Dressage-News

CAPPELN, Germany, Aug. 11, 2018–Isabell Werth rode Bella Rose to victory at the CDI4* Saturday in only the second Grand Prix Freestyle of the mare’s Big Tour career of more than five years to give the pair a shot at being selected for the German team for the World Equestrian Games opening in a month.

Isabell and the 14-year-old Westfalen mare were awarded 87.000 per cent for the win in only the third show since coming back from almost four years out of competition dealing with injury. Bella Rose’s only other Grand Prix musical performance was at Aachen, Germany in 2014, where the duo scored 85.150 per cent.

“I am just so happy!” said Isabell after theride. “Super happy!! Today was only Bella’s second freestyle ever and the first after her break of four years. A few pieces had been ‘borrowed’ from Emilio. But now Bella is taking back her position on the throne.”

Bella Rose’s only previous freestyle was a month before the the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy. There, the pair led Germany to team gold by placing second individually in the Grand Prix to Charlotte Dujardin on Valegro.

The mare was withdrawn from the championships after the Grand Prix, came back for another competition three months later but then was out of the show arena for almost four years as Isabell and owner Madeleine Winter-Schulze dealt with the recurring injury.

Bella Rose is what Isabell calls the horse of a lifetime for the rider, 49 years old, who has 10 Olympic medals, more than any other equestrian in more than a century of horse sports at the Games.

Saturday was the 22nd start since the first Grand Prix for Bella Rose in May, 2013 and exactly one month to the opening of the world championships at Tryon, North Carolina. On Friday, the pair won the Grand Prix and with the freestyle victory remained undefeated in six starts since the mare’s comeback.

She was clear about her choice of three prospective mounts–Weihegold OLD, her Olympic team gold and double World Cup mount on which she is ranked No. 1 in the world; Emilio, No. 2 in the world, and Bella Rose.

“Of course the final decision is made by the dressage committee,” she grinned, “but I have already decided.”

The German team is still undecided with the comeback of Bella Rose as well as the absence of  Sönke Rothenberger on Cosmo and the withdrawal from Aachen of Showtime ridden by Dorothee Schneider, both on the 2016 Olympic gold medal team.

Great Britain’s Lara Butler on Rubin al Asad, named to the long list for her nations’ team at Tryon, placed second on 76.500 per cent with the Netherlands’ Marlies van Baalen on Ben Johnson in third on 75.200 per cent.

Results:

CDI4* Grand Prix Freestyle

Placed competitors							(E)	(H)	(C)	(M)	(B)	Total
1.	56	Bella Rose	Werth, Isabell	GER		€2530	346.0	349.0	347.0	353.0	345.0	1740.0 points
	chest 14y.M /Belissimo M/Cacir AA/WESTF/103CM31/ Winter-Schulze,Madeleine						86.500 %	87.250 %	86.750 %	88.250 %	86.250 %	87.000 %
							1.	1.	1.	1.	1.
2.	4	Rubin al Asad	Butler, Lara	GBR		2030	307.5	305.5	306.5	302.0	308.5	1530.0 points
	bay 16y.G /Rubin Royal Old/Wanderbursch II/HANN/102VC47/ Dr W & Mrs U Bechtolshei						76.875 %	76.375 %	76.625 %	75.500 %	77.125 %	76.500 %
							2.	2.	2.	2.	2.
3.	51	Ben Johnson	van Baalen, Marlies	NED		1530	297.5	304.0	301.0	301.5	300.0	1504.0 points
	bay 12y.G /Johnson/Ferro/KWPN/103XG07/ Dressuurstal van Baalen						74.375 %	76.000 %	75.250 %	75.375 %	75.000 %	75.200 %
							3.	3.	3.	3.	3.
4.	15	Euclides Mor	Jimenez Cobo, Juan Antonio	ESP		1020	282.5	281.0	296.0	292.0	281.5	1433.0 points
	9y.S /Riopele/104UN73/ Abelardo Morales Puron						70.625 %	70.250 %	74.000 %	73.000 %	70.375 %	71.650 %
							6.	7.	4.	4.	6.
5.	17	Dambacu Nl	Kanerva, Emma	FIN		620	286.0	284.0	287.5	283.5	285.0	1426.0 points
	bay 11y.G /Danone II/Alantas XX/HANN/105WK40/ Gert Saborowski						71.500 %	71.000 %	71.875 %	70.875 %	71.250 %	71.300 %
							4.	6.	5.	7.	4.
6.	48	Catch Me	Timmermans, Margo	NED		520	283.5	288.5	279.0	284.0	282.5	1417.5 points
	dbay 11y.G /Dreamcatcher/Goodtimes/KWPN/103OX62/ Mevr. M. Timmermans & Dhr. D. v.						70.875 %	72.125 %	69.750 %	71.000 %	70.625 %	70.875 %
							5.	5.	6.	6.	5.
7.	45	Dragao	Schulz, Sascha	LUX		420	280.5	289.0	274.0	291.5	277.5	1412.5 points
	10y.S /Unico/Xaquiro/LUS/103VU23/ Dressage Grand-Ducal						70.125 %	72.250 %	68.500 %	72.875 %	69.375 %	70.625 %
							7.	4.	8.	5.	7.
8.	58	Kavalou	Weston, Peter John	AUS		420	271.0	273.0	276.5	269.5	268.0	1358.0 points
	dchst 11y.M /Shavalou/Exclusiv/TRAK/105WQ48/ Harold Denton						67.750 %	68.250 %	69.125 %	67.375 %	67.000 %	67.900 %
							8.	8.	7.	8.	8.
9.	20	Chupa Chup A S	Kitai, Yuko	JPN		320	248.5	271.0	250.5	268.0	264.5	1302.5 points
	chest 11y.G /Sorento/Fidermark/KWPN/104WZ71/ Masahiro KOSAKA						62.125 %	67.750 %	62.625 %	67.000 %	66.125 %	65.125 %
							10.	9.	11.	9.	9.
10.	25	Roosens Westpoint	Kordatzaki, Jiochanna-Androniki	GRE		320.00 EUR	255.5	259.5	258.5	261.0	261.5	1296.0 points
	dbay 15y.G /Lancet 2/Forrest XX/KWPN/104NY82/ J.A. Kordatzaki						63.875 %	64.875 %	64.625 %	65.250 %	65.375 %	64.800 %
							9.	10.	9.	11.	10.
11.	5	Don Weltino K	Dittmann, Laurienne	RSA		270.00 EUR	244.0	253.5	255.0	263.0	256.0	1271.5 points
	chest 12y.G /Don Frederico/Weltmeyer/HANN/104OT84/ Dittmann,Laurienne						61.000 %	63.375 %	63.750 %	65.750 %	64.000 %	63.575 %
							11.	11.	10.	10.	11.