Werth Makes Winning Surprise Come Back with Bella Rose at 2018 CDI Fritzens

Isabell Werth caused the sensation of the year by making a total surprise come back on her 2014 WEG team gold medal winning horse Bella Rose at the 2018 CDI Fritzens in Austria on Friday 29 June 2018. A maybe faultfree ride, but far from perfect collaboration, left Werth sobbing in tears as she walked out of the gorgeous Schindlhof arena at the end of ride. The judges jubilated and rewarded the test with a winning 77.522% score.

With a massive Alpine mountain in the background, the show arena at Evelyn Haim-Swarovski's Schindlhof in the Tyrolian Alps is most likely set in the prettiest scenery any dressage show in the world. With public seating in chalet style carved wood structures and flowers everywhere, the CDI Fritzens creates a unique atmosphere that is nothing less than breath-taking. 

Isabell Werth has been a regular at the Schindlhof and also this year she was entered with Emilio and Don Johnson. However, the latter horse was swapped last minute by Bella Rose, the now 14-year old Westfalian mare by Belissimo M x Cacir AA which Werth last competed at the CDI Stuttgart in November 2014. A  severe injury kept the tall, long legged chestnut mare from the show ring for almost four years! Most people whispered that the Bella Rose era was a very short lived, glorious phase in Werth's already spectacular dressage career and few expected the mare ever to make a come back. All were proven wrong today!

Upon entering the arena the multiple Olympic medal winner appeared nervous, something very unusual for such a routined rider. Of course every dressage lover is extremely happy and appreciative that Werth and her team were able to bring Bella Rose back to fitness, but her Fritzens Grand Prix ride did not (yet) look like a partnership between two communicating vessels.  The mare often had the mouth open, hardly chewed the bit, and just did not look very fine tuned to the aids. The trot half passes were cringeworthy as the mare struggled to stay regular, dabbled, and could not achieve overtrack. However, the half passes had much scope and freedom in the shoulder. The mare did show flashes of greatness in piaffe and passage. The hindlegs trailed in a few of the passages but the expression in the forehand was lovely. Bella Rose was able to show off great rhythm in the piaffe, but the last one at X was not entirely balanced. The tempi changes were a struggle for her as she moaned her way through laboured two tempi changes. The extended canter had good power and was uphill, the zig zag well ridden and the one tempi's were correct although the mare needed to stay straighter in the forehand. The pirouettes were small but flat and the flying change at X difficult.  The final piaffe at X had good rhythm but was not very balanced.

Bella Rose's come back is certainly a celebratory moment in dressage and everybody is happy for rider and owner, but today's labour of love was a work of hard labour. The panel of judges, which included Katrina Wust (GER), Susie Hoevenaars (AUS), Hans-Christian Matthiesen (DEN), Annette Fransen-Iacobaeus (SWE) and Anne Gribbons (USA), loved it  and rewarded the test with 77.522% with marks ranging from 76.087% and 78.587%. "A dream came true. Today is probably the best day in my life as a rider," said a visibly moved Werth. 

German Olympic team rider and Werth's team mate Dorothee Schneider saddled her young, rising Grand Prix horse Faustus for the Grand Prix for Special in Fritzen. The 10-year old Hanoverian gelding by Falsterbo x Forrest xx is a budding talent who needs more maturing for even higher scores. The bay gelding stays nicely up in the frame in trot and is very expressive in the forehand. The trot half passes were lovely, the trot extensions convincing. The horse became narrow at the base and unbalanced in piaffe. The extended walk was good, but he could have stretched more over the topline.  Unfortunately, Faustus was not really chewing on the bit and relaxed in the mouth. He got tense in the collected walk. The second piaffe-passage was nice, but needed more self carriage. Faustus has much potential for the canter work: the zig zag was good and the tempi changes were uphill, despite a mistake in the ones. They finished second with 74.370%.

British Emile Faurie landed third place aboard Ullrich Kasselmann's 11-year old Oldenburg bred Dono di Maggio (by Dimaggio x Santander H). The powerful chestnut gelding is a piaffe-passage machine and is super expressive and scopey in these two movements with smooth transitions in and out. He lost some elasticity in the left trot half pass and lacked proper stretch and lengthening of the frame and stride length in the extended walk as if Dono di Maggio were holding his breath. The collected walk was clear in the rhythm though. The second piaffe-passage was superb, but the horse can even stay higher up in the poll. The two tempi changes were straight, the first change in the zig zag was short behind and the exit of the left pirouette could have been neater, but overall the ride was a high quality test. He scored 74.022% with three judges at 75% and one down to 70%.

Text and Photos by Astrid Appels - No Reproduction Allowed

Eurodressage was on the scene in Fritzens to photograph. If you are interested in prints or files for social media, send us an email.

Related Link
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2018 CDI Fritzens