Becky Moody wins the World Cup Dressage Final, Raphael Netz fifth, Moritz Treffinger eighth

Becky Moody is authentic. The British woman from Yorkshire(here is a portrait) lives for and from horses. Now she has made history: She has impressively won the World Cup final with Jagerbomb, who she bred. The bay proved how true the fairytale of the ugly duckling becoming a swan is. “Bomba” does not have the basic gaits of Indian Rock, the horse ridden by second-placed American Christian Simonson. Even though he comes from Great Britain, nobody will say he is “as beautiful as an English engraving”. But in the arena, accompanied by Beatles tunes and his breeder and trainer Becky Moody, he impresses with his ease, showing every lesson Becky wants at every point in the freestyle. No matter how quickly they follow each other and in what combination.

Beatles for Becky and “Bomba”

This begins after the warm-up (to “Imagine” by John Lennon), where pirouettes and single changes (“Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”) immediately follow the salute. It continues with good cadenced passage traversals and is far from over when the double changes on the circle line are followed by single changes when changing out of the circle. In other words, on really curved and not just “not quite straight lines”.

Finally, a canter pirouette, which leads into a fan pirouette with a double change of direction, marks the end. She may have found him “boring” as a young horse, but today “Bomba” has secured his place in the history book of dressage. With a light, springy connection, he tore through a program that was as technically complex as it was complicated. The well-deserved result: a “personal best”, 88.33 percent, victory in the World Cup and 60,500 euros in prize money.

“Renting the audience”

At the Olympic Games in Paris, the always cheerful rider from Yorkshire apologized to her students for qualifying for the freestyle and having to cancel lessons as a result. Her groom Kim Masson actually works in marketing for a private equity company. She lives seven hours away from Becky’s yard and takes her annual leave for the competitions. Another little fairytale in the fairytale victory in the World Cup final.

Becky Moody also has a plan for the future. “I’m hiring this audience for every competition I ride in the future”.

Second place with Bocksprung: Christian Simonson (USA) and Indian Rock

The US boy, who fits every cliché with his beams, has the right film music for his “Rocky”, the KWPN stallion Indian Rock: “Eye of the Tiger”, title music from Rocky III – the audience even screams in the trot traversals.

Christian Simonson, who took over the black stallion a year ago, is 23 years old. His seat is evidence of good training. He inherited the somewhat short stirrups from his trainer Adrienne Lyle. He appreciates the fact that he owes the greatest success of his young career to her: “When my trainer Adrienne says go through fire, I do it.” And takes “Rocky”, who was bought by US self-made millionaire Heidi Humphreys, with him.

A joy hump

It is a firework display of lessons that both show: Piaffe pirouettes to James Brown’s “Living in America” (Rocky IV). Very well worked out: the difference between passage and collected trot in the traversal shifts. “In Heaven” plays at the walk. Maybe it’s the seventh heaven? From the collected walk, we move onto the diagonal and then straight into a strong canter. Rocky bucks once at the end. Then – to be on the safe side? – Simonson then tends to keep the black stallion slightly behind the vertical throughout the canter. Perhaps to have a little more control. With a score of 83.81 percent, also the pair’s personal best, they finished in second place.

A little Beyoncé in third place

Sandra Sysojeva rides her mare Maxima Bella for Poland to French chanson music, her Olympic freestyle from Paris. Many piaffe and passages accompanied by a light pizzicato music alternating with a strong trot. And the mare’s front leg thrilled the enthusiastic audience.

Maxima Bella appears more cohesive than in the Grand Prix and moves more over the back. A choreographic highlight: a piaffe between a strong and collected walk. The canter remains the Millennium daughter’s weakest basic gait. She slipped below the 80 percent mark in the intermediate classification, which until then had always been in front of the decimal point. A clever reminiscence to the audience at the end: Beyonce’s “Texas hold ’em” is played to accompany a fan pirouette. This guarantees enthusiasm: 80.77 percent, third place.

Musically perfectly arranged

If there’s one thing the Swede Patrik Kittel can do, it’s put together freestyle routines. The fact that he begins with “Out of touch” by Hall and Oates, reminiscent of the name of his quarterback son Touchdown, is just as much a part of this as a mix of music that sounds wild but is perfectly arranged to create a total work of art: “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones, “Rocket Man”, in stride, by Elton John, “Safety Dance” and a musical salute to the hosts: “Sweet Home Alabama” for the canter. And all this in the rodeo-tested Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

Touchdown then also strikes rodeo-like once after the spur at the start of the two-up changes (later on the joker line, the pair show seven clear flying canter changes). At times, the Swedish gelding has his nose so far in front of the vertical that he no longer goes all the way through the poll. With a score of 80.26, the pair achieved the fourth score above 80 percent in the field and finished fourth.

Raphael Netz “Today will be good, I can feel it”

Again and again, there were occasional cheers and then huge applause at the end – how would Raphael Netz and especially DSP Dieudonné cope with the atmosphere in the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth this time? That was perhaps the biggest question from the German point of view, after the rider from Baden-Württemberg had had a mighty heartache in the arena in the Grand Prix and had fallen short of his potential.

The answer was provided by “Raphie” and his black horse in the arena. “I’m so relieved,” said Netz after the ride. “The warm-up was perfect. I said to Monica (Theodorescu), it’s going to be good, I can feel it”. The feeling should not deceive him.

Potential for much more

Even the passage at the beginning, a highlight in DSP Dieudonné’s range of lessons, shows: Today will be a day to forget the Grand Prix. And the first rhythmic piaffe puts an exclamation mark behind this impression.

It should stay that way. Not only when trotting. In walk, the black horse stretches towards the hand. Sometimes he looks into the audience, but without jeopardizing the rhythm.

Raphael Netz can then confidently celebrate his repertoire: Double changes on a curved line, 16 single changes, double pirouettes (plus “Return of the Mack”, which elicits loud cries of enthusiasm from the audience). When the transition from the canter to the piaffe pirouette also succeeds, it is clear: this is the Dieudonné who has already cracked the 80 percent mark several times, and not without good reason, and who has a career ahead of him in which the World Cup final is just one stage on the way to the top.

Everyone should dance

At the end, for the passage, accompanied – like the first part of the freestyle – by “Man in Black”, the audience has its say again. Clapping, whistling, cheers. This is exactly what Raphael Netz wanted for the final middle line, as he revealed in the podcast TELL ME ABOUT THE HORSE.

79.245 percent, a strict 71 percent for the technical score from US judge William Warren, means fifth place.