Dutch WEG team member Danielle Heijkoop outperformed Holland's long-time number one Grand Prix rider Adelinde Cornelissen in the Kur to Music at the 2014 CDI Mechelen on Sunday 28 December 2014. Heijkoop scored 83.00% to top the leaderboard and produce a personal best score. Cornelissen landed second place with 82.050%.
Heijkoop and her 15-year old Dutch warmblood Siro (by Gribaldi x Hemmingway) performed a smooth and strong freestyle to piano and orchestrated tunes. The horse has a powerful piaffe and passage and showed good pirouettes and transitions. They had a mistake in the one tempi changes.
“Yesterday I made a few mistakes and I hoped it would be better today, and it did," Heijkoop commented after the prize giving ceremony.
Holland’s Adelinde Cornelissen and her very experienced 17-year old Parzival (by Jazz x Ulft) stated that her horse was “still a bit spooky." Their freestyle had a very high degree of technical difficulty and the passage, piaffe and pirouettes were well executed to the music arranged by Victor Kerkhof.
Sweden’s Patrik Kittel finished third with his 15-year old Dutch stallion Scandic (by Solos Carex x Amiral). They performed a beautiful, balanced and controlled freestyle but they had a mistake in the double pirouette at the end of the test, which proved costly. They scored 77.60%.
“He saw something in the corner. He once got really frightened at a stallion show and since then he does not like prize giving ceremonies. Maybe I should not have done the prize giving with him yesterday to keep him relaxed," Kittel stated.
Germany’s multiple championship medallist Nadine Capellmann finished fourth on the Baden Wurttemberger bred mare Girasol (by Gribaldi x Landioso) on 77.725%, followed by Sweden’s WEG team rookie Jeanna Hogberg on Darcia VH (by Danone) with 76.025%.
Photo © Lena Lottsfeldt
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Cornelissen Edges Out Kittel in 2014 CDI Mechelen Grand Prix