Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, June 20, 2024–Dinja van Liere on Hermes led the Netherlands to victory in the CDIO5* Nations Cup Thursday in the country’s final selection event for the Paris Olympics while the team for runner-up Denmark won’t be announced until after Aachen, Germany the first week of July.

Third place Germany was led by Wendy de Fontaine ridden by Isabell Werth to place second individually behind Dinja and Hermes. This was the first competition for Wendy since an injury kept him out of the German championships but now has a chance of competing at Aachen. If the pair are successful, Paris would be the seventh Olympics for the most successful equestrian in history.

The United States finished in eighth and last place with a team of three including two combinations on the Olympic short list both of whom were outscored by Kevin Kohmann on Dünensee who was not on the squad.

The results for the team competition: 1. Netherlands 222.392; 2. Denmark 220.349; 3. Germany 219.435; 4. Belgium 216.869; 5. Sweden 216.674; 6. France 215.348; 7. Great Britain 205.305, and 8. USA 194.848.

Dinja posted the individual top score of 77.891%–a few hours after winning a national Grand Prix on Hartsuijker that was also closely watched by the Dutch selectors.

For Dinja making the Paris Olympic squad will be some compensation for screwed up ownership registration of Hermes that kept her out of the Tokyo Games three years ago after she and Hermes had been selected by the Dutch federation.

The Dutch team also included Edward Gal on Glock’s Total US who placed ninth individually on 73.196% in only his second competition since the Tokyo Olympics. Emmelie Scholtens on Indian Rock with 71.305% was the third combination whose score counted for Holland.

Daniel Bachmann Andersen on Vayron was the highest placed for Denmark at 75.457%. With Nanna Skodborg Merrald on Blue Hors Don Olymbrio at 73.631% Denmark appeared within reach of Holland.

However, Carina Cassøe Krüth on Heiline’s Danciera made several uncharacteristic mistakes that resulted in a score of 67.674% and was discarded from the team’s total.

Isabell Werth’s result of 76.935% on Wendy, a horse she has been riding since Andreas Helgstrand was suspended from competing last year, boosted Germany to the bronze medal.

Six of the American combinations on the short list are scheduled to compete at Kronberg, Germany with the CDI4* Grand Prix scheduled for Friday. Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper was leading the qualifying and excused from the shows this weekend that makes the duo a virtual certainty for the U.S. Paris squad of four–three for the team and one reserve–to be announced by the end of day next Tuesday.

The results for the U.S. were surprising inasmuch as Ashley Holzer and Hansel performed well at both TerraNova in Florida last month and the head-to-head competition at Hagen, Germany just days ago that led to her being elevated to the short list.

However, as Ashley explained to dressage-news.com, she and Hansel followed Nanna Skodborg Merrald on Don Olymbrio whose result of 73.631% put the pair at the top of the leaderboard at the time sparking loud sustained applause from spectators.

Ashley said she did not want to take Hansel into the noisy stadium but by the time the applause died down she did not have enough time to ride around the arena before the 45 seconds clock was close to running out so the duo went in unprepared.

There were numerous mistakes that Ashley, a four-time Olympian for Canada before switching to ride for the USA in 2017, and Hansel ended with a score of 59.044%.

Kevin Kohmann, who competed in the World Cup Final in April, rode after Ashley for a score of 67.956%.

Katherine Bateson Chandler on Haute Couture was the last in the class of 30 combinations and were awarded 67.848%.

Results:

Grand Prix Dressage Nations Cup of The Netherlands

Rank	Competitor	Score	E	H	C	M	B
1.	Dinja Van Liere (NED) Hermès N.O.P.	77.891%	78.043	78.587	78.478	76.087	78.261
2.	Isabell Werth (GER) Wendy de Fontaine	76.935%	77.717	77.717	75.978	75.870	77.391
3.	Daniel Bachmann Andersen (DEN) Vayron	75.457%	75.761	75.870	76.304	74.674	74.674
4.	Patrik Kittel (SWE) Touchdown	74.761%	74.022	75.543	74.783	74.565	74.891
5.	Corentin Pottier (FRA) Gotilas du Feuillard	73.674%	74.022	73.478	73.370	73.913	73.587
6.	Nanna Skodborg Merrald (DEN) Blue Hors Don Olymbrio	73.631%	72.500	72.500	76.196	73.370	73.587
7.	Becky Moody (GBR) Jagerbomb	73.609%	74.239	74.674	73.478	73.804	71.848
8.	Larissa Pauluis (BEL) Flambeau	73.413%	73.152	72.935	73.804	74.457	72.717
9.	Edward Gal (NED) Glock’s Total US	73.196%	70.761	75.000	73.370	73.696	73.152
10.	Flore De Winne (BEL) Flynn FRH	72.913%	72.609	73.478	72.717	72.391	73.370
11.	Pauline Basquin (FRA) Sertorius de Rima Z IFCE	72.304%	74.348	71.848	72.500	71.630	71.196
12.	Carina Scholz (GER) Tarantino 5	71.804%	71.739	70.652	73.587	72.717	70.326
13.	Emmelie Scholtens (NED) Indian Rock	71.305%	69.022	71.957	71.957	70.978	72.609
14.	Lone Bang Zindorff (DEN) Thranegaardens Rostov	71.261%	69.565	71.630	70.870	73.043	71.196
15.	Maria von Essen (SWE) Invoice	71.000%	70.543	70.978	70.000	72.717	70.761
16.	Juliette Ramel (SWE) Buriel K.H.	70.913%	71.848	70.543	72.065	69.348	70.761
17.	Bianca Nowag-Aulenbrock (GER) Queolito	70.696%	70.435	70.870	68.696	72.717	70.761
18.	Domien Michiels (BEL) Intermezzo van het Meerdaalhof	70.543%	69.239	70.326	70.652	72.174	70.326
19.	Marlies van Baalen (NED) Habibi DVB N.O.P.	70.435%	71.413	71.087	71.087	67.826	70.761
20.	Therese Nilshagen (SWE) Dante Weltino OLD	69.935%	67.935	70.217	70.652	70.870	70.000
21.	Charlotte Defalque (BEL) Botticelli	69.826%	69.457	70.109	69.457	70.761	69.348
22.	Alexandre Ayache (FRA) Jolene	69.370%	69.022	69.674	69.891	69.239	69.022
23.	Kevin Kohmann (USA) Duenensee	67.956%	68.043	67.065	69.239	67.609	67.826
24.	Katherine Bateson Chandler (USA) Haute Couture	67.848%	66.739	66.196	69.239	68.587	68.478
25.	Arnaud Serre (FRA) James Bond de Massa	67.761%	69.239	66.848	67.283	67.826	67.609
26.	Carina Cassøe Krüth (DEN) Heiline’s Danciera	67.674%	67.391	68.696	67.283	67.391	67.609
27.	Lewis Carrier (GBR) Diego V	67.022%	66.522	67.283	68.152	66.957	66.196
28.	Richard White (GBR) Heroi Do Seixo	64.674%	62.935	64.348	66.304	65.109	64.674
29.	Ingrid Klimke (GER) SAP Freudentaenzer	64.631%	64.891	65.870	64.783	65.326	62.283
30.	Ashley Holzer (USA) Hansel	59.044%	58.261	58.696	60.870	59.674	57.717
Find details on Equestrian Hub