Von Bredow-Werndl Means Business and Tops Grand Prix at 2024 Olympic Games

- Text © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion about the competition)  
-- Photos © Astrid Appels/Eurodressage - No reproduction allowed - NO SCREENSHOTS!

Reigning Olympic and European Champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl proved that she means business at the 2024 Olympic Games and has her sight and ambition fully set on renewing the coveted Olympic title on a fresh Dalera BB. The German duo continued their streak of being the undefeated World Number 1 at the Palace of Versailles by winning the Grand Prix.

Since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics the pair has won every single international dressage test they entered in and also in the opening class of the Olympics - the Grand Prix - she relegated her rivals to queue behind her. 

The Big Five

This time, however, it's not going to be so easy as a group of five riders, which has been nicknamed "The Big Five," have marked themselves as the clear individual medal contenders with the ability to crack the highest scores in the freestyle. They are Werndl, Dufour, Werth, Fry, and Merrald.

They are all breathing down each other's necks and a single mistake in the freestyle will mean either in or out of the medals. While Werndl stayed 1,2% ahead of second placed Cathrine Dufour on Freestyle in the Grand Prix, it's worth nothing that Dufour made a mistake and her score would have been very close to Jessica's had she stayed fault-free.

The Grand Prix top five were separated by a total of 4% from each other, which seems a long way, but we all know that Freestyle judging is far more arbitrary and with less points to be given, the fluctuation between the judges is greater and unfortunately much more personal flavour and emotion driving. Most riders heading to Paris have kurs particulary designed for their horses and the Paris Olympic setting (playing with French themes, or just customizing music to their horses) so they strategically play with the strings of the heart. That individual medal final will be on Sunday 4 August 2024.

But let's talk first on how day two of the Grand Prix concluded and the shocks, thrills, surprises and disappoinments the class brought about as team qualifier. 

Group D: The Big One

Grand Prix day two kicked off on Wednesday 31 July at 10h00, one hour earlier than the first, brutally hot Grand Prix day.  While temperatures soared again to 30 ° C, it all felt a bit more barable for some reason...

Group D opened the morning session and it had no less than three of the Big Five riders in it, so it put everyone straight away on the edge of their seat. Charlotte Fry and Gert-Jan van Olst 's 13-year old KWPN stallion Glamourdale (by Lord Leatherdale x Negro) were first to go and set the tone. Fry rode the black stallion in a very nice trot tempo. The rein back had nice big steps but was hurried and one meter off the track. The first piaffe was a bit unbalanced, the second one much better. The passage was nicely regular. The extended walk did not had the greatest overtrack but was good enough. Glamourdale catches the eye with his spectacular canter stride which pays off in tons of expression in the extended canter and tempi changes. The pirouettes were small and had good sit. It was a super smooth, powerful and energetic test but overall the horse is tense in the bridle and trembles with his lower lip which is a sign that he's not truly comfortable with the contact his rider maintains.  They scored 78.913% which placed them fourth. Her low score was 77.826% and the high score 80.326%.

Contact issues with the top horses turned out to be the talk of the day as all top five ranked horses did not show the ideal elasticity and relaxation in the mouth: horses in a soft contact still showed their tongue or stuck it out at times (Dalera), or gaped even when the half halt was minor (Freestyle), Werth's Wendy is not yet in real self carriage and the rider had the curb rein firmly on (which also led to regular open mouth moments), while Glamourdale thas a tense mouth and trembles with his lower lip. Zepter is also not the best in his mouth and has been known for gaping and showing tongue, but maybe this time was the most quiet in the mouth of the five. Several of them used a lot of sugar to cover up these issues at no avail. 

The new partnership between Cathrine Dufour and Mount St. John Freestyle (by Fidermark x Donnerhall) was the next to thrill the audience with amazing dressage. The Danish rider took over Freestyle from Charlotte Dujardin (GBR) who produced her to Grand Prix level and won bronze at the 2018 WEG in Tryon. After that Freestyle did not make it to Tokyo as Dujardin choose her own Gio and then sold it for the big bucks to her student Annabella Pidgley and Freestyle was sidelined with an injury. A break arose between Dujardin and Blundell, the owner of Freestyle and several other horses which Dujardin got in training to ensure her place in the top echelons of the sport after Valegro's retirement. Blundell's Olympic fire was still burning and she nurtured Freestyle back to fitness. In the late summer of 2023 she connected with Danish Dufour, and a new alliance was forged. Cathrine saw her Olympic career continue after the sale of Bohemian (to Korea) and the return of Vamos Amigos to owner Pidgley in 2023.  

Dufour and Freestyle made their CDI debut in December 2023 at the indoor show in Kronenberg. Then they won Herning and the Danish Championships and were selected on the Danish team for Paris. Her ride on Freestyle was probably the most anticipated one of all in Versailles and boy did they live up to the expectations. At the Danish Championships Freestyle looked a bit iffy, but here in the Paris arena she produced very elegant, regular trot work. The entire test was ridden with so much precision and harmony, everything looked quiet, peaceful, the mare happily working for her rider always ears pricked. The first piaffe was nicely on the spot with a top rhythm, the extended walk was excellent , the second piaffe was mega nice displaying real sit. The two tempi's looked easy, the zig zag was well ridden although the self carriage to the left seemed less, there was a mistake in the ones though, but the pirouettes were tiny although the stride in the left one could be more pronounced. The final centerline was well ridden, engaged and rhythmical. Overall this test was a beautiful one to watch: easy going and relaxed looking, but there is the issue of the gaping. Dufour seems so subtle with her hand aids, but with each half halt, the mare responds with an open mouth. Too much snaffle? Noseband too tight or not fitted properly? A jaw or a tooth issue. I'm puzzled. The mare gives a very content expression, while Dalera is also in a light contact but has a frozen mouth (no foaming). Either way, Dufour and Freestyle scored 80.792% which turned out to be the second highest score of the day and made her the group winner. Her low score was 79.022% and 82.717% the high score.

Big whopper number three in Group D was Isabell Werth and Wendy (by Sezuan x Soprano), now officially registered with the FEI as owned by Bolette Wandt and Madeleine Winter-Schulze after Eurodressage's query in Aachen. The tall black mare has developed tremendously under Isabell Werth and already showed great form in Aachen. In her Paris Grand Prix test the mare started with her rather mechanic looking front leg in trot. The first trot extension was actually the only one in which she achieved overtrack (7.5 - 8.0). In the other two she didn't have proper overstep (scores between 7.0 - 8.0?!), although a lengthening of stride (and not just front leg) should be achieved. (FEI  explanation: The Horse covers as much ground as possible. Without hurrying, the steps are lengthened to the utmost as a result of great impulsion from the hindquarters. The Athlete allows the Horse to lengthen the frame whilst controlling the poll. The forefeet should touch the ground on the spot towards which they are pointing. The movement of the fore and hind legs should reach equally forward in the moment of extension.) Then came the half passes with the right ones being better carried on the hindquarters. The passage was regular and quick off the ground with active hindlegs but overall she dropped on the forehand, which also showed in the bridle contact with the curb rein on and the mouth opening. The extended walk was well ridden with good relaxation and activity. The collected walk was close to ambling (6.0 - 7.5). The second piaffe-passage had an excellent rhythm but was slightly crooked to the right. In the two tempi changes the first change to the left was shorter. The extended canter was really uphill and engaged. The zig zag had no mistakes but lacked ground cover. As the test progressed the canter became shorter and shorter.  The final passage on the centerline was the best one, but  in the end halt she visibly put herself into a stretched position, moving the hindlegs out from under the body. That halt scored between 6.0 - 8.0.

The judges rewarded this ride with a generous 79.363%. Werth is the most decorated Olympic dressage rider in the world and continues to amaze everyone with her skill, talent and grit to produce horse after horse to top level or polish to perfection confirmed Grand Prix horses (such as Wendy and Quantaz). Wendy is a fabulous horse with so much talent and promise, but it's clear that the panel awarded some halo points. The fact that low score was 76.304% and the high score 82.717% says it all. Three judges had her over 80% (Saleh, Baarup, Lehrmann), four under (Sanders, Osinski, Ringmark, Wessels).

Group D had more interesting rides and stories. Yessin Rahmouni made his come back on All at Once, riding his third Olympics for Morocco. He broke his neck in a riding accident in the early spring and worked hard at his recovery. Paris was his first competition ride and he brought along his long-time trainer, triple Olympic champion Anky van Grunsven to coach him. The stallion was tighter in the neck than usual, but did not get distracted or "testosterony" this time and showed great piaffe work. Indian Anush Agarwalla wrote history for his country as the first ever Indian Olympic dressage rider.  Triple Spanish Olympian Juan Antonio Jimenez had his final competition ride on Euclides MOR after six years non-stop international Grand Prix showing. It proved to be one ride too many as the 15-year old Lusitano said enough is enough and parked himself in the piaffe. The horse will move on as a schoolmaster for his owner, Mexican Lorena Morales. A sensational ride from Belgian Domien Michiels on Intermezzo van het Meerdaalhof put Belgium into a historic sixth team place, qualified for the Team Final. Michiels posted a personal best of 72.531%. They peaked at the right place and time. 

And then there was Isabel Freese who also had the ride of a lifetime. Lone Boegh Henriksen and Paul Schockemöhle's Oldenburg stallion Total Hope (by Totilas out of Olympic medal winning mare Weihegold) was not looking for mares and had his focus on his rider. They showed elastic half passes, even though he hitched with the right hind in the half pass let. The transitions were so fluent in the first piaffe-passage, even though he needs to move the hindlegs more under the body in passage. The second pi-pa was smooth as well, the two tempi's were big, the extended canter mega, the ones top, the zig zag clear. There was a small hesitation in the right pirouette and the final piaffe has good rhythm but could have more sit. It was a personal best test for sure and she was rewarded with a well earned 76.397% and ninth place in the Grand Prix. 

Group E: Globe Trotters

Group E stood out by its great variety of nationalities: from Austria to Finland, to Ecuador, Dominican Republic and even Australia. 

The group winner was Dutch Emmelie Scholtens who is a long-time Dutch team rider making her Olympic debut on Ad Valk's 11-year old KWPN stallion Indian Rock (by Apache x Vivaldi). The dark bay stallion is a picture perfect beauty with his big neck and handsome face with popping eyes. The stallion has three high quality gaits but is not yet at the ideal point of self carriage as he often drops behind the vertical in almost all lateral movements and tempi changes. The rein back was well executed and he piaffes on the spot. The second pi-pa had a smooth rhythm, but overall the nose needed to be more out. The pirouettes were small but had tiny balance issues. The stallion breathes very heavily which makes it sound he's not the most comfortable in the work. They posted 74.581% for the win and a spot in the individual finals on Sunday. 

Austrian Victoria Max-Theurer achieved her GP highest score in two years on the Westfalian bred Abegglen (by Ampere x Carabas). Watching the pair felt like re-uniting with an old friend as the combination hardly shows and if they do, it's only in Austria. For the past two years they strictly competed at Austrian CDI's in St. Margarethen and their own home show Achleiten. They made an appearance in front of a bigger audience at the 2023 European Championships in Riesenbeck, where they were 23rd in the Special with 72.158%. Here in Paris they had scored well with their canter work, but lost a lot of points as the walk was poor in rhythm. They ended up with 74.301% and qualified for the individual final.

Swedish Therese Nilshagen is one of the few riders who has taken the same horse to three Olympics. The 17-year old Oldenburg stallion Dante Weltino (by Danone x Welt Hit II) travelled to Rio in 2016 but was substituted by reserve Mads Hendeliowitz when Dante turned lame there. The pair has its actual Olympic debut in Tokyo and are now at their third, but officially second, Olympics in Paris. The handsome black stallion is light in the contact and gives an overall friendly and happy impression, but his self-carriage was not so much on point as he bopped the head a little too much and the passage could have been more on the hindlegs. The extended canter remains a strong point as well as the pirouettes. They got 73.991%, a score that put them in the individual finals.

Lithuanian born Polish rider Sandra Sysojeva rides the youngest horse at the dressage Olympics: 8-year old Oldenburg mare Maxima Bella (by Millennium x Christ). The pair is competing in their 8th international show in 6 months time and have become Poland's team anchor. The sympathetic mare stands out with her very eager nature and willingness to perform. She over-achieves with picking up her leg: some find her piaffe-passage mind blowing as she lifts the legs so high, so energetically, so expressively, while others like to see her use her back much more (instead of dropping it so much) and sit more in piaffe instead of passing on the spot. Either way, Sysojeva rides her patiently and she never appears to overask the horse. There was a mistake in the two tempi changes and in the pirouette right she puts both hind feet together instead of striding along. They posted 73.416% in their Olympic debut ride and made it to the Kur to music. The judges had her between 71.739% and 74.783%.

Ecuadorean Julio Mendoza Loor is the 2023 Pan American Games gold medalist and winner of the 4* Aachen Grand Prix Kur to Music. His target was to make it to the freestyle finals in Paris and they have proven to have the ability to score high enough for that aim. Unfortunately they could not deliver in the Grand Prix. Mendoza received the ride on  the 13-year old KWPN gelding Jewel's Goldstrike (by Bretton Woods x Scandic) from Dutch-American Eliane Cordia-Van Reesema after the chestnut proved to be too tricky for her. In the end they swapped the ownership and Goldstrike became Mendoza's career-making horse. The gelding has a fantastic piaffe-passage but there was not enough relaxation in the ride and the pi-pa became mechanic looking. The horse was against the hand of the rider regularly jerking forward, which led to an overall laboured impression of the ride. They finished on 70.839%.

One of the nicest rides when it comes to harmony was delivered by Portuguese Rita Ralao who had her horse in a wonderful frame and in a soft and elastic contact. In general her grey Lusitano horse lacked impulsion from behind, but the ride was sympathetic, showcasing good training. Sixteen years after her father Miguel Ralao Duarte made his debut at the 2008 Olympics, daughter Rita rode down the centerine at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.   Six years after making her international show debut on a young horse at the 2018 World Young Horse Championships in Ermelo, Finnish Joanna Robinson lived the dream as she made her Olympic premier in Paris aboard Glamouraline (by Johnson x Samba Hit). 

The oldest horse on the show ground, 19-year old KWPN mare Aquamarijn (by United x Gribaldi), also signalled that after 8 years of international Grand Prix level competition with starts at the 2019 and 2022 World Cup Finals, 2019 and 2023 Pan American Games, 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and 2022 World Championships, the Paris Olympics were the final straw. Dominican republic's Yvonne Losos de Muniz produced some very successful and high scoring rides with this horse but in Paris she literally had her hands full with Aquamarijn, who felt totally out of sorts in the arena. She threw the tongue out while travelling the arena and was tense throughout the test. Aquamarijn, just like Blue Hors Zatchmo, were the two horses that did not fair well on this Olympic stage and it makes one wonder if retiring or excusing them from the test would have been the more considerate choice, in all fairness. In the current climate in which animal welfare is such a hot topic presenting such stressed horses in the arena does not bode well.

Group F: Dalera Wins

Everyone was anticipating the last ride in the final group of the day, Group F: Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on the 17-year old Trakehner mare Dalera BB (by Easy Game x Handryk). With her growing age, Dalera has been competing sparingly this 2024 show season: indoor in Basel and then only two outdoor starts this spring: one at her local CDI in Munich and the German Championships. She bested the field in Germany and now showed they are able to pick up a second, consecutive gold medal in Paris. However that's not in the bag just yet. 

Their Grand Prix ride had many highlights but also several small issues that will need to be ironed out in the freestyle. For instance they started with a halt that was not square nor immobile (6.5 - 8.0 !!). They then showed massive trot extensions. On photo they do not really show a hindleg truly engaging under, but there is plenty of overtrack and she doesn't hurry or quicken the tempo. In the half pass right the left hind leg does not smoothly move under the body, the half pass left is more regular. The rein back was a little crooked, the second trot extension was big. The first piaffe-passage was very smooth with flawless transitions. The extended walk had good overtrack and a clear V-moment in the 4-beat rhythm. In the collected walk she became lateral in the corner before M (5.0 - 7.0!). The second piaffe-passage was fluent but she started to show her tongue on the right side, even though Jessica maintains a very light and soft contact. The zig zag was smooth, the two's went well, the extended canter was ground covering. She did not make a mistake in the one's but the tail was busy and the tongue showed again. The pirouettes were small but the left one was better. They finished with an energetic and rhythmical final centerline. They posted

On a side note, it must be remarked that during Werndl's canter work, the sound system started to play louder music with constant signing and lyrics (something "Queen of the Night"), which suddenly made her test feel like a freestyle. The assistance of the music through her canter movements played with the positive emotions of the viewers, while other riders had more neutral, instrumental background music (sometimes a word is heard here or there (Kumbaya during Steffen Peters' ride) but during Werndl's test it felt like a music concert. Some people might have loved the Queen of the Night drama to Jessica's ride, but the music technician in his booth did not create a level field of play for all riders, in all fairness.

France's number one in dressage, Pauline Basquin and the 14-year old Zangersheide registered Sertorius de Rima Z (by Sandro Hit) qualified for the individual final after scoring 73.711% and finishing second in Group F behind Dalera.  The French duo came of age in 2023 and became a beacon of elegant riding, but in 2024 the pressure to be the best for France at the Olympics must have been felt as the horse was pushed to go from show to show. The high energy horse did not entirely cope with the electric arena in Versailles, particularly in the canter work. They began with very elegant, lightfooted trot work with the collected trot at times being too passagey. The trot extensions were "true": real lengthening of stride and frame. The extended walk was tense with not enough overtrack nor relaxation. The second piaffe was nicely and carefully ridden. The canter work felt a bit hurried and tense, particularly in the zig zag. The two's could have been straighter and there was a mistake in the ones. An "ooooh" was heard through the 14,000 seat stadium. The pirouette right was a bit hesitant but they finished with a very floaty passage on the last centerline. 

Dutch Hans Peter Minderhoud rode his fourth Olympic Games on his fourth horse. After Nadine (2008), Johnson (2016) and Dream Boy (2021), Toto Jr took him to Paris, where he scored 72.578% in the Grand Prix to place 21st. New Zealand's Melissa Galloway was living the dream and earned the fern when she went down the centerline with the palace of Versailles in the backdrop. She scored a new New Zealand Olympic record with the 68.913% result she put on the board. 

For Team USA the 2024 Paris Olympics have been a dramatic one and a low point in their dressage history. After winning silver in Tokyo, their team got eliminated on day one after Marcus Orlob's mare had knocked herself and drew blood on the right hind leg. She was excused from the test and with no drop score in the current Olympic format, USA was out.  Adrienne Lyle ended up with 72.593% (20th) on Tuesday, while the team's most experienced rider, six-time Olympia Steffen Peters, was to ride as third last rider on Wednesday.  Peters and Suppenkasper (by Spielberg x Krack C) arrived in Europe in June as America's highest scoring pair on the U.S. Short List and proved form at the selection trial in Hagen (although scoring considerably lower than in previous years). He was nominated on the team with a bye for the CDI Kronberg, but at the CDIO Aachen they had a ride below par and whispers were made that a replacement on the team was afoot. This didn't happen as the team banked on Peters' experience and track record. Unfortunately in Paris the pair could not reproduce its form of years past and although their test started well with good trot extensions and half passes, the horse shuffled in the passage and got really wide in the piaffe; something Suppenkasper has always done with Peters, but now the horse got more tense and uncomfortable in them. The tension carried through in the extended walk, which didn't happen, and the collected was short. In canter they improved again with a very nice extended canter and good one tempi changes. The left pirouette was the best one of the two, but on the final centerline the horse shuffled in the passage and in the piaffe at X totally lost balance, jumped to the right on three legs, and in the end did not stand immobile in the final halt. They scored 66.491% and placed 51st. 

The Olympic journey of Team USA has always been a roller coaster with depths and great heights. A quick look at the team's Olympic history shows they were 4th of 6 in 1964, 8th out of 8 in 1968, 9th of 10 in 1972, then there was bronze in 1976, in 1980 they boycot the Moscow Games and went to the Alternate Olympics in Goodwood were they were 7th out of 8 teams. They retained that position for the next two cylcles: 6th out of 12 in 1984, and 6th out of 11 in 1988. Their great age started in the 1990s with bronze 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. They were back to fourth in 2008 after a dramatic Games with team horse Mythilus testing positive to doping and Brentina not showing ideal fitness (63.000% in the GP). In London 2012 they dropped to 6th out of 7 teams. A new generation arose and they were back to bronze in 2016 and even silver in 2021 with Sabine Schut-Kery and Sanceo as the U.S. sensation of the Games.  In Paris with no drop score possible on teams of three an elimination leads to the country dropping fully out of the team ranking. 

As the Excitement Builds

As the Grand Prix in Versailles concluded the board was decided for the teams that qualified for the Grand Prix Special team competition as well as the individuals that are eligible to compete for medals in the Kur to Music. 

Thirty riders will contest the Special for team medals. They are from countries Germany, Denmark, Great Britain, Netherlands,  Sweden, Belgium, France, Austria, Finland, and Australia. 

The eighteen individuals riding the Kur to Music are: Nanna Skodborg Merrald, Dinja van Liere, Daniel Bachmann Andersen, Frederic Wandres, Becky Moody, Patrik Kittel, Cathrine Laudrup Dufour, Isabell Werth, Emmelie Scholtens, Victoria Max Theurer, Jessica von Bredow Werndl, Pauline Basquin, Charlotte Fry, Carl Hester, Isabel Freese, Therese Nilshagen, Emma Kanerva, and Sandra Sysojeva.

On Saturday 3 August the Olympic journey for dressage riders continues....

- Text and Photos © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion about the competition)  

Eurodressage is taking photos of all competitors in Versailles. No reproduction allowed - NO SCREENSHOTS!

Related Link
Eurodressage Coverage of the Olympic Games