The glamorous Glamourdale and Great Britan’s Charlotte (Lottie) Fry short-circuited expectations for a home country winner at the Ecco FEI World Dressage Championships in Denmark, edging Danish star Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Vamos Amigos for the Grand Prix Special gold medal by a bit more than one percentage point.
Lottie Fry and Glamourdale.
After leading her country’s team to gold yesterday, Cathrine fell short in the individual contest for the Special when she received a mark of 3 among 4s and a 5 for mistakes in the two-tempi lead changes.
“Vamos was really fantastic in the ring, we enjoyed ourselves immensely and the crowd do a bloody good job supporting me in the ring. Vamos Amigos is the cutest little gelding, and he just loves the stadium, the audience and the whole atmosphere,” said Cathrine, acknowledging the “blip” that affected her score of 81.322.
But Glamourdale was right on point.
“It’s literally incredible. I have no words for this,” said Lottie, a 26-year-old, who was completely in control of her expressive black stallion. His extended trot and canter work was breathtaking, captivating what was a good-size crowd for a Monday in the 10,000-seat Stutteri Ask Stadium.
“He was incredible, the atmosphere was incredible and he went in there and just did everything I could ask. He was just ready for it today,” said Lottie, who marked at 82.508 percent, with 9s and 10s for his final halt and a range of marks from 9 to 10 for general impression.
Lottie, who was on her country’s bronze medal team at the Tokyo Olympics with Everdale, the sire of teammate Charlotte Dujardin’s energetic Imhotep. Lottie is the daughter of the late Laura Fry, who also rode for Britain.
“I really felt I had to do something extra today because we came in straight after Cathrine and we tried our best,” said Lottie.
Never one to lose any points, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour executes a perfect halt with Vamos Amigos.
“I actually heard the crowd being loud in my canter work and it was amazing. Yesterday, I had problems with the pirouettes, but Isabell Werth gave me some pointers to work with and it was much better today, she is simply the best, such a nice person and she has been my idol since I was a kid.
“Glamourdale is nothing short of amazing right now, and yet I know so many things I know we can work on to improve, it is only his first season.”
I’m an I-told-you-so kind of person (not one of my better traits) and you’ll remember I said yesterday that I liked Glamourdale better than the more highly touted Vamos Amigos—a wonderful horse, but a plain bay can’t captivate like a flashy black stallion in my book. Especially if there are mistakes.
But of course, Vamos Amigos is lovely and did get a 10 for the trot half-pass and twice for the difficult passage-piaffe-passage transition that tripped up more than a few competitors.
Dinja van Liere of the Netherlands with another personable stallion, Hermes, completed the podium. Transition problems with the passage/trot/passage and the transitions from trot into collected canter when Hermes looked as if he spooked downgraded her performance, but she still was in line for honors with 79.407 percent.
The medalists: Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, silver; Lottie Fry, gold and Dinja van Liere, bronze.
In a rare occurrence, Isabell Werth of Germany did not add to her lifetime collection of 62 medals when she finished fourth on DSP Quantaz, who doesn’t have quite the flair of some of her other horses. He was marked at 79.073 percent.
Glamourdale’s victory gallop.
Right behind her, in fifth, was her teammate on the bronze medal German squad, Benjamin Werndl on Famoso OLD (78.237 percent). The Germans were missing his sister, world number one Jessica Von Bredow-Werndl, who is pregnant. Another member of the German team, Frederic Wandres, was supposed to compete in the Special but withdrew Duke of Britain at the last minute.
Britain’s once and future superstar Charlotte Dujardin (those Brits love their Charlottes) was sixth with 77.523 on the very green 9-year-old, Imhotep, who is a bundle of energy. Used to living outdoors at home, he spends a lot of time being handwalked in Denmark.
Even so, when Charlotte rides him, she said, “I feel like I’m on high speed and full power. He’s so enthusiastic.” He wants to do everything; she compared it to driving a go-kart.
“When he gets it all under control and waits for me, I think it’s going to be spectacular,” she said.
It was only the third Grand Prix Special for her horse, known as Pete. He’s never done a freestyle.
“I’m just trying to ride and give him confidence,” she said.
Gareth Hughes, also a member of Britain’s silver medal team, was right behind Imhotep, seventh in the standings with Classic Briolinca (77.280),
The mare was undone on the first day of the Grand Prix Saturday when the crowd started clapping as she was going down centerline to finish her test and blew the halt. (There’s a rule that says the halts have to last at least three seconds, and her wasn’t.) The crowd has been better-behaved since then, now that they have seen that their well-intended enthusiasm had the wrong effect.
“Today she felt really calm and relaxed,” Gareth said of his horse.
“She’s got such good mechanics and she’s really regular,” added Gareth, who was pleased with his ride.
“Where we finished, I don’t care.”
Gareth revealed yesterday he had contracted Covid, but he didn’t test positive until he got to Herning. Today, he tested negative for the second time, having tested negative previously last night.
“I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable,” said Gareth, adding he was “a long way away from everyone in the stadium.” It is outdoors, not an enclosed arena like Madison Square Garden.
There were no masks on the podium for the team medals, thank goodness–enough of the Covid craziness and photos of everyone in masks from last year–but he said he abided by Denmark’s rules on handling the virus. How many people do you think were in the stadium who might have been positive for Covid if they tested?
Tomorrow is a rest day, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens Wednesday evening in the freestyle. Will Vamos Amigos fulfill expectations for gold? How will the lively Imhotep handle that challenge? Can Glamourdale make it two in a row?
Only two U.S. riders made it to the Special, which had 28 placings. The top 15 qualified for the freestyle, which was redemption for Adrienne Lyle and Salvino, who had trouble yesterday in the canter half-passes to bring down their score when she had to slow to a walk to get reorganized.
Adrienne Lyle and Salvino in the Special; we’ll see them again in the freestyle. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian)
Adrienne pulled it out this time with marks of between 6.5 and 7.5 for that movement, and finished ninth with 75.699 percent. The score gets her into the freestyle, which has extra importance in Herning because it was not held at the last world championships in Tryon, N.C., due to storms.
“He didn’t put a foot out of place, he felt even better than the Grand Prix,” said Adrienne.
As she assessed her ride on Salvino, she said, “Overall, he felt really honest,” noting, “I can just sit up there and pilot him around. He’s not a horse that likes to make mistakes and was rather upset after the Grand Prix that he got his legs tangled up.”
She praised the stallion’s owner, Betsy Juliano, who is very supportive and has enjoyed Salvino’s journey. That trip likely will include a visit to Paris in 2024 for the Olympics, since the U.S. squad qualified for those Games with its sixth-place finish in Denmark.
“He’s taken us everywhere we dreamed to go,” Adrienne said of her mount.
Things didn’t go as well for Adrienne’s teammate, Steffen Peters, and Suppenkasper, who wound up with a score of 73.708 percent that put them 17th, two away from the magic number that would have gotten them in the freestyle.
“Overall, I’m very, very happy with him,” said Steffen about the 18.2-hand horse he compared to “a gigantic teddy bear,” but added, “I wish the results would be better. The judges felt very different than I did, but that’s part of the game.”
He was getting assistance in Herning from Debbie McDonald, Adrienne’s mentor and the USA’s former dressage technical advisor, whom he has known for 35 years. Debbie had called him back then asking for help, and now he asked her for help.
Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper.
And while we’re on the subject of USA problems, let me go off topic for a minute and mention that RMF Zecilie did not pass the horse inspection for the U.S. show jumping team, whose world championships start Wednesday morning. (The freestyle is that afternoon). Zecilie, who will have an opportunity to be re-presented, is the mount of U.S. team traveling alternate Jessica Springsteen.
This evening, Denmark said goodbye in a moving ceremony to retiring Grand Prix veteran Cassidy, Cathrine’s horse, a sprightly chestnut she called, “not the most obvious Grand Prix star.”
Cathrine Dufour and her pal Cassidy on the eve of retirment. (Photo courtesy Ecco Herning)
But he excelled with her focus and the help of an “awesome team of trainers.”
Cathrine, whose parents gave her the horse when she was 17 and he was six, said, “By working with the talents the horse is given naturally, you can go really far, and I think Cassidy is a great example of that.
“And then he has just taught me love of the sport, and love of competing, as well as the daily training. He is the entire cornerstone in my love of the equestrian sport. He is completely unique and will likely be the most special horse I have had and will ever have.”
For Grand Prix Special results, click here
