Grand Prix of the World Cup dressage stage in Amsterdam

Exciting dressage morning in the Grand Prix of Amsterdam. In the end, the defending World Cup champions, Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale, narrowly beat Isabell Werth and Wendy. Becky Moody and Jagerbomb were delighted with third place.

Here are our impressions.

Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale

Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale had already won the 2025 World Cup stage in Amsterdam before taking the title at the final in Basel a few weeks later. They got off to a good start in today’s qualifying Grand Prix. In the first part of the trot tour, the now 15-year-old Lord Leatherdale son presented himself more relaxed and easier in the contact than we have seen from him before. The flowing traversals were a highlight. The halt was good, the backward movement was permeable, but unfortunately crooked. In the piaffe – especially the second – the black horse showed improvement, with a lowered croup and quite active feet, but not always in balance. In the strong walk he came into stride and also stretched, but one would have wished for more forward and over stride. The collected walk went well.

Glamourdale played to his natural strengths in the canter, but became increasingly strong in the contact. The zig-zag traversals were a highlight – very controlled and crossing wide, while the stallion should generally take on more weight in the collection and push off the bit. In the last passage before the final salute, Fry had to give very clear aids to prevent Glamourdale from finishing the task before G.

All in all, the stallion presented himself much better than Crozet. The judges awarded exactly 80 percent. The scores ranged from 76.522 percent (first place) from the Finnish rider Maria Colliander at H to 83.043 percent from the Dutch rider Francis Verbeek-van Roy at B. Mariette Sanders-van Gansewinkel at E (79.783) and Susanne Baarup at M (80.870) both saw the pair in second place.

Werth and Wendy

Both the Dutch rider (80.0) and the Danish rider (81.957) would have seen Isabell Werth and Wendy ahead of the world champion duo. However, Maria Colliander “only” had them in third place with 74.783 percent. From a spectator’s point of view, it must be said that Maria Colliander’s score reflected the ride much more realistically than that of her colleagues.

Isabell Werth had taken Wendy to Amsterdam instead of Quantaz as originally planned because her gut feeling told her that they both needed more competition experience to get into the flow even better. This was Werth’s statement on social media. In Basel, the mare had been very tense in the Grand Prix. Isabell Werth later explained that it was windy in the warm-up tent. This could not have been the case today, as the warm-up arena in Amsterdam is also located in one of the exhibition halls. But tension also played a role for both of them today.

This already began in the trot tour, where the mare presented herself with an appealing lateral pattern, but the trot sequence was not always consistent, the reinforcement was hurried and the contact remained firm. The curb reins also predominated at times. The traverses went well, especially the first one to the right.

The mare remained stable in the neck in the passages, but Werth still couldn’t get her to let go. As always, Wendy’s feet were active and lively, but one wished for more impulsion through the body. The same applied to the piaffe. The mare lowered her croup and stepped lively diagonally in time. But here, too, one would have wished for a more relaxed topline.

The strong step was very nice.

The problem with the tension continued in canter. Here, too, one would have liked to see the canter jump from the back to the front over the released back and jumped “to the end”. As a result, the pair repeatedly make mistakes in the series changes. Today only the ones were affected. But even when the diagonal is successful without any major mistakes, as was the case in the two-in-hands today, there was a lack of suppleness and therefore a lack of the relaxed, confident jump-through that characterizes this lesson. The pirouettes were also lacking more weight-bearing. The piaffe on the final line was certainly the best of the test.

All in all, a performance that lacked suppleness and suffered from the fact that the mare did not swing. The judges nevertheless awarded 79.131 percent.

Jagerbomb – the alternative design

Becky Moody’s Jagerbomb is almost the antithesis of Wendy. While Wendy always makes you want to say “Brrr” and “Hoooh” inside, this son of Dante Weltino is very relaxed, at least on the outside. In the piaffe-passage tour, you even start to click a little inside. But the contact is steady and soft, the beat is secure, and the footing is there. But there was one problem today: in walk, the twelve-year-old KWPN gelding, who was bred by Becky Moody herself, didn’t really walk and should have stretched more in hand. In addition, he did not jump at the back once in the otherwise very successful single changes. That was expensive, but not all the judges seemed to have seen it. Jagerbomb made up for the points he lost here with great pirouettes.

The bottom line was a very nice round, which was awarded 77.239 percent, the pair’s best result to date. Four judges had the pair in third place. Only Maria Colliander saw them clearly ahead of Isabell Werth with 76.087 percent.

Zantana, the superhorse

Excitement – that is always the theme with Marike van der Putten’s twelve-year-old Oldenburg Zonik daughter Zantana. The pair made their championship debut at the European Championships in Crozet and are now competing in their second World Cup leg after Mechelen. The mare has outstanding movements and all the talent a dressage horse could possibly have. However, she is not always relaxed in her movements, which means that there is always tension in the passages in particular. Nevertheless, the Dutch duo completed the test without any major lesson mistakes and were delighted to achieve a new personal Grand Prix best of 74.826 percent. They finished fourth and were the best Dutch pair.

Alive and Kicking – the name says it all

Charlotte Dujardin’s Westphalian mare Alive and Kicking, whose sire All at Once had carried Lara van Nek to victory in the U25 Grand Prix this morning, is also twelve years old. The mare had made her World Cup debut in London, her first appearance on the big stage. She obviously hasn’t quite got used to it yet, as she still seemed to be in a hurry today. Although she piaffes and passes like a metronome, she still lacks the composure for higher scores, which would then also allow her to be sublime. In canter, one would like to see the croup lowered and the uphill tendency more secure.

The pair scored particularly well thanks to the precise riding of Charlotte Dujardin, who knows exactly how to present her horses so as not to drop a single point. She scored 73.044 percent today, placing fifth.

Other winners

Among others, they left the 2024 World Cup final winning pair, Patrik Kittel with Touchdown, behind them. With a score of 73.022, the two Swedes were narrowly beaten into sixth place.

Behind them was the winning pair from Mechelen, Larissa Pauluis (BEL) with the great piaffing Ampere-son Flambeau, who, however, always comes too close and too high up and therefore does not always swing through the body (72.50).

Dutch rider Thamar Zweistra and Luxuriouzz were also still in the money in eighth place (70.435).

The only other German, Moritz Treffinger with Fiderdance, received exactly 69 percent and came tenth.

You can find all the results here.