Catherine Laudrup-Dufour and Isabell Werth were neck and neck in the 5-star Freestyle at the Herning, Denmark, show this weekend, in a battle of mares, with both scoring over 90 percent.
Cathrine had the edge on Mount St. John Freestyle, the 17-year old Fidermark daughter, earning an astronomical 90.465 percent, with marks of 10 across the board for music and interpretation of music — which included “My Heart Will Go on” from the movie “Titanic.” Three of the five judges gave the Dane and her Hanoverian 10s for degree of difficulty, with the dissenters offering a mere 9.9 and 9.8.
Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St. John Freestyle.
Germany’s Isabell Werth was the only other competitor to break 90, earning 90.080 with Wendy de Fontaine, a Danish warmblood by Sezuan 2. Her across-the-board 10s came not only in the music category, but also for choreography. Her lowest marks were for collected walk, where she had two 6s and two 6.5s, in addition to a 7.
After the best Grand Prix of her life last week, Cathrine said that on Saturday, “I slowed down a bit…and it’s so rare to reach 90 percent. The win in itself means nothing, but to see such top-class sport in Denmark is absolutely fantastic.”
The third- and fourth-placed contenders scored above 80 percent, with Norway’s Isabelle Freese on Total Hope Old finishing on 81.885 and Daniel Bachmann Andersen of Denmark marked at 80.370 aboard Flash Gordon 37.
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