Carina Cassøe Krüth and Heiline's Danciera won the Grand Prix in Gothenburg

Carina Cassøe Krüth and the 15-year-old Fürstenball daughter Heiline’s Danciera have been competing in international Grand Prix sport for seven years. In 2021, they represented their home country of Denmark at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. In 2022, they were part of the victorious World Championships team and the following year they were part of the team that won bronze at the European Championships in Riesenbeck. The next big goal should have been the Olympic Games in Paris. However, after video sequences emerged showing Cassøe Krüth maltreating the mare with the crop and her trainer Andreas Helgstrand asking her to “give her a good whipping now”, Cassøe Krüth was banned by the federation and Andreas Helgstrand’s ban was extended. Rotterdam was therefore the pair’s last tournament in 2024.

They wanted to make their comeback in Aachen in 2025. However, Aachen refused her permission to compete. This decision was based on their own attitude and values in terms of horse welfare on the one hand and sporting considerations on the other. After all, the pair had not competed at a single show in 2025. So no Aachen start.

Instead, Cassøe Krüth chose two World Cup tournaments in the fall, finishing second twice in the Grand Prix and Freestyle in Poland in mid-September and fourth in both competitions in Herning in October.

The two have not played a tournament since then, not because of the ban and its consequences, but because Carina Cassøe Krüth has had a child, a little daughter.

Quasi-comeback in Gothenburg

Tilde, as the little one is called, was on her father’s arm today and witnessed how her mother turned her first competition appearance of the year into a victory. The break certainly did her mare good. She was much fresher and more motivated than she has been recently. In the trot tour she was very nice in the contact, in canter she sometimes came a little behind the aids. The highlights of the task included the walk tour – especially the collected walk -, the bomb-proof series changes and also the reinforcement in trot. While the black mare performed with a sure beat and actively, the piaffe was problematic. The mare supported herself at the front and only lifted her legs at the back instead of springing away from the ground. This did not have much to do with the classical execution of the lesson as desired. Apart from that, it was an appealing performance, especially because the mare seemed more motivated than she had been for a long time.

Carina Cassøe Krüth and Danciera won the Gothenburg Grand Prix with 74.044 percent and the team world champion fought back tears during the presentation ceremony. Before the test, she had said that she was hoping for a result in the top four. What came out in the end clearly exceeded her expectations. “I had fun and I think Danciera did too. She was really with me in the task today,” said the 41-year-old.

Second and third place to Sweden

In previous years, Patrik Kittel had always traveled to Doha in February and thus missed the World Cup tournament in his Swedish homeland. This time he wanted to be there. Even if he briefly regretted the decision early in the morning. ” When I came out of the hotel, it was -15 degrees. I thought maybe it would have been better to opt for the warmth again.” But the warm reception from the spectators made up for it. “When I came into the arena and saw this great crowd, I realized: the Scandianavium is still the Scandinavium.”

Kittel’s four-legged partner Touchdown, his current number one in the stable, probably also found it cold. Kittel won the 2024 World Cup Final in Riyadh with the 14-year-old Quaterback son Touchdown, who is Swedish like himself. Today they came second with 73.565 percent, closely followed by Kittel’s compatriot Maria von Essen on her Jazz son Invoice (73.544).

In the run-up to the race, Kittel and Touchdown were the favorites to win. Nevertheless, Kittel was not disappointed. “I ride and the judges judge. It was great fun to ride. Touchdown felt great, but he was probably a bit unsure whether dressage or field hockey was required and became a bit fast in the turns in the warm-up arena. He was pretty hot.” As a result, little things didn’t quite work out as they should have.

To explain: the Scandinavium is actually an ice hockey arena and you can literally feel it in your toes, especially in the warm-up arena.

No Germans in Gothenburg

Gothenburg is one of the most traditional World Cup hosts in Europe. However, no German pair is represented in the dressage this year either. In fact, the line-up is very thin with just nine pairs. Whether this is due to the date or the fact that there seems to be little general interest in making the long journey to Texas for the World Cup Final is unclear.

One thing is certain, Raphael Netz will be flying the German flag high in Fort Worth. He confirmed this once again in Neumünster. And he no longer needs a tournament to collect points.

Moritz Treffinger also has a very good chance of making it into the top nine of the Western European League in his first World Cup season and taking part in the final. Both Netz and Treffinger will compete again in the final stage in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in March.

The Grand Prix Freestyle is scheduled for Saturday at 4 pm. You can find all the results from Gothenburg here.