Dutch Olympic Team Taking Shape with Totilas' Sons after 2021 CDI Exloo

Dressage

The Netherlands

Although the official Dutch Olympic team selection trials will take place in June and July, "Team NL" is already taking shape. It seems to be one with dominated by Totilas offspring that will be heading to Tokyo.

Team Totilas

At the 2021 CDI Opglabbeek in Belgium two weekends ago and the CDI Exloo this week, the Dutch team candidates presented themselves in front of an international panel of judges and they received solid seventy percentage scores.

Edward Gal swept both the Opglabbeek and Exloo Grand Prix with the 11-year old Hanoverian stallion Toto Jr (by Totilas x Desperados) and the 9-year old Oldenburg stallion Total U.S. (by Totilas x Sir Donnerhall). His two inexperienced Grand Prix horses easily wooed the judges into ecstacy and with scores between 78 - 80% Gal is once again marked as the anchor of the future Dutch Olympic team.

After twice confirming top scores at two international shows shortly after each other with his young Grand Prix horses, there was no need for Gal to further exhaust his stallions in another round in Exloo. Both horses were withdrawn from the rest of the competition as Gal got ill on Wednesday night after having eaten something bad.

The two other team candidates with a Totilas' son seem to be Adelinde Cornelissen on the 10-year old Dutch warmblood stallion Governor (by Totilas x Jazz) and Marlies van Baalen on the 10-year old Dutch warmblood gelding Go Legend (by Totilas x Ferro).

The further two Dutch team hopefuls are routiniers Hans Peter Minderhoud on 13-year old KWPN stallion Dream Boy (by Vivaldi x Ferro) and Emmelie Scholtens on the similarly aged and bred Desperado (by Vivaldi x Havidoff). The former produced mid seventy percentage scores in Opglabbeek and refrained from showing again in Exloo; the latter's Olympic contention is still unsure as he's recovering from an injury.

Team Trainer Comments

Dutch team trainer Alex van Silfhout, however, stated that he still has no idea of the combinations for Tokyo.

"I think we have seen nice, new combinations," Van Silfhout stated on the website of the Dutch Equestrian Federation. "Time will tell if they will be ready for the Games in Tokyo, but in any case it's looking good for the next years. Horses like Governor, Go Legend and Edward Gal's horses already show nice tests, but there is more in the tank. After Opglabbeek fourteen days ago and Exloo I still don't have an idea of the combinations for Tokyo."

The Dutch Olympic selection trials will the be the National Championships (3 - 6 June) and the CDIO Rotterdam (1 - 4 July).

"The observation competitions are still coming up," Alex continued. "It's a short period before the Games in which a lot can change, but the recent results are a good motivator. Many combinations have now achieved the scores to compete at 5* level. The pressure for that is now gone. They are young horses who need to gain experience and who need to stay fit at the same time."