The day started with the small final for six-year-old horses presented by the Province of Gelderland. The Hanoverian mare Belinda (Bon Coeur 1389 x Royal Blend) that was bred by Wilfried Putz was the best of the rest. Her performance under Germany’s Lena Waldmann secured the two a spot in tomorrow’s final after all.
The 28 five-year-olds that had not qualified for the final directly were in the race for one of the three tickets to the final of tomorrow. A chance to redeem oneself for the horses that suffered from tension or made some mistakes in the first round, like winner Belinda.
Judges’ booths
“She was super yesterday, but we had an unfortunate error”, explains rider Lena Waldmann after the prizegiving ceremony. “She was a bit scared of the judges’ booths and when we were on the diagonal line for the flying changes headed towards the jury, she turned around. Afterwards she felt super again. Today’s test was ridden in the main arena, and I think that ring is slightly easier for the horses because it feels more spacious.”
More relaxed
Eddy de Wolf van Westerrode, chairman of the jury, supports the implementation of a retake for the young horses. “I think this is a great system. Most horses were much more relaxed today and did a lot better than in the qualification”, states Van Westerrode on behalf of the jury squad that awarded Belinda an average score of 8.6. “She was simply more resigned than yesterday and that helped showing off all three gaits.”
Horse of ample quality
The Hanoverian stallion Zonik Plus (Zonik x Hoghenstein) of rider/owner Justin Verboomen and bred by Dressage Plus received an overall score of 8.43. “This is a very interesting horse”, comments Van Westerrode. “Yesterday, we thought he kept his hindquarter and head too high, and the connection was not perfect. Today, we thought it was a lot better. It is a horse you will not easily forget thanks to his quality.”
Diploid
The third name to make it to the finals is Diploid (Hesselhoej Donkey Boy x Opaasch 1090), a Swedish Warmblood horse ridden by Vendela Eriksdotter Rubin. The gelding owned by Stockholm Ridersport AB and bred by Lena Nyström was granted 8.36 points by the jury.
The final for six-year-old horses starts at 14.45 hours tomorrow.
Find all the results here.
Photo: Dirk Caremans/ Hippo Foto Media
