Dressage-News

July 28, 2021

Jessica von Bredow-Werndl of Germany rode TSF Dalera to Olympic individual gold with a score above 91% in the Grand Prix Freestyle Wednesday, with Isabell Werth on Bella Rose taking silver for her 12th Olympic medal and Charlotte Dujardin on Gio earning bronze.

Jessica, 35, and Dalera, a 14-year-old Trakehner mare were awarded 91.732%, the only score above 90% for the pair to become only the seventh rider and horse combination in history to achieve that level.

Jessica and Dalera were the leading combination in all three Olympic dressage events in Tokyo–the Grand Prix qualifier, the Grand Prix Special for team medals with gold won by Germany and the Freestyle.

Isabell Werth and Bella Rose, ranked No. 1 in the world ahead of Jessica and Dalera at No. 2, scored 89.657% for silver to add to bring to 12 medals the total she has won stretching over six Olympics back to 1992–six team and one individual gold and five individual silvers. Bella Rose is a 17-year-old Westfalen mare that was out of competition for 3 1/2 years after the 2014 World Equestrian Games and returned in 2018 for the Tryon WEG to win team and individual gold.

Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and the 10-year-old Gio scored 88.543% for the bronze as she also earned with the team result Tuesday to add to her remarkable record of three straight Olympic double medal podiums, team and individual gold at London in 2012 and team silver and individual gold at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, both Games on Valegro.

Cathrine Dufour competing at her second Olympics for Denmark was fourth on Bohemian at 87.507%.

Sabine Schut-Kery on Sanceo who led the United States to team silver just a day ago was fifth on a personal best 84.300%. The result for Sabine, 52, of Napa, California and Sanceo, a 15-year-old Hanoverian stallion, shattered their previous best of 78.145 posted more than three years ago, the last time she rode the freestyle.

Sabine explained that Sanceo “let’s me guide him, let me be the leader.” Next time she rides the freestyle after such a long break, she said, “I have to come more polished.”

“Because I wasn’t as polished in the floor plan, having not ridden it, I think I was not as fluent and secure and trusting the floor plan. I was in his way.”

Team mate Steffen Peters, 56, of San Diego, California and Suppenkasper, 13-year-old KWPN gelding, placed 10th on 80.968%.

The only other 90% combinations are Edward Gal on Totilas, Charlotte on Valegro, Isabell on both Bella Rose and Weihegold OLD, Sönke Rothenberger on Cosmo and Dorothee Schneider on Showtime.

“It was my goal to crack 90 percent,” Jessica said after her ride. “In the beginning I used tactics, in the end I took more and more risks. But everything was good, there weren’t any major blunders, but there were many highlights, I could feel that.

“The tension was, however, greater than in the previous tests. Yesterday I rode in there with a damn safe feeling because I think I had to ride 72 percent to get team gold. Today it was all about, am I first? In the other tests, it was awesome to finish first, but it didn’t count at all. But today it means something.”

Results: https://tokyo2020.live.fei.org/results/DressageFreestyle