The stage is set for the 2006 FEI World Cup Final which opens tomorrow in Amsterdam. It is just a week since a press conference held in the empty Europahal showed just how much was to be done, but the organising team has been hard at it
and with the new footing – a sand, fibre and gel mix - installed on Easter Saturday, the eighteen riders who have qualified and the audience expected for Saturday afternoon’s sell-out Freestyle showdown can expect a red carpet welcome.
Titleholder Anky van Grunsven, in the hunt for her third successive FEI World Cup laurels with Salinero to add to the five titles she won with the great Bonfire, had misgivings about the return to the Europahal. She recalled: “Most of the time the arena is very noisy, and I got my all time lowest score here with Bonfire – 45 per cent!” However, followers of Salinero’s progress over this season which culminated in a record-breaking score at Indoor Brabant and gave van Grunsven a commanding lead in the points’ standings would be forgiven for making light of her fears.
On home ground, the Dutch riders are out to make it special for the home fans. Van Grunsven’s pupil Edward Gal is on form with Lingh, who has settled into combining his breeding career with the competition spotlight. At Indoor Brabant, Imke Schellekens-Bartels scored a personal best over 4 per cent higher than her previous best with the exciting Hanoverian mare Sunrise, and Laurens van Lieren achieved his ambition of securing a Final place in Amsterdam with Hexagon’s Ollright.
German riders secured a maximum of three places headed by former title holder Isabell Werth, in third place in the standings. Werth brings her rising star Warum Nicht FRH to Amsterdam. Ellen Schulten-Baumer starts in her first World Cup Final with the 12-year-old mare Donatha S while Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff’s Wahajama-UNICEF makes three Hanoverian mares we’ll see taking part in this year’s Final.
While Sweden’s riders finished the Western European league just out of the original top eight qualifying zone, when the FEI decided that this year instead of wild cards places would be allocated down the line, thus rewarding the riders who had supported the series, former title holder Louise Nathhorst and Jan Brink, who won the qualifiers in Stockholm and Neumunster and of course made history by taking the Aachen title last year from under the noses of van Grunsven and Salinero, got invitations to Amsterdam. Then when Princess Nathalie zu Sayn Wittgenstein’s mount Rigoletto’s illness prevented her taking a place leaving Lone Joergensen the sole Danish representative, and Wayne Channon’s stallion Lorenzo got kicked in a freak accident on the horse walker, as the reserve rider for the Central European League Inessa Porturaeva was given her ticket to join compatriot Elena Kalinina and Swedish rider Kristian von Krusenstierna got his chance.
Von Krusenstierna, who like Brink and Channon trains with Kyra Kyrklund, was a bit shocked at first at the news, having expected to concentrate purely on training for the outdoor season for the rest of this spring, but the 29-year-old rider is now looking forward to the challenge. He commented: “The Final has just fitted snugly into the plan rather than interrupting anything and it is very much the freestyle competition, I’ve been working on the finer details of my programme”. He will ride the Swedish-bred Wilson to Phil Collins music.
Fortunately Wayne Channon’s Lorenzo was quickly on the mend, but the time out of training would have made a Final appearance a very tall order. Said the British rider: “I can’t believe this is the second major competition we’ve had to miss. (Lorenzo came down with a virus in Aachen last year). It is a great shame as he gave me a great feeling in Neumunster and with a couple more shows, we’d have been on song.”
Carrying the British flag in Amsterdam however will be 21-year-old Laura Bechtolsheimer, who placed eighth in the standings on her father’s Donnerhall gelding Douglas Dorsey. This exciting pair made superb progress, starting with a win at the Czech qualifier Marianske Lazne, to qualify for the Final in their first FEI World Cup season.
Then there are the riders with furthest to travel. Unfortunately Heath Ryan, with one horse, a business to run and the World Equestrian Game to take into account, was unable to make the trip from Australia. Canada’s Cindy Ishoy, who retains her country’s record result in the FEI World Cup with second on Dynasty, has been training her 12-year-old Proton with Norbert van Laak and Siegfreid Peilicke (with whom she has trained since the age of 21) in preparation for Amsterdam. The US League winner Arlene Page, a former event rider who will be representing her country for the first time on Wild One and Leslie Morse, who was sixth in Las Vegas last year with Kingston and brings her runner-up ride Tip Top to Amsterdam, have been based with Us team trainer Klaus Balkenhol to get ready.
Whatever the riders’ individual choice of freestyle music, for the 2006 FEI World Cup Final, the Amsterdam Europahal is set to rock this weekend.
Timetable
Thursday April 20th,
12.00 - FEI World Cup Grand Prix
Saturday April 22nd
08.30 - FEI World Cup ‘B’ Final
13.30 - FEI World Cup Final 2006
The FEI World Cup Dressage, initiated in 1985, is the only worldwide series in this discipline. It comprises qualifying leagues encompassing Western and Central Europe, North America, Canada and Australia. Each FEI World Cup Dressage qualifier comprises a Grand Prix test, which in turn is a qualification for the Freestyle to Music competition, where league points are accumulated towards places in the Final. Judged on both technical and artistic merit, the FEI World Cup Dressage combines art, sport and partnership between horse and rider at the highest level and consistently proves a winning formula with audiences all over the world.
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