Swedish Patrik Kittel and the Oatley family's 9-year old Oldenburg bred Delaunay made it a double at the 2015 CDI Mechelen on Monday 28 December 2015. The dynamic duo bagged the Grand Prix Kur to Music victory with 78.575% after winning Sunday's Grand Prix class with 74.640%.
The 2015 CDI Mechelen is known as "Jumping Mechelen" or the Mechelen Christmas Horse Show and is part of the World Dressage Masters show circuit. The judges' panel for the freestyle consisted of Sanders, Baarup, van Daele, Saleh, and Holler and four of them placed the Swede first. As is typical with freestyle scoring, the marks were still all over the place as Kittel's scores ranged from 75.875% to 81.375%.
"“Delaunay is strong in piaffe and passage, and I am happy to have won here in Mechelen. After 10 years it is the first time for me to win in Mechelen and I would like to make it a tradition," said Kittel. "Delaunay is only nine so I'm not riding him a full 100%. You have to assess what you can ask from such a young horse so that he puts down a top performance and still stays happy. I'm riding Toy Story's freestyle and it fits him well but we are making a new kur for him. At the moment I'm in the luxury position of having four Grnd Prix horses and two up-and-coming ones."
Dutch Tommie Visser finished second aboard Valentijn van Weeren's 13-year old Dutch warmblood gelding Vingino (by Polansky x Variant). The pair scored 76.075% with marks going from 72.250% to 80.000%.
"The WDM shows have been very important for me. At the CDI Lier he really started going well. In Roosendaal we confirmed our form and in Mechelen I'm very happy with this second place," said Visser. "I'm in the A-team now in Holland. We're with 8 and the best ones will go to Rio. I'm doing it show by show and work hard at improving."
The Luxembourg based Finnish rider Terhi Stegars completed the top three on her loyal ride, 16-year old Trakehner stallion Axis (by Sixtus x Angard). They scored 75.575% and had the judges more on the same wavelength.
"Santa Claus is really important to us Finnish people, so normally I don't go to shows in this period," Stegars explained. "I live in Luxembourg now and am super happy that I decided to ride here."
Judge Mariette Sanders- Van Gansewinkel was pleased with the level of competition. "Each rider in the top three has his strong points. Delaynay has a super piaffe and passage, Vingino can piaffe for a 10 and Terhi rode Axis very harmoniously with infectuous music you can dance to."
Photos © Chris Coessens
Related Links
Scores 2015 CDI Mechelen
Patrik Kittel and Delaunay Win 2015 CDI Mechelen Grand Prix
Mechelen Gears Up for Last World Dressage Masters of the Year 2015