OMAHA, Neb.--Germany's Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on TSF Dalera BB won the Dressage World Cup for the second time in their spectacular career when winning the deciding Freestyle competition at the series Final on April 7.
Steffen Peters (Photo by Sarah Miller)The U.S. competitors put on strong performances in front of a supportive home crowd.
Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper in fourth was the highest placed for the U.S., while Anna Buffini on FRH Davinia la Douce was sixth and Alice Tarjan on Serenade MF was ninth.
"This was a very strong championship for our three combinations here in Omaha. Everyone continued to improve as the week went on, and I'm really proud of what we were able to accomplish," said Debbie McDonald, U.S. Dressage Technical Advisor. “The World Cup experience is something we always have combinations aim for and to be able to ride in front of a home crowd in this kind of championship environment is really special and something all three of these riders will remember."
Peters of San Diego, Calif., adjusted his famous freestyle with Suppenkasper from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to add more music and difficulty.
Peters earned a personal best freestyle score of 83.921% to place fourth.
“It was very good, very exciting,"said Peters. "We tried to top it a little bit from Tokyo. We made it a little bit better, and that’s very hard because it was already such a good freestyle to start with. The crowd loved it, 'Mopsie' loved it, and I loved it. The extensions were great. They worked so well. He was so with me, really uphill. Sometimes he gets a little low in the bridle, but today he was up, looking for every ounce of energy, and it felt amazing.”
BUFFINI, also of San Diego, on FRH Davinia la Douce delivered an entertaining freestyle to music from “Top Gun: Maverick,” which included Buffini’s vocals during the walk music.
Anna Buffini (Photo by Sarah Miller)She had a clean performance with creative movements, including one-tempis on a single loop serpentine to score 77.843% and sixth place.
“I’m thrilled. I couldn’t have asked for more," said Buffini. "I couldn’t have asked for a better test. We were conservative on purpose on the first day to have a clean test and pushed more today. To still have a clean test when taking more risks is everything you could want. I hope the crowd loved it as much as I did. We made this for them, and I hope we made them proud.”
Tarjan of Oldwick, N.J. concluded her World Cup Final debut with a freestyle highlighting Serenade MF’s elegance.
She gave a solid performance with movements such as starting with a canter pirouette after the initial halt and demonstrated challenging movements like piaffe pirouettes in both directions to finish ninth with a score of 75.207%.
“I’m really happy with the horse. I think the horse was fantastic and redeemed herself from last time (after a miscommunication in the Grand Prix)," said Tarjan. "It is a work in progress, of course, but we’ll keep training. I think the trot work overall was pretty good, and the passage half-pass she was on for it.”
VON BREDOW-WENDL arrived in Omaha as firm favourites but looked vulnerable in Wednesday’s Grand Prix when the 16-year-old mare was super-excited to return to competition after a few months’ break.
Jessica von Bredlow Werndl (Photo by Sarah Miller)But in the Freestyle Dalera was right back in the zone that saw Bredow=Wendl win team and individual gold medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games and again at the European Championships in 2021 before putting their names on the FEI Dressage World Cup™ Roll of Honour 12 months ago in Leipzig, Germany.
It seemed likely that Wednesday’s Grand Prix result in which von Bredow-Werndl’s compatriot Isabell Werth finished second with DSP Qantaz and Denmark’s Nanna Skodborg Merrald on Blue Horse Zepter finished third would be replicated in the Freestyle.
But Merrald, who seems to have come out of nowhere in the last few months, produced a spectacular performance to place second over five-time series champion Werth.
Fourth from last to go, Werth on DSP Qantaz went into the lead, posting 85.671.
The smile on her face showed that 31 years after she first won the prestigious Dressage World Cup, the 53-year-old rider is enjoying herself as much as ever.
And the crowd adored her Bonnie Tyler themed musical score, bursting into wild applause as she drew to a halt.
“It was super and I was so happy," said Werth. "This was our best Freestyle together and he was so with me that it was perfect! I really love this Freestyle - it is so difficult and there’s no time to breathe or to think about what is going on - I’m in one tunnel and each step has to come after the next and it worked really perfect today!”.
But then von Bredow-Werndl took the floor, and with mesmerizing piaffe/passage, and half-passes in both trot and canter that seem even more fluent than ever before, they soared out in front when scoring a massive 90.482.
“She was incredible, she went in with no wet hair (sweat) because I didn’t do a lot outside, but she was so wet because of the atmosphere," the 37-year-old Bredow-Wendl said. "It was really hot in there and she again was a little bit scared but she trusted me 100%, that was the difference tonight. I was confident and we were mirroring each other, she was confident and I got confident. She was excited but she trusted me from the very first step.”
America’s Steffen Peters, series champion in Las Vegas in 2009, was second-last to go and, always a crowd pleaser and especially on home ground, he slotted in behind Werth with a mark of 83.921.
With only Skodborg Merrald on Blue Hors Zepter were left, it seemed the top two places were already decided, but the Danish rider was having none of that.
There’s something very special about the relationship these two have established in a very short time.
The chestnut gelding formerly ridden by both her Danish counterpart Daniel Bachmann Andersen and Sweden’s Patrik Kittel is blossoming like never before, even though he is already 15 years old.
“He was really on fire," said Merrald, who scored 87.146. "I had to be so careful all the way around, it was a bit difficult to come back after extended canter but I’m so thrilled! My journey with him has been so short, we have only been together for four months and I have the feeling I can ask for so much more. He is amazing.”
“To score higher I need to get to know him better, but for now I just need to take it easy and be happy with the way it is and I think it will come slowly," she said. "The judges have to get to know him also.”
“He gives such an amazing feeling, he wants to do so much, already in the warm-up I could feel it and I wondered if I should have worked him more in the morning because we only did walking,” she said.
“But I just had to work with him and make him comfortable and get him to listen to me, and he gives such a good feeling. The only thing I want to change now is the music, because I think the theme is a bit weird - “Time to say goodbye”. It is lovely music and it fits him perfectly but the theme could be a little happier so I will change that!”, she said.
New double-champion, von Bredow-Werndl, won’t be changing her French-themed Freestyle music anytime soon however, and insisted that it is “just a nice coincidence” that she has adopted it ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“I always loved French singer Édith Piaf, this music gives me goosebumps, especially on the last centreline”, she said.
Talking about her return to the sport just a couple of months after giving birth to her second child, daughter Ella Marie who arrived last August during the FEI World Championship, she said “it’s just a passion to get back in the saddle as soon as possible because I just love what I do and so do my horses, and they made it pretty easy for me to come back that fast!”
Her second win puts Germany on a level with The Netherlands with 13 wins each in this series which in 2023 celebrates its 36th anniversary.
She has a long way to go to catch up with compatriot Werth who has five wins, or Dutch superstar Anky van Grunsven who recorded a phenomenal nine victories during her amazing career.
“Dalera is such a special creature to have in my life. She makes everything possible - she is a dream!”, said the newly-crowned Dressage World Cup champion.
