Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

FALSTERBO, Sweden, July 15, 2017–Sweden took a commanding lead in the CDIO5* Nations Cup after the Grand Prix Saturday that was marked by the elimination of the USA’s Mette Rosencrantz and Marron that will drop America from the top of the standings in the trans-Atlantic series.

With teams restricted to three horses and riders and no drop score, Swedish combinations filled the top three places individually to rack up a total of 220.980, with Russia lying second on 201.880, Denmark third on 198.960 and the United States fourth on 136.840.

Sweden, barring anything unforeseen, will take over the lead of the Nations Cup series while the U.S. will most likely drop to second place from its top ranking after Rotterdam two weeks ago. However, the United States can retake the lead with a strong finish from a team made up of the country’s top combinations at the CDIO5* Nations Cup in Aachen, Germany next week

Patrik Kittel on his Olympic mount Deja on 75.100 per cent finished atop the Grand Prix, Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén on Paridon Magi on 73.040 per cent was second and Rose Mathisen on Zuidenwind on 72.840 per cent third.

Chase Hickok of Wellington, Florida on Sagacious HF was in fourth place individually on a score of 70.900 per cent for a well-ridden performance that drew appreciative applause from the crowd.

Chase, the second youngest rider at 27 years old on the oldest horse, the KWPN gelding at 18 years of age, said she rode to be consistent and not make mistakes despite the Falsterbo festive atmosphere and within earshot of cheers from the neighboring jumping arena.

Chase and Charlotte Jorst of Reno, Nevada on Kastel’s Nintendo are the two remaining on the U.S. team.

The Grand Prix Special and the Freestyle are part of the Nations Cup format with two combinations pre-designated for the Special and one for the Freestyle. Charlotte and Nintendo will ride in the Special and Chase in the Freestyle.

The format of this Nations Cup–the fifth in the official series of seven events this year–had already been widely criticized for restricting teams to three horses and riders and led to Germany pulling out just days beforehand when one of its riders was injured in a riding accident before leaving home. That left just four countries though the organizers defended the decision because teams of three only will be allowed at the 2020 Olympics. A reserve will be allowed for qualified teams in Tokyo but there was no such provision here.

The format here is one of four different setups for the seven-event series that has drawn criticism as well as a provision for pre-designating combinations for the Special and the Freestyle before the start of competition. Representatives of several nations will meet in Aachen next week to discuss changes to be proposed to the International Equestrian Federation (FEI).

Mette Rosencrantz of Topango, California was the first pair for the American team.

The 17-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding that Mette had competed at the Nations Cup in Denmark in early July was spooked by the atmosphere in the competition arena.

Hans Christian Mathiesen of Denmark, the judge at C who eliminated the pair, told dressage-news.com: “Mette had a very, very difficult start. She tried her very best. Unfortunately, on top of all that the horse was very uneven. He mght have hit himself, but the last half-pass was very uneven. The last diagonal extended trot I rang the bell because the horse was very uneven. I had no choice.”

Spectators sitting near this correspondent were commenting on the apparent unevenness even before Hans-Christian rang the bell. He was the same judge who eliminated the U.S. pair of Dawn White-O’Connor and Legolas in the Nations Cup in Rotterdam two weeks ago, but he is highly regarded and his decisions in these two cases were not questioned by those present at the competitions.

Marron was reported to likely have injured himself when he was spooked but was expected to quickly recover.

Results:

CDIO5* Grand Prix

Rank			Rider		Horse Sex / Studbook / Color / Born / Sire x Dam sire / Breeder / Owner	Prize	E	H	C	M	B
1	SWE		Patrik Kittel		Deja Mare / SWB / Bay / 2004 / Silvano x Don Schufro / Marie Harward, Smygehamn / Marie Harward	€6500	76.100    1	74.300    2	76.100    1	73.000   2	76.000   1	75.100
2	SWE		Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén		Paridon Magi Gelding / SWB / Brown / 2003 / Don Primero x Napoleon 625 / Niclas Magnussontomelilla / Lövsta Stuteri Ab	4500	72.900   2	73.900   3	72.800   2	73.300   1	72.300   4	73.040
3	SWE		Rose Mathisen		Zuidenwind 1187  Stallion/KWPN / Bay / 2004 / Oo Seven x Jazz / H. Van Helvoirt, Rosmalen / Gränsbo Stuteri & VDL Stud	3500	72.000   3	74.400   1	72.700   3	72.000   3	73.100   2	72.840
4	USA		Chase Hickok		Sagacious HF Gelding / KWPN / Black / 1999 / Welt Hit II x Cocktail / G. Van De Boogaard, Erp / Hyperion Farm Inc	2500	70.300   4	69.300   6	71.300   4	70.700   4	72.900   3	70.900
5	RUS		Tatyana Kosterina		Diavolessa VA Mare / HANN / Brownbay / 2008 / Don Frederico x Londonderry / Scheele Von Alven, Josef / Josef Scheele Von Alven	1500	70.000   5	71.600   4	67.800   6	70.600   5	70.900   5	70.180
6	DEN		Allan Uglsø Grøn		Wasabi Old Gelding / OLDBG / Dark Bay / 2005 / Welt Hit IV x Lancer I / Radloff, Hans / Michalke, Victoria	1500	68.200   7	70.200   5	69.400   5	67.300   7	69.400  6	68.900
7	RUS		Stanislav Cherednichenko		Vosk Gelding / / Brown / 2005 / Vodoley / / Merkulova, Inessa		69.800   6	68.200   7	67.500    7	69.600   6	65.800   9	68.180
8	DEN		Karin Nissen		Eno Gelding / / Chestnut / 2004 / Eskadron x Pardon / / Karin Nissen & Torben Suhr		65.800   8	66.200   9	66.900   8	65.400   9	66.900   7	66.240
9	USA		Charlotte Jorst		Kastel’s Nintendo Stallion/ KWPN / Bay / 2003 / Negro x Monaco / C. Rommens, Bavel / Kastel Denmark		64.200  10	67.200   8	65.400   9	66.600   8	66.300   8	65.940
10	DEN		Malene Kohlschmidt Ebbesen		MiraMare / DWB / Bay / 2000 / Michellino x Blue Hors Cavan / / Malene Ebbesen		64.600   9	65.200  10	63.000 11	62.900 10	63.400 10	63.820
11	RUS		Larisa Bushina		Ju JUGelding / HANN / Bay / 2004 / Vdumchivy x Diofan / / Sokolova V.&Bushina, L.		63.400 11	64.800 11	64.100 10	62.600 11	62.700 11	63.520
12	USA		Mette Rosencrantz		MarronGelding / DWB / Brown / 2000 / Michellino x Woernitz / Ole Pedersen, Suldrup / Mette Rosencrantz							Elim.