Dressage-News

NEUMÜNSTER, Germany, Feb. 21, 2016–Isabell Werth and Weihegold OLD captured the World Cup Freestyle Sunday for the second championship series victory in three weeks with a score of 84.600 per cent in only their second international musical performance.

The result for Isabell and the 11-year-old Oldenburg mare was the highest winning score in the eight Western European World Cup events this season, the next highest being 84.125 per cent posted at Salzburg, Austria in December by Isabell on Don Johnson FRH, on which she is ranked No. 3 in the world.

For Germany’s five-time Olympic gold medalist rider, it was her third highest Freestyle score ever, surpassed by 85.150 per cent on her World Games mount Bella Rose in July 2014 and 84.750 per cent on her 2008 Olympic horse Satchmo in August 2009.

Video of the ride.

Isabell was placed first by all five judges with German judge Dr. Evi Eisenhardt awarding her 90.000 per cent for artistic. The Freestyle victory came after Saturday’s Grand Prix when the pair scored 80.020 per cent to become only the second rider in the world to achieve 80 per cent at Grand Prix on two different horses. The other is Edward Gal on Totilas and Undercover.

German team mate Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on her 2015 World Cup bronze medal mount Unee BB was runner-up on 80.900 per cent and the 19-year-old Jerich Parzival ridden by Adelinde Cornelissen of the Netherlands in third on 78.775 per cent. The Dutch pair won the World Cup title for two consecutive years, 2011 and 2012, in nine years at Big Tour.

Isabell said after the ride: “I was hoping for a good score, but you never know until the end. My horse is in good shape but I was not expecting this electric atmosphere so I’m completely happy that she dealt with it. There was one mistake, but we were more with the music today, the whole thing had more shape to it and it was more experience for my mare. We are getting more confident with each other and with the music, and that was the whole thing basically. I’m very happy.”

Isabell has won the World Cup twice–on Fabienne in 1992 and Warum Nicht FRH in 2007.

She is looking forward to the return of the mare, Bella Rose, that she rode for Germany’s team gold at the 2014 World Games but an injury in November of the same year has kept her out of competition. Bella Rose was also among the many horses adversely affected by the almost rock hard footing at the World Games in Normandy.

“Bella Rose is in work already and I will bring her out later in season,” she said. “We are really focused, but it is step by step and fingers crossed.

“It will be a really slow build up for her, I don’t want to put pressure on her by bringing her out in a Freestyle, I want her to come back and relax. She has so much temperament, it would be crazy to bring her to an indoor and it was never the plan to put her in the World Cup anyway. She feels more free and relaxed outside, so that’s the plan.”

Isabell said she plans to take Don Johnson to the Final in Sweden.

Isabell moved to the top of the World Cup Western European League standings on 77 points with the results of this event that was the eighth of nine World Cup qualifiers. Next month’s ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands is the last qualifying event in for the Final in Gothenburg, Sweden at the end of March. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl stands second on 66 points followed by Sweden’s Patrik Kittel one point further back. Full standings are available at: WC Standings c-9_pdf_doc1.

For some riders, the event also boosted their rankings to increase their chances of going to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this summer.

Poland’s Beata Stremler on Rubicon D, ranked second in her geographic group that can send two individuals to the Games, placed fourth on 76.325 per cent, a personal best score and followed her fifth place in the Grand Prix.

Ukraine’s Inna Logutenkova on Don Gregorius, in third place in the same group, did not fare as well here with a score of 66.250 per cent in the Freestyle after a 14th place finish in the Grand Prix with only two weeks remaining for Olympic qualification.

Streaming video of the event was not available live in at least some parts of the world because of what FEI-TV called “technical difficulties” in producing what was one of the relatively small number of dressage events it offers each year. The service was plagued with poor scheduling and blackouts for several parts of the world when management of the pay service changed last summer.

Results:

World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle