After her final halt, Anky van Grunsven, the World Cup title defender and winner of the European League, pumped her fist in the air and flashed her trademark brilliant smile – and though there were five more riders to chase her 78.250%
, none could top it. Van Grunsven of The Netherlands riding Salinero by Salieri won the FEI Word Cup Dressage Final Grand Prix presented by Kampmann today, claiming victory in the first leg of the FEI World Cup Final at the Europahal in Amsterdam. Van Grunsven has won the World Cup Final in Amsterdam six times. Van Grunsven and the Hanoverian gelding she owns with F. Murphy-Arts earned the first place slot from all five of the judges, besting the field of 18 topnotch international horses.
Taking the second place position was Jan Brink of Sweden riding the stallion Bjorsells Briar 899 who earned 75.417%. In third place was Isabell Werth of Germany riding the Hannoverian gelding Warum Nicht FRH who scored 75.208%.
Officiating were Mrs. K Wust (GER) at E; Mr. W. Ernes (NED) at H; Mrs. J. Loriston-Clarke (GBR) at C; Mr. G. Svalling (SWE) at M; and Mr. V. Truppa (ITA) at B.
“There were lovely riders, lovely horses going in a very nice way. They looked forward and happy,” stated Mrs. Loriston-Clarke, president of the jury. “One or two didn’t want to play. It was a high-class class and it was a pleasure to see the top riders and the top horses really going for it, so I was giving some 9s.” She noted that she had previously given van Grunsven 10s on her piaffe/passage. “But today, not quite,” she noted.
Still, it was Salinero’s piaffe/passage work that earned scores in the 80s, while he remained consistently in the upper 70s for his entire test. The scoreboard at the venue revealed a total percentage for each movement during the test and also compared it to the leading score in that movement.
Van Grunsven was the 13th rider to go in the competition. Today’s winner was pleased with her horse. “I was very, very happy with Salinero because I think he did a good performance. I felt very good already in the warm-up. He even halted, the last halt, which I was very pleased with. My pirouettes I was very pleased with,” Van Grunsven said. “It was a little noisy with the spectators so I could feel that with him as well but he stayed very concentrated so that was the very positive thing about it.”
Van Grunsven acknowledged that her first passage/piaffe/passage transitions and movements were excellent, but noted that in the second performance of those movements Salinero became distracted. “The second piaffe he was looking a little into the crowd and so that felt OK, but that can be better. But there are so many exercises in a test, you always have things that you think, ‘oh, that was very good, oh this can be a little better’, but overall I think he did a very good performance for me.”
Van Grunsven easily named her best movement today without hesitation. “Oh, my first pirouette to the right was the easiest ever today!” she laughed. She noted on the other hand that Salinero started the two tempis by himself today, which surprised her as “he always waits.”
Competing in her native country, Van Grunsven received the cheers of her fans not only after her test but also during a dramatic awards ceremony where management dimmed the lights and spotlighted her. The audience of approximately 4,000 gave a standing ovation for the eight riders in the victory lap.
Van Grunsven noted that it was “very nice” competing in her home country. “But I must say Las Vegas was very spectacular for us last year,” she noted. Van Grunsven claimed victory with Salinero at the 2005 World Cup Final in Las Vegas – her first visit to that city. “It was a great experience, the crowd was so enthusiastic. That was very good,” Van Grunsven recalled. “I’m sure on Saturday [for the freestyle] it will be like that here as well.”
She stated that to prepare for the freestyle on Saturday, her game plan is to do everything the same as she has been doing so far. “He feels very good. He feels in great shape and confident in the arena, so we’ll train tomorrow and Saturday morning I will ride him in the main arena just a little bit to show him everything and keep him relaxed in the main arena.”
Second-place finisher Brink reviewed his test, remarking, “Of course you always try to ride as good as possible. I had a really good feeling today. I had a small mistake in the two-tempis, but overall it was good.”
Third-placed Werth noted, “My experience was very good. He becomes more and more quiet and confident and experienced.” She explained that she and Warum Nicht had a mistake in the last extension, which produced a gasp from the crowd, which she described as “stupid” but was “happy with the test.” She described today’s competition overall as “very high level.”
American rider Arlene ‘Tuny’ Page and her Wild One, who went as the 6th competitors on the roster, led the first half of the Grand Prix with a score of 71.00%; they held the first place slot going into the break and remained in the lead until Van Grunsven’s 78.250%. Page finished today’s competition in 7th place. “It felt great,” said Page of her test. “What felt great was that my horse went out there and clocked off a really good test. That’s what I wanted. I really, really wanted to make it into the final. And not just getting into the final, but doing it convincingly was terrific for me.” Page’s performance looked confident, consistent and polished.
Unfortunately not all the riders had the easiest time. Edward Gal’s Lingh made a lot of mistakes and Wahajama UNICEF ‘blew up’ in the first piaffe passage tour which was disappointing for Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff and while poor Cindy Ishoy got little co-operation from Proton.
Source: PMG