Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

OMAHA, Nebraska, Mar. 25, 2017–Thirty-seven dressage and jumper horses arrived from Europe for the first World Cup Final to beld in this American heartland city shrouded in cold and rain but a welcoming police escort and media coverage of the style accorded visiting dignitaries.

Weihegold OLD, the horse on which Isabell Werth is ranked No. 1 in the world, Carl Hester’s Nip Tuck and Edward Gal’s Glock’s Voice were among the 12 dressage horses that made the 10-hour flight from Amsterdam to make the first landing of foreign horses in at Omaha.  John “Pete” Ricketts, Nebraska’s governor whose family owns the Chicago Cub baseball team, came out to the airfield renamed Epperley International to mark the World Cup, to thank the Dutta Corp. and others involved in the transportation of the horses.

Glock’s Flirt ridden by Hans Peter Minderhoud was pulled from the flight when the horse went lame just hours before leaving the Netherlands that “totally devastated” the Olympic rider as he could not defend the title the pair won in 2015. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl’s Unee BB suffered colic and was also withdrawn.

Three American combinations, Laura Graves on Verdades ranked No. 4 in the world, Kasey Perry-Glass on Dublet that were on the U.S. Olympic bronze medal team last year, and 2009 World Cup champion rider Steffen Peters with Rosamunde arrive in the next two days. So, too, will Bandurria Kacero that with Maria Manfredi will be the first Argentine ever to compete in the annual championship that marks its 32nd year.

The first two dressage combinations to be unloaded were Dejavu ridden by Wendi Williamson the first New Zealander to competed at a dressage World Cup Final and Rustique competed by Mai Tofte Olesen of Denmark.

Although Glock’s Flirt is absent, the Netherlands is represented by Edward Gal and Glock’s Voice and Madeleine Witte-Vrees and Cennin.