The first German team selection trial for the 2015 European Championships is set to take place in Balve on 11 - 14 June 2015 but so far there has been no sign of two of Germany's highest scoring dressage horses - Totilas and Bella Rose - on the show scene.
German equestrian magazine St. Georg addressed the issue as "in principle" both horses are obliged to start at the 2015 German Championships in Balve in three weeks if they want to be considered for the team. However it is not the first time that the dressage selection committee of the German Equestrian Olympic Committee (DOKR) has stretched the rules to fit in horses which are struggling with fitness issues.
At the 2014 World Equestrian Games Isabell Werth produced Germany's best score in the Grand Prix and helped the country win team gold, but the mare was withdrawn due to lameness for the rest of the competition. She only reappeared at one show since then, the 2014 CDI Stuttgart in November 2014. Since then there has been no sign of the 11-year old Westfalian mare (by Belissimo M x Cacir AA). She was supposed to come to Wiesbaden for training but was also not there.
Werth confirmed that the mare has strained her knee and could not come to Wiesbaden. "Our plan has always been to start Bella in Balve and now I hope that we can live up to our planning," Werth stated. "She now has a one week break and then we'll see. When we can't go to Balve, there are still other shows before the CDIO Hagen (the second German team selection trial)."
The other absentee is Matthias Rath's 15-year old Dutch stallion Totilas (by Gribaldi x Glendale) who has not been out since his withdrawal from the Grand Prix kur to music at the 2015 CDIO Aachen in July 2014. Rath announced that he would return to the show ring in May, but this has not yet materialized. In Wiesbaden he confirmed that the horse is not yet ready to compete in Balve.
German team trainer Monica Theodorescu commented that she will be traveling to Sjef Janssen's barn in Erp, The Netherlands, to assess Rath and Totilas' performance level.
"At the end of the week I will observe a training session of Matthias and Totilas in The Netherlands and then I'll know more," said Theodorescu. Of course Monica hopes to field the strongest team possible for the 2015 European Championships on home turf. "It would be ideal that all will be fit and the best will go," she added.
Seven riders are in the running for German team selection: Isabell Werth (Bella Rose, Don Johnson and El Santo), Anabel Balkenhol (Dablino), Fabienne Lütkemeier (D’Agostino), Kristina Sprehe (Desperados), Ulla Salzgeber (Herzruf’s Erbe), Matthias Rath (Totilas), and Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (Unee BB).
Source: St. Georg - Photos © Astrid Appels
Related Links
Isabell Werth to Return with Bella Rose at 2014 CDI-W Stuttgart
Bella Rose Withdrawn from 2014 World Equestrian Games
Totilas' 2015 Show Come Back Planned for May
Rath and Totilas Win the Special at 2014 CDIO Aachen but Withdraw for Kur