Ladies First in World Dressage Masters Munich Exquis Grand Prix Kür

The top three in the €70,000 Exquis Grand Prix Kür presented by Axel Johnson Group und der Nürnberger Versicherungsgruppe and the overall winner of the WDM Nürnberger Rider Ranking were all ladies. Girl power in Munich. Sweden’s Tinne Vilhelmson and her beautiful Hannoverian gelding Don Auriello were the clear winners of the Freestyle on the sunny Sunday afternoon in Munich. The horse’s extended trot is just unbelievable and all his other movements are active, flexible and fluent. The whole test was a joy to watch. Tinne and Don Auriello were rewarded with 84.150% and received the € 15,500 first prize. Tinne: “I’m so happy with ‘Anton’! All three days he felt really good.”Second placed Isabell Werth and her Rheinland gelding El Santo NRW, aka “Ernie”, showed a Freestyle with a high difficulty level. They started in a different way then most other riders, entering in walk followed by a transition to a halfpass in passage. Isabell took risks and had full control. The pair scored 81.000% and collected € 10,500.

Ulla Salzgeber and Herzruf’s Erbe showed a good Freestyle with music from Les Miserables which suited the horse’s movements very well. Their test had difficult transitions and they showed the collected and extended walk in an unusual way. First extended walk, than a transition into canter followed by collected walk. Their test scored 78.100% which resulted in third place and € 7,700.
 
The members of the jury for this Freestyle were: Ghislain Fouarge (E), Dr. Dietrich Plewa (H), Katrina Wüst (C), Dr. Vincenzo Truppa (M) and Isobel Wessels (B).
 
During the press conference Isabell Werth and judge Katrina Wüst complimented the organization on the positive development of dressage in Munich from the start of the cooperation with World Dressage Masters.
 
Full results: here

Nürnberger Rider Ranking Goes Out in Thriller Plot
There was a difference of 1 per cent in the WDM Nürnberger Rider Rankings between Patrik Kittel and Ulla Salzgeber. Patrik, who was leading the Rider Ranking before WDM Munich, showed a freestyle that looked active and was highlighting the best movements of Watermill Scandic HBC, the piaffe and passage. Patrik and Scandic received 75.350% from the judges and that was not enough to keep Ulla from winning the overall ranking. The bonus of €25,000 was presented to Ulla during just after the prizegiving of the Freestyle. During the press conference Ulla admitted that she had a bad night knowing that Patrik and herself were in such a tight battle.

Romy Peijen Wins WDM Youth Challenge
After the Intermediaire II on Friday and the Grand Prix on Saturday, three riders out of a total field of 10 U25 riders were qualified for the Final on Sunday. Holland’s Romy Peijen and her elegant horse Rex won the WDM Youth Challenge Freestyle, Preis der Marburg Vodermair GmbH, in Munich. The combination showed an active and light footed Freestyle and received a score of 70.600%. All judges, Dr. Vincenzo Truppa (E), Ghislain Fouarge (M), Dr. Evi Eisenhardt (C), Isobel Wessels (H) and Katrina Wüst (B) placed the pair in first.

Second place went to Chantal van Lanen who scored 67.600% with Revival. Danielle van Mierlo, who previously won the Intermediaire II and Grand Prix had to settle for third. She lost a lot of points because she did not show the pirouette to the left and the half-pass to the left in her Freestyle.
 
Result:
1. Romy Peijen/NED/Rex 70.600%
2. Chantal van Lanen/NED/Revival 67.600%
3. Danielle van Mierlo/NED/Ucento 61.175%
Full results: here