It was certainly an evening of highs and lows for the second half of the Grand Prix dressage competition: highs for the German team who once again carried off the gold medal, and lows for Holland, their major adversaries who had to be satisfied with silver; highs for Denmark who claimed bronze, and lows for the USA who were relegated to fourth place.
A career low also for Portugal’s Miguel Ralão Duarte who suffered the indignity of extremely bad behaviour from Lusitano mare Oxalis de Meia Lua, resulting in his retirement from the ring. In fact, in 25 years attending major events, I have never seen a rider forced to remove his or her horse from the ring for total lack of cooperation, but it was obvious that Oxalis was upset from the minute she entered, perhaps from the heat, the lights, the atmosphere … but it was a sad evening for Portugal to find themselves eliminated from the team competition. It should be said that when this mare is feeling calm, she can perform like an absolute genius.
The competition’s first highlight came from Nathalie Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, niece of the Queen of Denmark, whose mother, HRH Princess Benedikte of Denmark, bred the horse she was riding, the 11-year-old Digby. Their performance was elegant from the outset, with good transitions and a light forehand in the collected paces, providing a very useful boost to Denmark’s team score ahead of the final rider, Andreas Helgstrand. “I’m very pleased. It’s only the second big show he’s done. The first was the World Championships, but then he was only nine years old and very inexperienced, but know he’s really a fighter for me. I could feel, in the middle of the test, that the heat was getting a little bit to him, but he kept on fighting until the last step. I’m very, very proud of him. I knew that I had to do a good round because Anne (van Olst) had 67% which is very good for her. We had hoped for a little bit more, but she’s only the horse for nine months, so working together still has to be optimized, but I knew I had to do at leat 70% to get closer to the bronze medal. Now we have to wait and see what Andreas (Helgstrand) and Don Schufro do.”
Regarding her plan and whether she risked everything, Nathalie said, “Yes and no! If you risk a lot you can also make very fast mistakes, so you have to see how you can risk without mistakes. Maybe he and I could have ridden a little more forward, but for him it was very good, so I’m very pleased.”
She continued by saying, “A big stone has fallen off my heart right now, because we’ve been here two and a half weeks and you build up the adrenaline and have butterflies in your tummy, so when you’ve done the test and come out with a score like that you are very relieved and very happy.”
Mexico’s Bernadette Pujals could similarly be very proud of her fine performance with Vincent, her partner for seven years, that began with an extremely expressive passage with good transitions into extended trot. In fact she was averaging a mark of around 72% until the walk sequence when she was penalized by the judges for too much tension and dropped to 68%. Towards the end of the test, the diminutive Pujals could have controlled her own posture and movement a little more, and a change of body position appeared to confuse Vincent who became a little flustered during the last piaffe, but overall the pair gave an extremely good account of themselves for a final score of 69.250%. “Really I was thinking about not doing too many mistakes because I felt the horse was not enough with me. I hope I can manage to make it better for the next round. I felt him a little tired, and it’s sometimes difficult to balance the tension and also keep him fresh. It’s difficult because when you push him he gets tense, and then you have to wonder ‘what’s the best thing to do’. He’s a big horse and very sensitive, and I felt he was not so happy. He goes, but tonight it wasn’t easy for him. He’ll still do it, even when it’s difficult but this is how I lost a little it of balance.”
“It’s always pressure, not for myself because I am so glad to be here and have the opportunity for us because for Latin American countries it’s really difficult. Four years ago I lost my placing, and I said I wouldn’t do this way again, which is why I earned my qualification in Europe through the international ranking.”
Regarding a plan for the test: “I always have the same plan. We have a 20×60 arena everywhere in the world, whether it’s a countryside show or the Olympic Games, you have the same. You look around and you can see the judges, you can see the people, you can see everything, but you have to try and ride every step with my horse, which is a lot to do. It’s not really a plan because every step gives me the next step and the next step. The plan is being in the present so you don’t feel anything outside but focus on each movement.” Pujals finished with a very creditable 12th place and qualifies for Saturday’s Grand Prix Special.
There were, of course, high expectations for Holland’s golden girl, Anky van Grunsven, but she would have needed a phenomenal score to head off the challenge from Isabell Werth, and although Salinero settled well and produced some stunning paces, their 74.750 score, the best so far, also left the door open for her German rival.
As the third and last of the German competitors, the pressure was on Werth’s shoulders to secure gold for the team, and Satchmo didn’t disappoint, exhibiting marvelous carriage throughout and pushing his score to an 82% average for his stunning half passes, although their final percentage was a winning 76.417.
Conversely, the test from Andreas Helgstrand and Don Schufro, last to go for Denmark, lacked energy and commitment, although it was correct and error free for a score of 68.822 – sufficient to secure the team bronze medal.
However, it has to be said, that the one who stole hearts this evening was the 18-year-old Balagur, the oldest horse in this Olympic Games, competing with Russia’s Alexandra Korelova (31) from Nizhniy Novgorod, who explained that her Orlov Trotter began his career as a police horse whose duties included crowd control at soccer stadiums! In fact, he didn’t start dressage training until the age of 11, when Korelova took him to George Theodorescu in Germany and qualified the following year to compete in the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez de la Frontera where she finished 26th. Korelova now trains with Theodorescu’s daughter, Monica, and admitted that she thought her test could have been better. “He was a little bit nervous with the large arena, but it was okay. He always tries and would like to do much better. I was 100% happy with him, although he didn’t walk very well because he worked a lot in big stadiums as a police horse, so I can understand it. He’s a sport horse now, and likes to be in an arena, he likes to show, he likes the public, and also talks a lot. He may be the oldest horse, but he thinks he’s five. We may do a couple more competitions this year, but he will tell me what he wants.”
The individual competition continues with the Grand Prix Special that takes place on Saturday evening, after a rest day tomorrow.
At the conclusion of these two days, Luiza Almeida and Leandro Silva, respectively riding Samba and Oceano do Top, finished in 40th and 43rd place and will therefore miss the Grand Prix Special which is reserved for only the top 25. It was nonetheless, an Olympic debut that Brazil can treasure with pride.
Full team result: http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/EQ/C73DA/EQX401100.shtml#EQX401102
Individual result (qualification for Grand Prix Special)
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/EQ/C73DB/EQX001900.shtml#EQX001902
