Denmark’s Nanna Skodborg Merrald Rides Blue Hors Zepter to Another Personal Best Score to Win Neumünster World Cup

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Nanna Skodborg Merrald and Blue Hors Zepter at Neumünster World Cup

NEUMÜNSTER, Germany, Feb. 19, 2023–Nanna Skodborg Merrald and Blue Hors Zepter posted a personal best score for the second day to win the World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle Sunday while Ingrid Klimke of Germany on Franziskus FRH improved her chances of joining the Danish rider for the Final in Omaha in seven weeks.

The musical performance by Nanna and the 15-year-old Oldenburg gelding scored 86.060% for the rider’s first Freestyle victory this season and moved the pair up to third place with 69 points in the intensely competitive Western European League. The pair won the Grand Prix Saturday on a personal best in only their second Big Tour competition.

Nanna, on Denmark’s world championship gold medal team last summer and the Tokyo Olympic team, rode four different horses in six qualifying events for which the top four results count in earning what appear likely to be her second World Cup Final. The first was in Leipzig, Germany last year.

Ingrid Klimke’s ride on the 15-year-old Hanoverian stallion Franziskus was enough to keep her in second place behind German team mate Isabell Werth in Western Europe.

Kirsten Brouwer of the Netherlands on Foundation, 13-year-old KWPN stallion, was third on a personal high in the Freestyle of 82.050%. The pair were third in Saturday’s Grand Prix.

One of the three places that can go to a single nation is already taken up for Germany by defending champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on TSF Dalera BB.

Two more qualifiers remain in Western Europe to earn a start in Omaha; the next is in Gothenburg, Sweden this coming weekend.

Results:

World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle

Judges: Clive Halsall Elke Ebert Magnus Ringmark Susanne Baarup Katrina Wüst
Place Score Nation Athlete Horse E H C M B Spectators
1. 86.060 DEN Nanna Skodborg Merrald Blue Hors Zepter 86.450 85.600 85.200 85.450 87.600 80.952 (2)
2. 84.710 GER Ingrid Klimke Franziskus FRH 86.125 84.875 83.500 85.500 83.550 83.046 (1)
3. 82.050 NED Kirsten Brouwer Foundation 84.975 80.400 81.725 81.775 81.375 80.044 (3)
4. 80.580 NED Marieke van der Putten Tørveslettens Titanium RS2 82.000 78.900 81.375 80.475 80.150 79.475 (4)
5. 79.065 DEN Daniel Bachmann Andersen Zippo M.I. 78.475 76.825 80.225 81.875 77.925 78.365 (5)
6. 78.540 FIN Emma Kanerva Greek Air 79.475 77.100 78.150 79.350 78.625 76.360 (6)
7. 78.045 AUS Simone Pearce Fiderdance 78.600 79.650 75.850 77.525 78.600 76.270 (7)
8. 77.225 GER Bianca Nowag-Aulenbrock Florine OLD 77.125 76.325 75.875 77.700 79.100 75.109 (8)
9. 76.645 GER Juliane Brunkhorst Aperol 76.625 76.050 76.725 76.875 76.950 74.520 (9)
10. 73.955 NED Denise Nekeman Boston STH 73.725 73.500 73.150 74.825 74.575 73.890 (11)
11. 73.540 SUI Estelle Wettstein Quaterboy 72.000 73.725 73.975 73.525 74.475 74.252 (10)
12. 72.095 POR Antonio Do Vale Fine Fellow – H 73.275 69.700 72.450 71.925 73.125 71.128 (13)
13. 71.715 GER Hendrik Lochthowe Bricco Barone 71.800 71.650 70.825 74.475 69.825 72.040 (12)
14. 69.925 NED Jeanine Nekeman Ferrari 70.150 71.825 65.900 70.525 71.225 70.057 (15)
15. 69.010 RSA Gretha Hausmann-Ferreira Zidane 68.350 69.600 67.775 70.300 69.025 70.477 (14)