Danish Nathalie Zu Saeyn-Wittgenstein and her Danish warmblood Digby finished sixth with 75.150%. Riding to West Side Story music (highly reminiscent of Anky van Grunsven's old Bonfire kur), Zu Saeyn opened strongly with a rhythmical piaffe and passage part. Her horse was more active behind and on the job. Super extended walk with stretch in the neck and wonderful two tempi's.
The 2010 World Cup Finals were Zu Saeyn-Wittgenstein's last show as she is due to deliver her first baby in July.
The sympathetic German Carola Koppelmann slotted in seventh with her 17-year old Le Bo (by Lauries Crusador xx), which looked more fresh, fit and healthy than some of his peers. Koppelmann chose African inspired disco tunes for her freestyle. Lots of energy, a bit too much even as there was hardly a moment to breathe in her kur. Excellent tempi changes and wonderful buoyancy in the passage were the highlights. The horse could have more opening in the throat latch and too often came behind the vertical. They scored 73.250%
German Matthias Rath and Triviant Unicef (by Olivi x Saluut) premiered a brand new, Cees Slings' composed freestyle, "Rhapsody in Blue". The viewers have to get used to these Gershwin tunes, which is one uniform composition that slightly misses an element of emotional recognition (as the piece is not derived from a famous ballet or musical, but from Gershwin's 1924 piano-jazz experiment), but Rath probably rode the most original choreographies of all: collected walk, piaffe pirouette, extended walk... and what about trot half passes on the short side synchronized to a percussion repetition after a crescendo! Wonderful!!! Technically there were some mistakes. Triviant spooked in a piaffe, there was a bad pirouette and another small issue in canter which pushed the score down to 72,050%. 8th place.
First to go in the kur was Australian Brett Parbery on Mrs Lieutenant's Victory Salute. The pair made nice transitions from collected trot half passes to passage ones and the zig zag was nicely regulated. The musical transitions between the movements were unfortunately not so nice and lacked professionalism in their arrangement. They scored 70.550%
"I am very please with the result. It was hard being first on but Sam was more concentrated today and we felt more together the further we went. I feel very honoured to be part of such an amazing event and to witness the quality that fills the sport at the moment. My goal was to finish in the top 10 so I am thrilled,” commented an elated Parbery.
Polish Katarzyna Milczarek and her 10-year old Polish bred Ekwador (by Heraldik xx x Corofino) rode to pan flute Peruvian music which lacked variation. Her grey stallion has an incredible work mentality and was co-operating with his rider, always ears forward. Milczarek had a choreography with nice angles but focused too much on her horse's strong point, the pirouettes. The extended walk was ground covering and relaxed. There was a mistake in the one tempi's. Judge at E scored the test 62.00% (technical score) and 69.00% at C. They placed eleventh with 68.900% in total.
Tinne Vilhelmson and Favourit finished 12th with 68.250%. The Swedish rider could not keep the lid on the cooker and her super moving Fidermark offspring reached a boiling point in the piaffe where he resisted. Vilhelmson kept her cool and showed nice two-tempi's on the curved line followed by one's on the diagonal.
Polish Michal Rapcewicz on Randon. Big uphill one tempi's and an active extended walk. The contact with the bit was unsteady. The rider is opening his hands a lot and the horse is often tight in the neck with an open mouth. The piaffe and passage are normally their strong points but there was some loss of impulsion. Thirteenth with 67.100%
Peter Gmoser and Cointreau. The contact with the bit has improved tremendously since the 2009 European Championships. Riding to Fiddler on the Roof, the pair did perfect on the spot piaffe but lacked bounce and lengthening in the extended walk and trot. The one tempi's were super straight but the rider can not keep a proper posture in the saddle. He's almost in two-point position during the tempi changes. Pity. 66.450% to finish 14th.
Brazilian Luiza Tavares on Samba. 18-year old and competing at her first world cup finals: 61.550%
Her music is totally unsynchronized with the movements of her horse. Mistakes in the tempi changes and no overtrack in the extended walk pushed the score down considerably. The combination did ride an interesting piaffe-canter transition.