Slotting in fifth place was the Swedish Jan Brink and Hans Yngve Goransson's licensed stallion Briar (by Magini x Kroket). They scored 76.500% for their freestyle in which the piaffe-passage and the series of one tempi changes were the highlight.
The extensions in trot were less powerful than in the Grand Prix. It seemed as if Brink had forgotten to pack Briar's hind legs and left them in Sweden. The extended trot was good in relaxation but showed minimal ground coverage. The music fits the horse well with its catchy light tunes to "Number One".
Dutch Laurens van Lieren finished sixth with his father's and Wim Zegwaard's Dutch warmblood gelding Hexagons Ollright (by Rubiquil). The young duo put down wonderful piaffe passage reprises where the horse kept the rhythm very well but tended to go a little deep in the piaffe. They clocked of long series of tempi changes with ones and two tempi's on the circle line. Their music featuring Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" and "We Will Rock You" put a good beat in their ride. They scored 76.100%, their best score of the season so far.
An exciting horse to watch is Gredstedgaards Casmir. The 9-year old Danish bred gelding by Continue is tremendously talented. He has three gifted basic gaits and a world class piaffe-passage, but he's young and inexperienced and can't maintain the same level of brilliance and power till the end of the ride. Rider Andreas Helgstrand rocked out his freestyle with heavy beats to Guns 'N Roses' "Paradise City" but the technical difficulty of the test was too much for the horse. While developing this freestyle, they seemed to have overestimated Casmir's power: Piaffe pirouettes, passage half passes, difficult movements right after each other, and long piaffe-passage reprises at the end of the ride are too much for a 9-year old.
Remember Anky's freestyle when Salinero was young? It had the most simple choreography ever and she won Olympic gold with it! Anyway, Helgstrand rode lovely extensions and especially the extended walk was breath taking. In piaffe, the horse was using his right hind leg more actively on a few occasions. He broke into canter in the passage half pass to the right. The collection and and power were a bit lost in the pirouettes. The tempi changes were not straight in the body but were very ground covering, which shows the potential Casmir has for the future. Definitely keep an eye on this one. For their kur, they scored 75.200% and placed seventh.
The Danish combination Nathalie Zu Saeyn-Wittgenstein and her Danish warmblood gelding Digby finished just below their team mate Helgstrand. With 73.450, Zu Saeyn captured 8th place. Nathalie, who is the daughter of HRH Princess Benedikte of Denmark, has a very interesting choreography trying out new movements. She opened with some passage, followed by a transition to canter, a pirouette at B, crossing the ring to E with a flying change at X and another pirouette in front of E. The piaffe was lovely and the contact with a bit, which was a bit problematic in the Grand Prix, was now light and soft. The extended canter could have been more over the back and there were some more few small issues in the ride: a mistake in the one tempi's and the horse changed lead in the pirouette. The final piaffe-passage was outstanding: light footed and rhythmic.
Belgian duo Jeroen Devroe and his Rhinelander branded but Belgian bred Paganini (by Pavarotti van de Helle x Sheyenne de Baugy).
Highlights are the lovely piaffe-passage in which the passage is very lightfooted but could be more engaged. The hind legs of this horse tended to trail. The loss of engagement was also to be seen in the canter work in which the level of collection was not constant. They nailed superb tempi changes from two tempi's into one tempi's and one tempi's on curved lines. Devroe rode to airy Irish folk tunes. 72.900% - 9th place
The third Danish pair: Anders Dahl on the unregistered 18-year old Danish bred Afrikka. The pair started off well with a strong trot tour showing well activated hind legs and swing through the body. Dahl and Afrikka wonderfully executed the trot half passes. The extended walk was ok, but the horse could have stretched his neck more. Dahl's freestyle has a difficult choreography with a high technical level. The tempi changes were textbook: big, ground covering, correct. They scored 71.550% and finished tenth.
Australian Rozzie Ryan aboard the 13-year old Hanoverian mare Donna Carrera (by Donnerhall). She was the first rider to go and her lovely bongo bush sounds reminded the audience how far they had traveled to be at this show. Donna Carrera is a super talented horse with a wonderful piaffe and passage but the passage was uneven! The two tempi's were nice but had to be straighter and one change in the ones was short. Ryan rode the extended trot on a curved line away from the judged, which is a pity as the horse has a lovely trot extension. Ryan seemed behind her music, which made the end of her freestyle a bit awkward. 69.600% (11th).
Shooting stars of the 2008 World Cup Finals: Jane Hannigan and her 14-year old Dutch warmblood Maksymilian (by Elcaro x Allegro). Hannigan's horse is super talented but still needs to mature in his work. He has a superb piaffe and passage but gets a bit deep in the piaffe and the passage is not always as ideally collected. Both gaits show tremendous potential because of the power and silhouette Mak has. Hannigan was rushing a bit through her music, which showed in the overzealous half passes and quick pirouettes. The extended trot was outstanding as well as the one tempi's on the curved line but at there was one mistake in them and with the music not always matching the movements, her entire freestyle ride looked unfinished. 69.450% - 12th place
Polish Michal Rapcewicz on his own Polish bred 11-year old Randon (by Czuwaj x Famino). This pair lacks fine tuning. Randon is super talented in piaffe and passage, showing a tremendously rhythmical and light footed passage, but the rider is working hard on his horse which doesn't always give a pretty picture. Legs kicking into his sides and hands holding tight to the bit resulted in a very unhappy looking, tense horse. Randon was not through in his body. The extended walk was good though with a nicely stretched neck. Keep up the training! 69.050% (13th place)
The prize for the cutest horse goes to Louise Nathhorst's Swedish warmblood gelding Isidor (by Guinness). What a pretty face and silhouette this horse has! They placed fourteenth with 68.000% because there were a few instances of resistance. At the start of the test, it was obvious that the dark bay gelding was not entirely through. Nathhorst had to half halt in the piaffe to get him through the neck and the problem with the bit surfaced clearly in the pirouettes, in which Isidor resisted and leapt out of the circle twice. "He has his tongue over the bit and made his own version of a pirouette," Nathhorst explained afterwards.
Isidor, however, can show perfect passage and piaffe, in which he sits on the hind quarters. Nathhorst's music, which is composed by Abba group member Benny Anderson, was good. Even though it included the typical Abba songs (music which has been beaten to death), Louise's kur sounded refreshing because heavy drum beats were added to it. The beat overpowered the Abba sounding tunes and infused the freestyle with punch. Fantastic!
Closing the ranks was the American duo Courtney King-Dye and Christine McCarthy's Dutch warmblood stallion Idocus (by Equador x Zonneglans). They executed such a lovely freestyle with music from "The Wizzard of Oz", "Cats" and "Fiddler on the Roof." Everything looked so harmonious and relaxed. Maybe the piaffe could have more pizzazz but is was even and correct. At the end of the extended trot, Idocus lost some power, a loss also visible in the final piaffe-pirouette in which he could have picked up his legs more. The flying changes were delightful, as well as the pirouettes. But that's where it went wrong. Courtney performed a triple pirouette, which is not allowed. The movement gets a 0 and the choreography and difficulty level can not exceed a score of 5. Courtney's mark dropped to 63.400% while the test had so much more in it.
Photos © Astrid Appels - No Reproduction allowed
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