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2006 World Equestrian
Games
Photo and Text Report - Saturday
August 26
Anky van Grunsven Finds Her Golden Lining
All Photos copyrighted: Astrid
Appels / Eurodressage.com
No Reproduction allowed without permission/payment
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The 2006 World Equestrian Games
for dressage came to a conclusion on Saturday
evening August 26, 2006, with a historic, unprecedented
and unique Grand Prix kur to music class in the
main stadium in Aachen. With almost 50,000 spectators
completely filling up the seats and standing area,
dressage as a sport has proven to be hot, hot,
hot!
Fifteen riders qualified for the freestyle and
it was the Queen of the Kur, Anky van Grunsven,
who waltzed her way to Kur Gold. With a score of
86.100%, she stayed far ahead of silver medallist
Andreas Helgstrand (81.500%) and bronze medallist
Isabell Werth (80.750%). |
| Aboard her Olympic mount Salinero,
a Hanoverian gelding by Salieri x Lungau, van Grunsven
rode her fabulous Slings & Kerkhof composed "L'Esprit
Chanson" freestyle for the umpteenth and probably
last time. Van Grunsven's music is far superior
to any other tune that played in Aachen and this
gave her extra points, for sure. At the beginning
of the test she was behind her Edith Piaff inspired
music, but caught up in the middle of the ride.
Salinero's passage was uneven, showing more engagement
with his left hind leg than his right, but in the
middle of the test it evened out. The half passes
and piaffe were delightful, though the contact
with the bit could have been a bit lighter. The
first of the single tempi changes was difficult
and the changes could have covered more ground.
There was no end halt. Despite this criticism,
van Grunsven rode a very smooth test with
lots of power and expression and continued
to wield the axe of power as "Queen of the Kur". |
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The silver medal went to the
favourite of the crowd, the Danish Andreas Helgstrand.
Throughout the show, Helgstrand has been carried
to unprecedented heights in his dressage career
by the spirit of the audience. He was stunned when
he won bronze in the Grand Prix Special and he
was thrilled with his silver Grand Prix kur
medal.
Aboard the Blue Hors owned Danish mare Blue
Hors Matine, Helgstrand seemed to have
redefined piaffe and passage. The power, expression
and suppleness of Matine's pi-pa, of course,
comes at the certain cost at this early stage
in her Grand Prix career.
Though she doesn't look stressed, the tension
of this
super
charged
pi-pa performance
is reflected in a perpetually swooshing tail
and the contact with the bit that could be more
through and light. |
Helgstrand rode a brand new kur which was
designed specially for Matine. The music is
based on hits
of the 70s, 80s and 90s, featuring songs such
as "Que Sera" and "Lady Marmalade".
Despite the fact that Matine is only 9-years
old, the freestyle she had to
perform required advanced technical
Grand Prix skills which are usually only confirmed
in a 10 or an 11-year old FEI horse.
Helgstrand
opened with
a highly
difficult
double pirouette, followed by one tempi's on
the center line and another double pirouette.
The mare moves in two pieces in the collected
trot and can not seem to find clear balance and
rhythm,
despite the scope and ground covering in her
gaits. A mistake in the single tempi's were peanuts
compared
to some gorgeous parts such as the canter extension
and the phenomenal piaffe and passage. With a
score of 81.50%, Matine won silver and she showed
their
is room for much more! |
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Isabell Werth and Madeleine Winter-Schulze's
Satchmo (by Sao Paulo x Legat) entered the main
ring in walk with long reins. Only when she rode
round the main ring, she picked up the reins and
started doing a rising trot. Riding to her third
Grand Prix horse Apache's music (featuring Land
of Hope and Glory), Werth excelled in the purity
of her performance. Though the passage can be a
bit more closed, it was even throughout the test.
The canter is Satchmo's weakest gait, regularly
losing the clear 3-beat rhythm in the collected
pieces on the short side, but the flying changes
and pirouettes are pure and correct. The only small
hiccup was in the final piaffe pirouette where
there was clear loss of rhythm. Werth and Satchmo
did not spark enough to win gold as they did in
the Special, but their kur was still very nice.
80.750% and the bronze medal. |
.The audience hoped that local heroine Nadine
Capellmann (who lives in Aachen) would claim
a medal in the Grand Prix kur, but she finished
fourth (79.900%)
after a ride below par, that was generously
scored. Nadine's music is superb. It does not
have the
precision
of a Slings & Kerkhof kur, but Elvis Presley's
vocals heard throughout the ride generate
a goose bump effect.
Capellmann's kur ride lacked
smoothness and it was obvious that she and
her horse were not on the same wavelength. The
first
piaffe was hesitant, the second rhythmical
but the third, which was performed in a pirouette,
had loss of rhythm. Elvis' powerful passage,
which
is probably better than Matine's
because of its naturalness, was sometimes uneven
as the rider could not keep a steady light
contact with the bit. She was constantly making
visual
hand corrections which messed with the picture.
Capellmann won team gold on Wednesday and for
more medals, she'll have to try again at the
2007 European
Championships in Falsterbo. |
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Heike Kemmer and Bonaparte landed a fifth place
with 78.600%. Riding to new music which is a virtual
copy of Capellmann's Elvis kur, but then featuring
different songs such as Good Vibrations. There
were many small mistakes that kept the German pair
from a medal. The piaffe-passage transitions were
not always smooth. The pirouette right was too
big, the pirouette left hesitant, the one tempi's
were flat and in the two tempi's, Kemmer made strong
half halts with her hands, which were to visual.
Of course there were great pieces in her ride too.
The silhouette of Bonaparte is one of the best
in Aachen. The horse is constantly uphill, light
and focused and his trot and canter extensions
are text book. |
Finnish Kyra Kyrklund rode a new freestyle
as Max had outgrown his previous 'Grand Prix
baby' Enrico Moriconi freestyle. The new one
is still quite bombastic with many hobo and clarinet
tunes, but it suits the pair well.
The highlights of the ride were the pirouettes
with one hand (see photo) and the superb extended
walk. The two tempi's could have been more uphill
and the ones straighter. The final passage showed
a twitching left hind leg before X but that smoothened
out before G.
Kyrklund scored 77.300% and placed seventh. |
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Kyrklund's Swedish student Jan Brink landed a
ninth spot with 75.800%. A mistake in the two tempi's
and a difficult transition to canter were the biggest
booboo's of the ride. The walk could have been
more ground covering. As usual, Mr. Goransson's
Briar (by Magini x Kroket) stood out with his piaffe
and
passage. |
The prize for the best contact with the bit should
have gone to Swiss Silvia Ikle and her Swiss bred
Salieri CH. The horse was soft and light in the
mouth all the time and Ikle kept her hands quiet
throughout the ride, while Salieri was clearly
at peace with the contact in his mouth. It was
delightful to watch!
The piaffe-passage tour highlighted Ikle's kur.
Salieri is in total harmony with his rider. He
piaffes and passages with no sign of tension
at all. The canter half passes were great, but
the trot half passes showed loss of balance and
the extended walk was mediocre with insufficient
overstep.
The judges rewarded Ikle's kur with 74.750%
which placed her 11th. |
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