Dressage-News

Aug. 1, 2018

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

Isabell Werth claimed the top two places in the latest world rankings posted Wednesday while the entire United States team was inside the top 25 for the first time and former No. 1 Charlotte Dujardin skyrocketed to 10th, all less than six weeks to the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina.

Sönke Rothenberger who with Cosmo had been a fixture in the top five for the past year plummeted to 97th in the world with too few competitions and injury that kept the German duo from competing at Aachen, Germany two weeks ago as the final selection show for his WEG team but that has since been extended.

The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) standings as of the end of July showed German superstar Isabell Werth at No. 1 with her Olympic and double World Cup winning mount Weihegold OLD and with Emilio that she showed in Aachen at No. 2, repeating the rankings of earlier this year.

American Laura Graves on Verdades, that at Aachen beat Isabell and Emilio in the Nations Cup Grand Prix, slipped one spot to third in the world. Their performance was similar to 2017 when they beat Isabell on Weihegold in the Grand Prix Special and in April this year did the same in the World Cup Grand Prix in Paris.

USA team mates Adrienne Lyle on Salvino climbed two spots to No. 18, Olymic team bronze medalist Kasey Perry-Glass on Dublet, strongly back from an eight-month competition after Aachen in 2017 jumped to 20th, up 11 places, and Steffen Peters on Rosamunde slotted into 25th place, up one spot from the previous month.

This the first time in at least the decade the current ranking system has been in effect–the last three Olympics and the two world championships–that the entire Ameerican team of four riders and horses is in the top 25.

Of possible German WEG team pairs, Dorothee Schneider on Sammy Davis Jr. moved up one place to No. 5, one place behind Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour on Cassidy, the leading partnership at Aachen.

Helen Langehanenberg on the American-owned Damsey FRH climbed to No. 6 from 10th.

Isabell, in addition to the top two places with Weihegold and Emilio, filled the eighth spot with Don Johnson FRH and on Bella Rose was at No. 268 up from 448th from the previous month when the horse returned to competition for the first time in almost four years. The Westfalen mare, now 14 years old, has only four of the scores that can count in the year toward ranking, but Isabell made clear is her personal choice to go to the Tryon WEG.

Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin, whose world No. 1 mount Valegro retired from competition after the 2016 Olympics, shot into the top 10 in the world with Mount St. John Freestyle, from 69th in the previous rankings. The nine-year-old Hanoverian mare began Big Tour in April.