The dressage results at the World Championships for Young Eventers in Lion d'Angers

The field of six-year-olds at the World Championships for Young Eventing Horses in Lion d’Angers, with 45 pairs, is smaller than that of the seven-year-olds with promising young horses. Consequently, the competition for the seven-year-olds was split over two days, while the six-year-olds competed all at once today in the arena. They were the first to take the arena today.

Dutch Underdog at the Top

Patrick who? That’s a question some people might ask themselves when looking at the dressage results from the World Championships for six-year-old eventing horses. The Dutch rider, who celebrated his 60th birthday in March, competed in his first international event in 2015, and his CCI results fit on a single page of the FEI database. So there aren’t more than 50 of them. Last year, he celebrated the greatest success of his career with a team bronze medal at the European Championships for rural eventing riders. Consequently, simply qualifying for the World Championships for young eventing horses is a huge success for him—and to top it off, he did so with a horse he bred himself: Passoa by Liamant W., a grandson of Diamant de Semilly. Could it get any better? Yes, it can!

With a beautiful performance by the energetic dark bay, Verbakel took the lead in dressage during his first World Championship appearance in Lion d’Angers. The pair has 28 penalty points to their credit—a personal best. And for anyone wondering whether they can maintain this performance in the cross-country and show jumping—the odds are looking good! Passoa has competed in four CCI2* events so far. Only in the first one did he have a runner-up. In the other competitions, he not only cleared all obstacles without faults but also finished within the time limit twice and was just two seconds over once. And as for show jumping: four competitions, three clear rounds, and one with a knockdown.

Bierlein with a Dream Round

Another pair that really wowed the crowd today was Ann-Catrin Bierlein and her Westphalian mare, ACSI Daisy Diamond! The gray mare by Diacontinus-Casall demonstrated excellent rhythm and balance, moving confidently and diligently from behind into contact, with a secure, trusting contact. The judges rewarded this with 29.4 penalty points, the second-best score in the arena.

However, the two must share that spot with New Zealander Caroline Powell, riding her Irish Christo son WLS Ravenscourt, who also scored 70.56 percent. Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and her Hanoverian gelding Herakles by Herald took third place—and fourth place due to the tie—with 29.8 penalty points.

Sven Lux and the Trakehner stallion Berlioz also made it into the top ten. The son of Zauberdeyk (dam: Heuberger, breeder: Monika Mittermeyer) from the Marbach State Stud and Main Stud scored exactly 31 penalty points. That is currently the seventh-best result.

The third German pair was Andreas Dibowski and the likable Holsteiner Codero by Corfu de la Vie. The pair had some great moments, but also made a few costly mistakes—such as when the exercise called for a trot, but Codero broke into a canter. With 36.4 penalty points, the pair currently sits in 31st place.

Tara and Lara Remain in the Lead

Last year’s winners, Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and her Belgian Comme il faut granddaughter Tara van het Leliehof (by Pegase van’t Ruytershof), had already achieved the best dressage score among the seven-year-olds yesterday and were able to maintain their lead in the second half of the competition —though they now share first place with French rider Alexis Goury, riding the Selle Français stallion Jeroboam Wal by Vleut, who also scored 28.6 penalty points.

So there is no second place, but there is a second-best result. That stands at exactly 29 penalty points, awarded to Britain’s Hector Payne and his horse from the Anglo European Studbook, Bueno by Dante’s Junior. Yesterday, Yasmin Ingham and Club Class had already conjured up a dressage score of 29.9 penalty points in the arena. That earned them second place yesterday and, consequently, fourth place in the final dressage standings.

Ingham had to worry about them right from the first pair of the day. The two German amateur champions—attorney Caro Hoffrichter and her home-bred Alaba son, Archie CC—were performing just as well and are therefore also currently in fourth place.

Ben Leuwer and Alf PH, also a son of Alaba, set a new personal best in the dressage arena yesterday with 30.3 penalty points. Today it became clear that this was good enough for sixth place in the current standings, meaning that the two of them will also start tomorrow’s cross-country course from a wonderful starting position.

The other German results

For the

other

two German pairs in the seven-year-old division, things didn’t go quite as well in dressage. Anna Siemer and Eliope are in 35th place out of 53 pairs with 35.8 penalty points. Christin Schulz and Heho Dennis are in 44th place (38.4). And Jule Wewer and Deena remain in last place after the second day with 43 penalty points.

But tomorrow, the deck will be reshuffled. You can find the starting lists and results here.

We have compiled an overview of the sporting and breeding backgrounds of German horses here.