World Championships in Aachen, Dressage: Frederic Wandres Puts Germany in the Lead in the Grand Prix; Great Britain Second, Ahead of Australia

A huge cheer erupted as Frederic Wandres and Bluetooth entered the arena. They rode toward the arena at a measured pace. Even their halt was a standout (8.1)! The Oldenburg horse traversed smoothly and held his position confidently. His backward movement was slightly sluggish in the forehand during the final stride.

A bit shy, but flawless

In the first piaffe, he initially lacked a

bit

of energy; then Wandres increased the frequency. As a result, the son of Bordeaux moved forward slightly. The start of the second piaffe wasn’t ideal either. At the end, Bluetooth briefly slipped behind the vertical with his nose line.

Piaffs Not Quite Up to Bluetooth Standards

A thoroughly happy Frederic Wandres—“I’d say almost 76 percent…”—knew right away what the problem was. At Bluetooth, the piaffs performed in the arena are usually among the highest-scoring exercises. “The fact that a horse was moving on the screen. We hadn’t experienced that during familiarization (the training session where the horses can get used to the arena).” The gelding had “held back” a bit. “As if to say, ‘There’s another horse running here too.’”

That slight shyness affected his first piaffes. “The first two piaffes—they can be even better. We can really show them brilliantly at home. And when I say brilliant, I mean brilliant—he can do it perfectly. However, it’s always the same: in the arena, you just have to get it right. It’s the same for everyone, and I can definitely improve on that. He was a little shy out there, but still—a clean, faultless round and a great result for the team.”

put on

a fantastic canter test

. The highlights of the test were the changes of gait—whether to two tempos or from jump to jump—Bluetooth delivered: straight, uphill, and relaxed, with a natural ease that hardly any other pair had shown in the arena on this first day of the World Championships.

The pair executed the pirouettes well, though they are not their strongest movements.

You could feel the pressure

“At track point G (the point of the final salute), there’s a huge rock. That’s my rock. It fell down there. Well, I was a nervous wreck when I got there, simply because there’s so much pressure weighing on my shoulders again.” Frederic Wandres didn’t hold back in his initial assessment. Of course, you don’t just brush off a home World Championship like that. And as he said that, he was beaming.

Even with all his focus, he had already noticed during the warm-up that Becky Moody, Great Britain’s number two rider, hadn’t had an ideal round. On the screen in the warm-up arena, he could tell “that something was off.” Moody rode just before Wandres in the arena and had two faults. “I don’t want to say that this lets you ride more freely, but it’s obviously a better starting point than if it says 78 point… But of course that also means: She’s a very experienced rider. She seemed to have had some kind of problem. Of course, that sets off alarm bells for me, too. Okay, she’s experienced, the horse is experienced. Just make sure it doesn’t happen to you, too.”

Successful start for Team Germany

With a score of 75.963 percent, Frederic Wandres not only leads the individual standings after Day One, but Team Germany also holds the pole position. Tomorrow, Bluetooth has a “day off” on his schedule. Or so it seems—because he’ll have to make a brief appearance at the awards ceremony, which will likely take place on horseback.

Planned weeks in advance

The 16-year-old’s training schedule is planned down to the minute, Wandres reveals: “In terms of his routine, tomorrow would normally be a day off for him. When we know there’s a Grand Prix today, I always work everything backward very early on at home. Monica (Theodorescu) definitely gets a schedule about three weeks in advance, with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday… everything laid out. Things might change a bit here, but broadly speaking, the plan is that starting Thursday, we’ll do targeted special work again. That means working on developing a bit more drive along the long sides, cantering up at the right point on the track, and performing a piaffe from a walk. But none of this should be tiring—it’s just about testing him again, calling up something a bit more playfully.”

For national team coach Monica Theodorescu, it was “one of, if not perhaps the best Grand Prix” for the pair. “Fresh and flawless,” she said enthusiastically.

Interim Standings: Individual Competition, Grand Prix World Championships, Aachen 2026

The Teams – Interim Standings

Since the worst ride in each team’s performance is counted as a potential discard in the interim standings, Germany leads ahead of Great Britain. Australia is in third place; their strongest pair, Simone Pearce and Will Marq, is in fourth place behind Raphael Netz (72.391). Close on their heels are the Swedes, who got off to a strong start in the World Championships thanks to Therese Nilshagen riding Grand Prix newcomer Navarro (72.376). Details on these rides can be found here.

Interim Results: Team Standings, 2026 World Dressage Championships in Aachen