Isabell Werth wins Hamburg Dressage Derby in new format with freestyle premiere of Viva Gold

The new Derby team led by Matthias Alexander Rath had decided that this year the German Dressage Derby would no longer be held with a change of horses, but that the winner would be determined by adding together the results from the Grand Prix and Freestyle. Isabell Werth took the opportunity to present Viva Gold for the first time to her own music. Last year, the ten-year-old Oldenburg stallion qualified for the Louisdor Prize Final in his first S*** performance in the Hamburg arena and later took the title in Frankfurt. A good omen for his freestyle debut today? In any case, it was a great success.

Neil Diamond for Viva Gold

On Saturday, Isabell Werth received the music for her new freestyle. She had chosen US artist Neal Diamond as the main theme. She and Viva Gold rocked the arena in Hamburg today.

When it is said that the stallion piaffeed “like a world champion”, this is not meant in a figurative sense, but literally. In fact, the piaffe-passage work that the Vivaldi son danced into the Hamburg sand to classics such as Song Song Blue and Sweet Caroline was of a quality that has rarely – if ever – been seen.

When the pair parried out of the canter pirouette into the piaffe pirouette at the end of the freestyle (although this was actually planned a little differently, see below) and turned onto the last line in a sublime passage, it was enough to give you goosebumps. And when the beautiful dark chestnut then showed off all his skills again on the last line, a broad grin stole across his rider’s face. That was the end of the elegant dressage restraint in the spectator stands. Rhythmic clapping accompanied the pair on the last meters of the passage to the final salute, then there was thunderous applause.

There were only six pairs competing in the freestyle. But this ride was worth the entry fee. However, it is also true that the stallion visibly raised his tongue at times and rarely chewed contentedly with his mouth closed, as one would wish.

The judges awarded 84.365 percent for today’s performance – it would probably have been more if it weren’t for the new Degree of Difficulty system, which deducts points if the lessons shown are not performed with the desired harmony or if something is not successful.

The latter was the case for Werth and Viva towards the end of the test today, as Werth reported: “At the very end I had actually planned a one-and-a-half canter pirouette. But I only rode one because he – knowing full well that the piaffe was coming – had already gone more into the piaffe. I didn’t want to confuse him and canter again. Hence the slightly longer piaffe on the spot to get back to the music. He certainly got a small deduction because we didn’t meet this level of difficulty. But I could live with that.”

The other places

Behind Isabell Werth and Viva Gold came nothing in terms of marks for a long time and then Werth’s European Championship team colleague from Crozet, Ingrid Klimke. Instead of the originally planned Vayron, she brought her small, fine Fürstenball daughter First Class with her to Hamburg, who gave her a 77.040 percent freestyle today. That was second place ahead of the World Cup finalists Moritz Treffinger and Fiderdance, who had several small faults today that depressed the score. 76.252 percent remained.

The three other pairs in the Hamburg freestyle for the Prize of Freiherr von Jenisch, in whose park the annual Hamburg horse festival known as the Derby takes place, were the British rider Susan Pape, based in Hemmoor in Lower Saxony, on Harmony’s V-Plus (74.620), the Dutch rider Marie-José Calis in the saddle on the KWPN mare Limited Edition (72.930) and local hero Felix Kneese from San Simeon (69.610).

You can find all the results here.