Neumünster World Cup to Go Ahead Without Spectators Keeping Alive Hopes of Championship Final
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Jan. 18, 2021
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
The World Cup event in Neumünster, Germany scheduled for February will go on but without spectators, a decision by the organizer that keeps alive hopes the Final of the annual global championship may be held after being canceled the past two years.
“This is a great disappointment for all equestrian fans and also for us as organizers,” said show director Francois Kasselmann, “but the current COVID situation does not allow any other decision.”
Although the Neumünster World Cup qualifier will not have an on-site audience the Grand Prix on Feb. 19 and the Freestyle Feb. 20–will be available via livestream on ClipMyHorse.TV.
“Until the very end, we had considered all possibilities and hoped to be able to offer our uniquely enthusiastic Neumünster audience carefree, convivial hours and unforgettable moments of absolute top sport in jumping and dressage,” said Francois Kasselmann, Managing Director of Horses and Dreams Entertainment GmbH that also stages premier international competitions at Hagen, Germany.
Success in going ahead with the World Cup competition was the result of an initiative of active riders, support of private patrons from the equestrian world in a joint “shoulder-to-shoulder effort” with the International Equestrian Federation FEI, long-standing sponsors and partners as well as the City of Neumünster.
Four of 11 Western European World Cup qualifiers have been held and four canceled so far that had left questions about the Final set for Leipzig, Germany April 6-10.
Still on the calendar after Neumünster is Gothenburg, Sweden scheduled the week after and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands in March.
Isabell Werth, the defending champion from 2019 when the Final was last held, as well as world No. 1 and Olympic champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and several other top riders have so far completed only one of the minimum of two qualifiers required to seek a start in the joint Finals of dressage, jumping, driving and vaulting
Western Europe is allocated nine of the 18 starting places in the dressage Final, with two each for Central Europe and North America and one for the Asia-Pacific region. The other four places go to the title defender, one non-league, one extra and one “home” invite.
Germany’s Frederic Wandres leads the Western European standings as of now. He is in Wellington for Global’s winter circuit.
Central Europe completed 18 qualifiers.
In North America, five of six qualifiers went ahead in 2021 with one already held this year at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Florida and two more scheduled.
Ashley Holzer of Wellington who rides for the U.S. has already clinched one of the two North American places in the Final
Two events that were scheduled in Australia were canceled as no international dressage shows were staged Down Under for two years.
