Germany Secures Three-Peat in Season Opener of 2023 FEI Nations Cup Series

Shows

2023 CDIO Wellington

As the 2023 FEI Dressage Nations Cup™ series commenced Friday 24 February 2023 in Wellington (USA), Germany found themselves in a familiar position. For the third consecutive year at the venue, the German squad was on top of the podium, getting the better of a rallying home nation.

The four-person team of Frederic Wandres (Harrods 3), Michael Klimke (Harmony's Sanrino RHP), Felicitas Hendricks (Drombusch 2) and Anna-Cristina Abbelen (San Donnerhall) extended Germany's winning streak at the Global Dressage Festival with a point tally of 437.844.

In the Race

A personal best from 20-year-old Christian Simonson (Son of a Lady) in the Intermediate I (72.706%) helped the U.S. secure the silver medal (427.285), while Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén (Devanto) clinched the bronze for Sweden (414.498) with her Grand Prix Special test (70.830%).

Teams consisted of a combination of Big Tour and Small Tour pairs, with scores from the CDIO3* Grand Prix and CDIO3* Grand Prix Special (Big Tour) and CDIO3* Prix St. Georges and CDIO3* Intermediate I (Small Tour) tests combined to produce the results. Scores from the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special received a 1.5% bonus to account for a higher degree of difficulty.

Horse Change for the Win

A last-minute horse change for Wandres proved to be a winning formula. He swapped his Grand Prix horse Hot Hit for the 10-year-old Hanoverian gelding Harrods 3 and won the CDIO3* Prix St. Georges (74.853%) to kick off the competition. It was only the horse's fourth international start and first Nations Cup appearance.

"We can make plans, but sometimes things turn out differently. The situation switched a little bit with the horse I preferred to bring here. So, I took Harrods, who is already one step further in his education. He's already done a National Grand Prix, but I did the step back for the German team...In the end, we were all lucky winners," said Frederic Wandres (GER).

After carrying an overnight lead into Friday, personal best scores from Hendricks and Klimke in the Grand Prix Special would cement their team's victory. Hendricks finished second in the Special (72.234%), with Abbelen third (71.915%) and Klimke fourth (71.255%).

"I love the Grand Prix Special," Abbelen said. "It suits (Sam Donnerhall) really well with the passage and then the extended trot parts, and they were obviously our highlights today. I'm proud of our team."

Over 70%

Germany was the only team to have all of its riders score above 70 percent in every test.

“We’re very lucky to have won it three years in a row now,” said Klimke, who rode on his first Nations Cup team in 1990. “I’m very proud of the two girls because they are both riding amazing and of course Freddie [Wandres] is our riding chef and hero who keeps the troop together.”

"This Nations Cup here is for sure something special," Wandres said. "The atmosphere and the team spirit between the teams is the best of the Nations Cups I have been to."

U.S.A. Runner Up

For the USA, it was the senior team first-timer Christian Simonson — at 20 the youngest rider on the squad — who impressed with a new personal best and the team’s highest score on Friday. He and Son Of A Lady, Christina Morgan and Clifton Simonson’s 12-year-old Danish warmblood gelding by Soreldo, scored 72.706% in the CDIO3* Intermediate I. Simonson is based in Wellington and trains with Adrienne Lyle.

Tuny Page of class sponsor Stillpoint Farm said, “To bring nations together for a really serious competition with a fabulous judging panel and the opportunity to ride in an international atmosphere — and for new team members to compete — it’s impossible to overstate how important it is to have this competition in the United States, here in south Florida. We are really proud to be able to do this.”

Germany now leads the series with 10 points, followed by the United States (8 points) and Sweden (7 points). The FEI Dressage Nations Cup™ resumes at Compiègne (FRA), 6-7 May.