	70.00	70.50	70.00	71.00	73.175
		Juan Antonio  Jimenez Cobo Juan Antonio Jimenez Cobo			78.00	76.00	74.00	74.00	75.00
15		Thriller – KWPN G \ Blackbay \ 2000 \ Gribaldi x Amor	NED	500	71.50	73.00	71.50	70.25	70.25	72.050
		Katja  Gevers R. Grevers			73.00	74.00	72.00	72.00	73.00