Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén & Don Auriello Smash 80% Barrier with Victory at Stockholm World Cup Freestyle

By PELLE WEDENMARK

STOCKHOLM, Dec. 2–Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén and her Olympic mount Don Auriello smashed the 80 per cent barrier for the first time when they won the Stockholm International Horse Show World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle Sunday before a home crowd that lifted the pair to their second straight personal best result.

The result of 84.700 per cent for Tinne and the 10-year-old gelding–along with Finnish rider Stella Hagelstam’s mare Soraya II, the youngest horses in the field–comes just a month before moving to Florida for the winter where their Grand Prix partnership began two years ago.

It moved the pair up to third place with 46 points in the Reem Acra Western European League World Cup standings. Italy’s Valentina Truppa on Eremo del Castegna is atop the WEL leaderboard with 52 points and German Olympian Kristina Sprehe and Desperados FRH moved up to second place with a total of 51 points after Sunday’s second place on 82.775 per cent.

The result for Tinne and the Hanoverian gelding (Don Davidoff x Wey o mey x White Star) was a Swedish record and surpassed their previous best Freestyle score of 79.286 per cent at the Olympics in London this summer. In the Grand Prix on Saturday, Tinne and Don Auriello set a personal best of 79.553 per cent.

Although Tinne has competed in six Olympics, more than any other Swedish equestrian, she said, “this means the most to me as it is before my home crowd.”

Patrik Kittel and his Olympic mount, Watermill Scandic H.B.C. gave the home crowd even more to cheer about when they finished third on 82.175 per cent. Denmark’s Anna Kasprzak and Donnperignon was the only other combination to score above 80 per cent, with 80.125 per cent for fourth place and a personal best at the Freestyle for the rider who turns 23 years old next week and the horse she began competing  just nine months ago.

Four of the five judges placed Tinne first, though Poland’s Wojtek Markowski had her in third place. Kristina and Desperados were his first choice, awarding the German Olympic team partnership 90 per cent for the artistic segment–music and choreography.

“I had a good feeling today,” Kristina said, “the canter was better and I really like my musical arrangement which I have been working on with my coach.”

For Tinne, there was a great sense of satisfaction that Don Auriello had coped so well with the intense atmosphere of the Ericsson Globe Arena.

“He is getting so much more confident,” she said. “He has always had a lot of ‘go’ power and sometimes that can be a problem but I’m so delighted with him today–it is our first time to get over 80 per cent and I didn’t dare to believe we could do it, but we did!”

Her plan now is to pack her horse’s and her own bags and fly with them to Wellington, Florida where she will compete between January and March.

“It is minus 10 degrees here with snow, so we are going to escape!” she said.

“To be able to compete in Florida during our European winter is fantastic. Wellington is made for horses with wonderful warm weather and an ideal environment–and it’s not too bad for people either! But I will be back well in time for the Reem Acra Final in Gothenburg,”

Stockholm was the midway point of the WEL circuit that was shortened to eight events this year to heighten interest in the most hotly contested division of the only annual global dressage championship. The Final will be in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the end of April. The next leg of the WEL World Cup is Olympia in London in mid-December.

Weestern European League standings after Stockholm, the fourth of eight qualifying competitions:

1. Valentina Truppa ITA – 52
2. Kristina Sprehe GER – 51
3. Tinne Vilhelmson Silfven SWE – 46
4. Marcela Krinke Susmelj SUI – 44
5. Edward Gal NED – 33
6. Anna Kasprzak DEN – 30
6. Patrik Kittel SWE – 30
8. Pia Fortmuller CAN – 28
9. Helen Langehanenberg GER – 26
10. Minna Telde SWE – 24
11. Sidsel Johansen DEN – 23
12. Karin Kosak AUT – 22
12. Anabel Balkenhol GER – 22
14. Stefan Peter AUT – 20
14. Marlies van Baalen NED – 20
14. Lyndal Oatley AUS – 20
17. Lillann Jebsen NOR – 11
18. Kristian von Krusentierna SWE – 10
19. Sofie Lexner SWE – 9
20. Silvia Rizzo ITA – 8
20. Thamer Zweistra NED – 8

Grand Prix Freestyle results:

PL			Rider	Horse	€	E	H	C	M	B
1			Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfven	Don Auriello Don Davidoff – White Star Lövsta Stuteri		82.750 87.00084.875 1	83.750 88.000 85.8751	82.250 87.00084.625 1	80.750 87.00083.875 3	79.500 89.00084.250 1	81.80087.60084.700 1
2			Kristina Sprehe	Desperados FRH De Niro – Wolkenstein II Schütt,HerbertGestüt Sprehe GmbH	9762	78.500 84.00081.250 3	79.750 83.00081.375 2	80.750 85.00082.875 2	85.500 90.00087.750 1	77.250 84.00080.625 3	80.35085.20082.775 2
3			Patrik Kittel	Watermill Scandic H.B.C Solos Carex DVH 609 – Amiral ZW.P.S. De WatermolenJ.W. Greve & HBC Stal	7100	79.500 85.00082.250 2	79.000 83.00081.000 3	79.750 81.00080.375 4	82.250 88.00085.125 2	79.250 85.00082.125 2	79.95084.40082.175 3
4			Anna Kasprzak	Donnperignon Donnerhall – Mozart II79 Rasanen,PekkaKasprzak Family	5325	76.750 80.00078.375 4	78.750 83.00080.875 4	77.750 84.00080.875 3	79.000 85.00082.000 4	75.000 82.00078.500 4	77.45082.80080.125 4
5			Minna Telde	Santana Sandro Hit – Rubinstein I Ingo PapeMinna Telde	3993	70.500 74.00072.250 5	73.250 76.00074.625 6	73.000 79.00076.000 5	73.500 79.00076.250 5	72.000 78.00075.000 6	72.45077.20074.825 5
6			Lillann Jebsen	Pro-Set Jetset-D – Flemmingh AJ TAS, BERKEL EN RODENRIJS, NEDElisif Sommechield, Gustav Jebsen	2218	69.250 73.00071.125 7	74.750 78.00076.375 5	70.000 75.00072.500 6	71.500 77.00074.250 6	72.500 79.00075.750 5	71.60076.40074.000 6
7			Kristian von Krusenstierna	Biggles 1015 Briar – Krevad Fam. Ingrid Lundberg Persson	1775	69.000 74.00071.500 6	70.000 75.00072.500 7	70.250 73.00071.625 7	68.000 77.00072.500 7	70.500 73.00071.750 8	69.55074.40071.975 7
8			Sofie Lexner	Charming Boy 26 Casaretto – Ehrentusch Grosse Brinkhaus BernhardUlla Håkanson	1331	70.250 71.00070.625 9	71.750 73.00072.375 8	69.750 71.00070.375 8	69.500 74.00071.750 8	69.500 74.00071.750 7	70.15072.60071.375 8
9			Thamar Zweistra	Hexagon’s Truman Rubiquil – El Corona L.A.van Lieren & E.C.L.Janse	888	68.250 73.00070.625 8	70.750 71.00070.875 10	68.250 72.00070.125 9	66.750 70.00068.375 12	68.500 73.00070.750 9	68.50071.80070.150 9
10			Michal Rapcewicz	Randon Czuwaj – Famino Michal Rapcewicz	518	66.750 71.00068.875 10	68.250 72.00070.125 11	67.500 72.00069.750 10	67.000 71.00069.000 10	67.000 71.00069.000 10	67.30071.40069.350 10
11			Stella Hagelstam	Soraya II Sandro Hit – Donnerhall Stella Hagelstam	518	67.25069.00068.12511	66.50069.00067.75012	69.00068.00068.50011	67.00070.00068.50011	65.50069.00067.25011	67.05069.00068.025 11
12			Philippe Jorissen	Le Beau Le Coeur – Classiker Jorissen Philippe	518	64.750 69.00066.875 12	69.250 73.00071.125 9	65.500 69.00067.250 13	65.000 70.00067.500 13	64.000 70.00067.000 12	65.70070.20067.950 12
13			Silvia Rizzo	Donnerbube 2 Donnerhall Michele Betti	518	62.000 65.00063.500 13	62.500 66.00064.250 13	65.000 70.00067.500 12	66.000 72.00069.000 9	63.750 68.00065.875 13	63.85068.20066.025 13
14			Charlotte Haid Bondergaard	Triviant 2 Olivi – Saluut Beets,JNorrehee Dressage Björn & Mathias Haid	518	14	14	14	14	14	Utg.