Fry Wins Qualifier Grand Prix at 2024 World Cup Finals, Where a Strange Wind Blows

- Text © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's views and opinion about the competition)
- Photos © Stefan Lafrentz - Dirk Caremans

British Charlotte Fry and the KWPN stallion Everdale won the qualifier Grand Prix at the 2024 World Cup Finals in Riyadh (KSA) on Wednesday 17 April 2024. This qualifier for the freestyle, in which a minimum of 65% has to be scored to move on to freestyle final, produced lower scores than usual although at the top there was no real surprises, bar one. 

Turbulence

The start of the 2024 World Cup Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, did not happen without some turbulence.

Days before the kick off several media had a light bulb moment and decided to boycott the event because the FEI allocated in 2019 (!!) to Saudi Arabia, a kingdom known for atrocious human rights conditions and sportwashing, despite their efforts to "modernize" the country where Shari'ah dictates laws and morals. The boycott (yes Chris Hector, double TT, thanks for the public flogging for my lack of spell checking) began with The Horse Magazine, followed by St. Georg and World of Show Jumping. Ridehesten will only report on its Danish rider (still providing ample coverage), in the U.S. the full promo is spinning, and the Dutch Horses.nl provides full coverage "for the sake of horse sport". I'm sitting on the fence. I did write a big editorial, but struggle to shut about the competition. 

Why did the media not question the allocation process in 2019 when the conditions in KSA were even worse? One can't even look back on the FEI's bidding process pages to see who ran against Riyadh to host the Finals and as journalist Pippa Cuckson pointed out, it seems the FEI handed Riyadh the WCF as a consolation prize for not given them the 2022 World Equestrian Games. Furthermore, the allocation is already contractually binding when the FEI announces it so KSA could have sued if the FEI pulled the event.

Anyway, in Dutch we say "figs after Easter" meaning that bird has flown.. but it is still better to act now rather than doing nothing.

Wind of Change?!

And to stick to metaphor of wind and air, a small wind of change, maybe a puff of air, was blowing in the air-conditioned indoor arena at Riyadh.

Things are going to be a bit different in Riyadh, starting with the FEI violating its own rule for the timing of the vet check. Normally it has to be 24-hours before the start of the first competition class, but for Riyadh they changed it "to ensure that the horses were fit for the official training sessions" even though this international competition is not different all from any other CDI or championship? It makes no sense!

With all the blue tongue/cramped neck/inflated scoring drama happening, whipped up by Aftonbladet and serving as fuel for an angry social media mob, riders (and judges) arrived in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia with shaky knees. Rider wonder if they will they be judged differently or if the the status quo maintained? If the CDI Aachen Festival 4 Dressage served as a barometer than the answer is a firm no! Judges wonder if they dare to leave the beaten path without being ostracised by their colleagues or show organizers that send out invitations.

Open frames, more lightness, more harmony, and happier mouths should be new standard of dressage sport, and not high quality of gaits compromised by short-cuts in training. Judges should be able to tell apart an open mouth from soft chewing compared to a stiff, gaping one because of hard hands. In Riyadh you visibly saw some riders riding with longer reins, new bits, and even a very rare 'uberstreichen' was inserted here and there to open the frame. Yet the same players  topped the board.

Same Old, Same Old

The ground jury for the 2024 World Cup Finals includes Janet Foy (USA), Peter Storr (GBR), Eva-Maria Vint-Warmington (EST),  Thomas Lang (AUT), Hans-Christian Matthiesen (DEN), Elke Ebert (GER), and Susan Hoevenaars (AUS).  They were unanimous in awarding British Charlotte Fry the highest score of the day, 75.388% with Matthiesen on 74.022% and Hoevenaars on 78.043%.

Lottie Fry came into the arena on Van Olst's 15-year old KWPN stallion Everdale (by Lord Leatherdale x Negro) with a new curb and an unbraided tail, after she received accusations on social media that the braided tail might be weighted to keep it quiet. The first part of her test was a breath of fresh air! She visibly tried to lengthen the neck, gave the horse the rein in an attempt for him to stretch it more and it resulted in the best trot half passes they have ever shown! In the extended trots, Everdale still pushed his neck up and back down, but the ground cover was easily achieved. The passage was ridden more quietly. The piaffes remain inconsistent: often on the forehand with the croup high, but the second one was much better and more uphill oriented. In the third he searched for the steps and balance and got wide in front. In canter, Fry had him with a closed gullet and behind the vertical, but the tempi changes excelled in straightness, the zig zag was very good. In the extended walk she opens the hands and brings them down halfway her thighs for him to drop in the poll but as Everdale has not properly learnt to follow the hand, he is more curled than stretching (I once again refer to the graphic of the FEI Judges Manual I posted above this section).  The fact that the horse showed much improvement in trot just by trying to lengthen the neck and give more hand resulted in a much better mouth in the trot part. Now for canter and walk. It's not rocket science.

Swedish Patrik Kittel ended in second place aboard Sommarkvarn AB's 12-year old Swedish bred Touchdown (by Quaterback x Sack) with 73.292%. He ranked between 1st (74.565 - Storr) and 5th place (70.978% - Foy). Patrik's horses are always groomed to perfection: Bodily they look amazing with good muscles and great coat and in the saddle Patrik certainly has very quiet hands, but the bridle contact remains an issue as the rider relies 100% on the curb rein. So far I have never seen him ride in a double with the curb rein looser or loopy.  Touchdown's mouth looks very frozen from the curb pressure and several times the tongue was visible on the left side, particularly in the half passes, the final extended trot, and on the final centerline. Moments of bad bridle contact are disregarded by the judges as all these movement got scores between 7 and 8. The FEI in its infinite wisdom of popularizing the sport by posting "millennial-style IQ lower than 100 - attention span shorter than 5 seconds" social media blasts chose this photo as one of the official press photos for the pair. They removed it today. QED. Aside from the mouth, Kittel and Touchdown certainly had lovely moments in his test and does make it look all very smooth: the relaxed, marching extended walk was a highlight, the collected walk well ridden and the pirouettes very nice. In principle the tempi changes are really lovely but were not straight in the hindquarters. The horse does not truly passage (just slow trot) and in piaffe he gets wide behind due to lack of balance. He stays on the spot and is secure in the rhythm.

Denmark's Nanna Skodborg Merrald brought the 16-year old stallion Blue Hors Don Olymbrio (by Jazz x Ferro) to Riyadh and landed third place with 72.904%. Her individual marks were between 71.304% (Storr) and 74.457% (Vint-Warmington). They rode good trot extensions and wonderful passage work. The rhythm in the half pass right was not regular. Overall Don Olymbrio stayed quite curled in the frame with a fidgety mouth. Merrald rides with a loop in her curb rein, but her hands are constantly busy and need to be more quiet for the mouth to close. The horse should search more for the contact. It led to an unsteady head position in several movements. There was good relaxation in the extended walk and he stayed clear in the rhythm in the collected walk. In the piaffes he struggled with the transition into it, going wide at times, but Don Olymbrio is one of the very few horses who shows the proper sit and lift in the withers. The two tempi changes were superb, the ones big but not straight in the body. Good zig zag, small pirouettes and a very nice final passage. The final halt seemed early to the marker. 

Germany's Isabell Werth is riding her 25th World Cup Finals and has won five. In the qualifier Grand Prix she placed fourth with 72.236% and shook her head as if she walked out with a 65%. This year she brought Victoria Max-Theurer's and Madeleine Winter-Schulze's 14-year old Quantaz (by Quaterback x Hohenstein) and the rider has also been on her guard with the new wind that is blowing, as one of the target in Afontbladet. While, in my opinion, Werth usually has her horses nicely in the bridle in the competition arena with a giving hand, Quantaz is known to be fidgety in the mouth and often crosses the jaws. They started the test with an extension not entirely regular in the rhythm (7-8) and in the half pass Quantaz tilted his head. The rein back was good, although he dragged his feet a bit. The second extension was good but one could notice the busy mouth. The first piaffe was on the spot, but needed to be more off the forehand (7.5 - 9). She rode the extended walk with low, wide hands and in the collected the horse lost clarity in rhythm after C (5.5 - 6.5).  The second piaffe was early to the marker and slightly backstepped with the left hind. Werth clearly tried to ride the horse in an open frame, but this also meant less control and it had its effect in the canter work. The entire line of two tempi's was broken (1 - 2) as he was off her aids. The ones were better despite some snorting, but there was another mistake in the change at X (2 - 4). She saved the right pirouette and recovered well on the final centerline with scores between 7 - 9. 

Harmony

The two most pleasing, harmonious rides of the day came from German Raphael Netz and Belgian Flore de Winne, but remarkably both have horses that really struggle in the piaffe. 

Raphael Netz and Sonja Krall's 13-year old KWPN gelding Great Escape Camelot (by Johnson x Turbo Magic) placed fifth with 72.003%. The 25-year old sits beautifully on his horse! Great seat, wonderful hand position, minimal with his aids. His Dutch bred horse is quite a leg-mover but Netz rode him with very controlled, even steps. In the beginning Camelot leaned a bit into the bridle and opened the mouth, but Raphael tried to keep him elastic in the contact without disruption the silhouette. The extended walk had good relaxation, the passage was well engaged, the extended canter really lovely. In the zig zag to the right the canter lost some collection and the one tempi's were correct but could cover more ground. Camelot does piaffes like a handstand: falling on the shoulders and bumping the croup high, but Netz stays calm, keeps him in the spot. In the future more sit and self carriage need to be developed.  The final centerline was nice and straight with easy transitions in and out of piaffe. Wonderful.

Also Belgian Flore de Winne did a laudable job on her 10-year old Hanoverian stallion Flynn (by Fahrenheit x Sir Oldenburg), presenting such a steady, quiet and consistent silhouette. The first passage needed to be a bit more closed and in the extended walk the neck could stretch more, but the canter work was extremely smooth with straight, easy)going tempi changes, a nice zig zag, small centered pirouettes. The issues are in the piaffe where he crosses behind and the collected walk which in principle wasn't shown. In the extended trot, the horse properly lengthened stride and frame! Well done for a first World Cup ride. They got 70.575% for 7th place (scores between 68.261 - Foy) and 73.370% (Ebert).

Disgruntlement at the Bottom

In the field of 17 riders 8 scored above 70% which is not that different from other years. Two riders were quite outspoken about their disappointed feelings at the end of the day, expecting a higher score.  

Almost immediately after coming out of the ring, French Morgan Barbancon complained of the 68.292% she got on 18-year old Sir Donnerhall II, who really had difficulties with the piaffe today (which have a double coefficient), did not show a full first extended trot, and dropped out of the final passage. He also showed nice movements and overall the silhouette was fairly nice despite the sugared mouth and trembling lip. Morgan sat quietly in the saddle and had her horse  with good length in the neck. The poor piaffes and issues in the passage weighed heavily on her score.

"I feel extremely betrayed by our sport," she took to Instagram. "A sport so beautiful yet so political. All I think we ask for is a bit more consideration for our hard work. Unfortunately, it seems that even though we compete in the same event, riders are often judged inconsistently. Today, in my case, my focus on demonstrating harmony was somehow interpreted as a lack of energy."

Inspired by Morgan's statement, Belgium's Larissa Pauluis also complained online. She brought her 2022 World Championships ride First Step Valentin (by Vitalis x Fidermark) to Riyadh but had a below-par performance on her chestnut stallion. He was strong in the contact and not as engaged and closed in the body in the piaffe and passage. They scored 68.494%. She wrote, "mistakes are definitely not punished in the same way for everyone. It is high time that this changed. It is very disrespectful for the horses, the riders and all the direct and indirect stakeholders who support us."

There is nothing new about "less famous" riders feeling they are judged more strictly. Only once you reach a certain "elite status" judges become more lenient in down-scoring mistakes; sometimes even with the blatant errors (like broken tempi's which weren't seen as for instance at the CDI Aachen Festival 4 Dressage). They usually get "punished" with a 6.5 instead of a 4. A mediocre extended/collected walk or extended trot still gets them a 7 and, lord behold, a 6.5 on a really bad day. Nil novum sub sole. It's not their score that needs to be higher, but the top ranked ones more fairly brought down in case of imperfections.

Moving on to the Freestyle

The 2024 World Cup Finals come to a conclusion on Friday with the freestyle final. Fifteen of the 17 riders in the Grand Prix qualified in the Grand Prix for the Kur.

Dutch Thamar Zweistra could not bring her usual level to the fore on the 11-year old NRPS registered Hexagon's Ich Weiss (by Rubiquil x Negro). She left the arena with a 66.103% but later on the results page showed her eliminated. The Dutch Equestrian Federation communicated that during the tack check, "the stewards noticed an abrasion on the outside of his cheek, between the noseband and the bit. Probably caused by sweat and rubbing with the noseband." They were eliminated based on the blood rule.

Moldovan Alisa Glinka, who rode her second World Cup Finals right after giving birth to her fifth child, scored 62.873% on the 10-year old Brandenburg bred Abercrombie (by Ampere x Wolkentanz II). A minimum of 65% is required to be eligible to ride the freestyle.

Photos © Dirk Caremans / Stefan Lafrentz

Related Links
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2024 World Cup Finals
Scores: 2024 World Cup Finals