So much for the widely touted head-to-head match-up between British World Dressage Champion Lottie Fry on Glamourdale and Olympic (as well as defending European) Champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl of Germany with TSF Dalera BB.
Jessica came out on top guiding the mare, with a personal best of 85.593 percent Friday in the Grand Prix Special at the FEI European Championships in Riesenbeck, Germany. But Lottie finished off the podium, a disappointing fourth with a score of 81.763 despite her stallion’s performance having many highlights.
In a quiet moment before the medals were presented, it was possible to get a glimpse of the special rapport Jessica von Bredow-Werndl has with Dalera.
The real matchup turned out to be with Denmark’s Nanna Skodborg-Merrill on Blue Hors Zepter with 82.796, finishing right behind Jessica, as she did earlier this year at the FEI World Cup Finals in Omaha. Interestingly, Nanna had ridden Zepter’s sire, Blue Hors Zach, in competition as well.
She noted she could feel the effect of “some big mistakes” from Thursday’s Grand Prix, in which she finished fourth on 78.556 percent.
Nana explained, “He’s so sensitive, you can feel that the next couple of days.”
During the Special, “It was important for me to go for it in the exercises where I could go for it and also to keep him calm and keep him confident with me.”
As for the freestyIe Sunday, she admitted, “I haven’t put a lot of thought in it yet but I’ll show a brand new freestyle so I’m very excited to show that.”
And then there was the surprise of these championships, Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin on the 10-year-old Imhotep, the least experienced horse in the top group, but not showing his lack of mileage with 82.583 percent for a test sprinkled with a few 10s that demonstrated beautiful harmony, control and precision.
“I feel like there’s heaps more to come,” said Charlotte, who had a baby six months ago and initially wasn’t even expecting to be at the championships.
Always the team player, she noted how special it was that three British riders scored over 80 percent in the Special after the nation took team gold Thursday to outpace Germany on its home territory, with Denmark in bronze.
Carl Hester, Charlotte’s mentor, was fifth aboard Fame–with whom he just started competing this year–on 80.106. So watch out for the British at the Paris Olympics next year, where teams will be limited to three riders.
Carl was all smiles, noting his horse “felt easy, he felt relaxed. I’ve never had him so relaxed. It was like he grew up at this show. I just had a lovely ride.”
Lottie, who spent the night before the Special doing “not much sleeping and a lot of thinking,” had a blip in the one-tempis but got marks of 10 in her two-tempis.The changes and extensions are hallmarks of Glamourdale, who has an extravagant reach that strikes awe in the extended canter.
Lottie Fry and the glamorous Glamourdale. (Photo British Equestrian/Jon Stroud Media)
She said of her mount, “He felt really good in there, much better than yesterday, much more concentrated.”
“To be honest, everything felt really good,” Lottie added.
While that “wasn’t reflected in the marks,” Glamourdale’s rider observed, “I couldn’t fault him.”
As in the Grand Prix on Thursday, Jessica had a rather slow start with Dalera, who stepped back in the initial halt, getting a mark of 6.5. But she moved on from there with the mare’s usual rhythm, exhibiting classical form in her piaffe and passage, her strongest suits.
The medalists: Nana Skodborg-Merrill, silver; Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, gold and Charlotte Dujardin, bronze.
Lottie and Jessica (along with 18 other entries) will meet again Sunday in the championships’ finale, the freestyle.
It’s no longer a two-horse contest; as the Special proved, there are more than two contenders who will be going for the gold. For those who are betting, past performance gives the edge to Jessica, who missed the 2022 World Championships due to pregnancy. If she wins, it will be Germany’s 48th European Championships gold medal over the decades since that competition debuted.
As a player for the home team, Jessica gets a lift from the crowd, and Dalera enjoyed the same.
“Dalera felt so powerful and so focused today. It was just a pleasure to ride her,” said Jessica, who enjoyed the fans’ reaction.
“You really feel it and hear it,” she said.
“Afterward, they went crazy and this is an amazing feeling.”
The fourth member of the British team, Gareth Hughes, also had an amazing feeling with a different orientation. He finished 14th, on a respectable 74.651 percent and with only three riders from each country allowed to compete in the freestyle, he won’t be participating on the last day. But no matter, he was overjoyed with how things went in the first two days of competition. He’s all about sportsmanship.
Gareth Hughes and Classic Briolinca. (Photo British Equestrian)
“I’m very very happy. Do you know what? This is her third or fourth championship and at each one, she gives everything she’s got. She’s 17 years of age now, and goes in there and performs – she’s a true, true professional, she’s beautiful and she tries her heart out. What more could a rider want?” Gareth asked.
“She was brilliant. It’s like a cauldron in there – you go in and there’s no air. But she was really, really focused and she tried her heart out. I think it’s one of the best tests she’s done and that’s all you can do as a rider, go in there and ride the best test that you can.
Reflecting on the team gold medal, Gareth said: “If I retired now, I’d be happy. I’m very lucky because I’ve got a medal of every color now. When you’re young and you’re wanting to do this, you have ambitions. My ambition when I was young was to ride dressage, then my second ambition was to ride in tails, then it was to ride a Grand Prix, then if I was ever good enough, it was to ride on a team.
“To be part of this team, that’s really something special. It’s a medal- winning team and to get on the team is so hard every year, and to come away with a gold at the Europeans in Germany? These are things I read about as a kid – you never believed it would happen – so it’s a fairytale,” he said.
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