For the thirteenth time since the world dressage championships began in 1966, Germany took team gold. The honors earned Thursday were even more special because they came at home in Aachen.
The victorious German team: Isabell Werth, Fredric Wandres, Raphael Netz, Katharina Hemmer and chef d’equipe Klaus Roeser.
It was, however, a narrow victory. Great Britain threatened to take the top prize, but by 3.618 points wound up with silver for the fourth time in the history of the title meet. A couple of mishaps in World Cup Champion Becky Moody’s test on Jagerbomb Tuesday appears to have made the difference.
British strategist Carl Hester demonstrated his ability as a technician and an artist to get everything possible out of Fame, with whom he is seventh individually on 77.314 percent. He held the lead for only a few minutes, however, before Germany’s Katharina Hemmer came in on Denoix PCH and overtook him. But Carl was understandably proud of how it went.
“We just needed a good score and, over the past few days, I’ve been sat watching my best tests I’ve ever done to prepare, all the time thinking ‘nail this, nail this, watch this,’ ” he reported.
“It really worked for me in my head but, more to the point, I think I’m so much more able to direct my sight to the horse, and the horse reacted absolutely beautifully. We’ve watched him over the years get calmer and calmer, and today was possibly one of the calmest tests he’s ever done,” said Carl.
“He really didn’t bat an eyelid, but it actually gave me a lift going in there. I suddenly felt confident because he didn’t react negatively at all to any of the noise, so off I went and enjoyed my test,” said Carl, conceding that the last few weeks of build-up had been stressful.
Denmark, the defending champions, finished third. That team was led by a bravura 82.376 percent performance from world number one-ranked Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St. John Freestyle. That combination was just ahead of former world number one, Justin Verboomen of Belgium and Zonik Plus (80.885), who did not give his very best performance. The two are expected to battle it out for gold in the Freestyle on Saturday if they make it through Friday’s Grand Prix Special, as one assumes they will.
And the only other competitor to earn over 80 percent, reigning world champion Lottie Fry of Great Britain in third place, also should be considered a threat individually. Riding the glamorous Glamourdale (who receives 10s for his signature extended canter) she helped in a big way to boost her nation to the second spot on the podium.
“Glamourdale was just incredible. That was the most amazing feeling I’ve ever had in the ring,” Lottie reported
“We had a small misunderstanding and I just kind of threw him into that first piaffe, which was a shame because the rest of them were really good – the one on the center line was just incredible. The whole test was just the best feeling.
“He absolutely loves Aachen and he always goes well here, I’ve never have a bad ride here, touch wood, and he was just insane in that arena. He loved every second of it and he loved the crowd at the end – he wanted to go right up to them. It was so cool. I’m excited to bring that back for the Special, because not much else can be better. He was just amazing,” she said.
The U.S. was eighth with only one rider, 23-year-old Christian Simonson Fleau de Baian, qualifying to be among the 30 starters qualified for the Special. He was tied for twenty-fifth with Pan Am Games champ Julio Mendoza Loor of Ecuador (Jewel’s Gold Strike). Christian’s teammate, Kasey Perry-Glass, finished thirty-first with Heartbeat WP to miss by one heartbreaking placing, but has a chance to make the cut if someone withdraws.
Christian, who is still eligible for the Young Rider ranks, was understandably awed by being center stage is a legendary equestrian venue.
“It felt surreal. to go into that atmosphere. I’m a little speechless, honestly,” he said after his ride.
“I’ll never forget the cheering, the applause. It was really special.”
His mount of two years, known as Felix, formerly was ridden by the Dutch team’s Adelinde Cornelissen. Christian has developed his own style of dealing with the KWPN stallion, who is by Jazz.
“I try to be incredibly present with him,” the rider explained.
Christian Simonson and Fleau de Baian (USEF photo)
“I know i can do my best job if i don’t worry about anything else other than how can i do the best job for him at that moment, in this movement and just try to do my personal best for the feeling I would like.
“That just fills my thoughts so much I usually don’t have much more room to think about anything else.”
His mark of 71.304 was a personal best for the Grand Prix with Felix.
Christian Simonson and Felix after their test.
The top six teams — the podium group followed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden, earned their ticket to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The U.S. is already qualified as the home team. Other countries aspiring to those Games have the possibility of different routes to try, such as next year’s Pan American Games and European Championships.
The final rider for the U.S., Ashley Holzer, performed last in the class. Riding Hawtins San Floriana, she tied for forty-third place on 68.711 percent, but was her usual upbeat self, praising her horse.
“She’s such an amazing mare and great partner of mine,” said Ashley, who trains with Carl Hester.
“I knew the atmosphere would be a little tense for her. I tried to relax her. This mare tried her heart out. It’s a tough ring for a lot of horses, and she really was a great girl.
“I knew it was going to be a lot of electricity in the air with the crowd, being with these top riders before me, and i think that affected me a little bit more than i would honestly like to admit to people. But I had a great team behind me that really helped me.”
Germany’s team trainer, Monica Theodorescu, said she had a good night’s sleep because Germany led after Tuesday’s competition on the scores of Frederic Wandres and Ralph Netz.
“There was nothing to worry about,” said Monica, who praised Katharina’s ride on the USA-owned Denoix PCH, coming close to 80 percent with a personal best mark of 79.224 percent.
“At a championship like this, you want everything to come together, and when it does, it is amazing. Denoix was very cool. We can really rely on each other and he tried his heart out,” said Katharina.
Monica added with a smile, “We want to call her hammerer and not Hemmer any more because she gave an absolute fantastic ride. The horse was just shining and so beautiful, so that made everything pretty safe.
“But of course, Isabell (Werth on Wendy de Fontaine) at the end topped it even more so. The team was absolutely great these two days.”
Collecting yet another gold medal for her record-breaking stash of same, Isabell, fourth with 79.876 percent, commented, “Each time, it’s new and each time something can happen, but she was affected about the atmosphere, but I was very pleased with her.”
There are a few little things she wants to fix, like an error in the one-tempi changes, perhaps.
“Hopefully, we can sort it out till Friday, but it was super good because we had a very strong team. Wendy was a controlled risk. It worked, so we have another gold,” Isabell concluded.
Thinking back to the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games at the venue, Isabell noted, “to come back after 20 years, it means a lot of things happened in between. To realize you could move with the time, with the development of the sport, it makes me really proud and happy.”
Click here for individual results. Click here for team standings.