Werth her weight in gold
Isabell Werth wows in the grand prix freestyle, while America’s ascending superstar Laura Graves gives the Germans a serious run for their money
ISABELL WERTH and
Weihegold OLD received a standing ovation after they championed the grand prix freestyle with a plus-89% test.
The German star was untouchable with the eye-catching daughter of Don Schufro, leaving the judge at C, Germany’s Evi Eisenhardt, declaring that if she was allowed to give 12s, she would have done so.
Isabell described her 89.67% freestyle performance as a “nearly perfect test” having posted a total of 13 tens, including for her piaffe and one-time changes.
“She was fantastic and there was nothing wrong with her test today,” said Isabell. “She’s in the right condition ahead of the European Championships.”
Fellow German, 22-year-old Sönke Rothenberger, pursued Isabell as best he could with Cosmo 59, scoring 85.75% to land the runner-up spot.
American Laura Graves crossed the Atlantic to stamp her mark on European soil. Upsetting the form book, she beat Isabell into second in Saturday’s grand prix special, reaffirming her prowess on the international stage (box, right).
In Sunday’s freestyle, Laura settled for third aboard her 15-year-old gelding Verdades; despite two mistakes the pair still posted 82.55%.
“I had a double of errors today, breaking in my two-time changes and then a slight stumble going down the final centre line. However, I was glad that the judges rewarded us where they could,” said Laura, who also finished second to Isabell in the grand prix.
The German was denied a whitewash of wins on home turf thanks to Laura’s victory in the special.
“My mare is used to the pressure of both grands prix and freestyles after the World Cup season, but she is less confident in the special,” explained Isabell.
“Our last special was at the Rio Olympics and I just felt she didn’t quite know what to do today — I was being careful and couldn’t push her too much. But we have time to practise our special ahead of the Europeans.”
BRITISH CONSISTENCY
BRITISH riders Hayley WatsonGreaves and Emile Faurie both qualified through to Aachen’s dressage finale, the grand prix kür, following Friday’s special.
Hayley was pleased with 13-year-old Rubins Nite’s consistency — hitting around the 70% mark in each test. The 33-year-old finished best of the British duo in Sunday’s freestyle in 15th on 72.7%
“It was a great achievement just to get through to the freestyle as there was plenty of tough competition,” said Hayley. “He’s done that freestyle test quite a few times now and he loves it.”
The flashy son of Rubin Royal relished the high atmosphere in Aachen’s big Deutsche Bank Stadium.
“‘Squeaks’ loved it in there — he was a little more tired today and I didn’t work him in beforehand for quite as long, but mentally he was completely with me,” she said of her mount, whom she has had since he was two.
Emile and Lollipop 126 also produced consistent scores throughout, hitting the 71% mark in both Thursday’s grand prix and then again in Sunday’s freestyle, despite a break in the extended walk.
“He’s never been in a stadium of that size in his life, so I was pleased with how he coped with the atmosphere,” Emile said of Elena Knyaginicheva’s “dude”.
As predicted, Germany dominated the Nations Cup, with their team of Isabell, Sönke, Dorothee Schneider and Hubertus Schmidt.
Laura and her USA teammates, Olivia Lagoy-Weltz, Kasey Perry-Glass and Adrienne Lyle, occupied second, with Sweden finishing in third.
The British team finished sixth, but was reduced to three riders after the last-minute withdrawal of Susan Pape.
Both Emile and Hayley felt their horses benefited greatly from the experience, while
Gill Davison was pleased with Alfranco — her “big horse with a lot of muscle” — in Thursday’s grand prix. The pair finished lower down the scoreboard in the grand prix special after scoring 64.86%, however, British chef d’equipe Caroline Griffith added that it was a great eyeopener for the less experienced 12-year-old.