Isabell Werth & Weihegold Win Cappeln CDI4* Grand Prix Special But Mare Loses World No. 1 Ranking to Bella Rose
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By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
CAPPELN, Germany, Jult 28, 2019–Isabell Werth and Weihegold OLD won the CDI4* Grand Prix Special Sunday but lost the world No. 1 ranking held for 31 months to the German superstar’s other top mount, Bella Rose.
Isabell and the 14-year-old Oldenburg mare that she has partnered for Olympic team gold and three straight World Cup titles scored 80.851% in what is her last competition before the European Championships in Rotterdam next month.
Fellow German Victoria Michalke on Novia was second on 71.808% with Austria’s Florian Bacher on Fidertraum third on 71.766%.
Isabell, 50 years old and the most decorated Olympic equestrian with 10 medals, first competed Weihegold (Blue Hors Don Schufro x Sandro Hit) in November, 2014. The pair moved up to No, 1 world ranking in in October, 2016 after winning team gold and individual silver medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Isabell and Weihegold held on to that ranking for all but two months until the rankings for July will be reported by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI). Laura Graves on Verdades of the United States took the top spot for two months late last year, a first for a horse and rider outside western Europe.
Bella Rose, a 15-year-old Westfalen mare, will move up from the current ranking of No. 2 which she has held since the end of April to take over as the leading combination based on results since returning to competition after an injury-caused break of 3 1/2 years. Weihegold will drop to No. 2, according to calculations by dressage-news.com.
Bella was first competed at Big Tour in June, 2013 and 14 months later led Germany to gold at the Normandy World Games and later the same year performed at Stuttgart, Germany before the injury break.
Since the return, Isabell and the horse she describes as “The One” of her lifetime led Germany to team gold and took individual gold at the Tryon World Games and then went back to Stuttgart to dispel any lingering bad vibes.
More recently, Isabell and Bella Rose dominated the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany to extend to 16 the unbroken string of first places since returning to competition.
Her intention is to compete Bella Rose on the team for the Rotterdam championships.
CDI4* Grand Prix Special
| Judges: | Alice Schwab | Cesar Torrente | Dietrich Plewa | Thomas Lang | Susanne Baarup | |||||||||
| Pl. | Score | Nation | Athlete | Horse | E | H | C | M | B | |||||
| 1. | 80.851 | GER | Isabell Werth | Weihegold OLD | 81.277 | 80.745 | 80.000 | 80.745 | 81.489 | |||||
| 2. | 71.808 | GER | Victoria Michalke | Novia 6 | 70.532 | 73.723 | 73.085 | 70.532 | 71.170 | |||||
| 3. | 71.766 | AUT | Florian Bacher | Fidertraum – 3 | 72.340 | 70.851 | 72.340 | 72.021 | 71.277 | |||||
| 4. | 71.596 | AUT | Astrid Neumayer | Sir Simon 12 | 72.447 | 71.915 | 72.340 | 69.787 | 71.489 | |||||
| 5. | 69.809 | DEN | Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein | M & M’s (milan) | 68.936 | 70.213 | 71.277 | 67.979 | 70.638 | |||||
| 6. | 69.489 | ISR | Eyal Zlatin | Bonzanjo | 69.574 | 70.213 | 69.574 | 67.128 | 70.957 | |||||
| 7. | 69.277 | AUT | Belinda Weinbauer | Fraeulein Auguste MJ | 68.830 | 71.596 | 67.021 | 69.149 | 69.787 | |||||
| 8. | 67.915 | ESP | Agusti Elias Lara | Altaneiro | 67.234 | 67.021 | 68.191 | 68.191 | 68.936 | |||||
| 9. | 67.851 | GER | Anna-Catherine Schöffner | Don Darling | 69.149 | 69.149 | 65.319 | 66.596 | 69.043 | |||||
| 10. | 66.702 | RSA | Nicole Smith | Chi la Rou | 67.234 | 67.447 | 65.106 | 65.426 | 68.298 | |||||
| 11. | 66.106 | AUT | Stefan Lehfellner | DI Navarone | 67.340 | 68.085 | 63.936 | 65.426 | 65.745 | |||||
| 12. | 65.936 | KOR | Young-Shik Hwang | Despino 15 | 65.000 | 67.872 | 65.957 | 64.362 | 66.489 | |||||
