Very early Friday morning….

Dear Rita,

I’m writing from my hotel room near the Brabant Halle in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. It was a very exciting and somewhat surprising competition today in the Grand Prix. I thought it was well judged and well placed with Totilas having an uncharacteristic off night to land in second place and Parzival taking home the trophy with a nearly clean round. Sunrise went exceptionally well for a solid third place and Warum Nicht landed on the fourth rung.

(In an alternate reality, Sunrise and Warum Nicht could have been placed above Totilas tonight due to his obvious tension and multiple mistakes. I got the feeling he has been breeding too much. Too much sex is not a good thing for a performance horse. On the other hand, at 5000 Euros a cover, too much sex is not a bad thing. Tradeoffs.)

Now Rita, based on today’s performances, I could easily predict the win for Adelinde with Parzival in the Freestyle Final on Saturday. HOWEVER, Adelinde got a draw at the beginning of her five-starter group and Edward got the final starting place of the night. Edward is also a serious professional who is going to do everything he can to fix the problems that cropped up in his ride tonight. And he’s got 48 hours. So I have to give the edge to Totilas in the Final. But it’s going to be close.

I’m going with Sunrise in third because I have never seen Imke ride her mare as well as she has done in this World Cup season. Other insiders think there will be pressure on the judges to avoid filling the top three spots with Dutch riders. I think this jury is under a lot of pressure to make professional decisions. So I’m going with the top three places to the Dutch.

This is what my placing list looks like for the World Cup Final on Saturday. Add your list to the comments section on my blog before 8 a.m. EDT on March 27 in the USA, and you will be entered in my World Cup contest. Whoever guesses all 15 places correctly gets a free month subscription to www.dressagetrainingonline.com. Let’s play!

Catherine’s Picks:

1. Totilas
2. Parzival
3. Sunrise
4. Warum Nicht
5. Scandic
6. Digby
7. Favorit
8. Triviant
9. Le Bo
10. Apollo
11. Randon
12. Victory Salute
13. Ekwador
14. Cointreau
15. Samba

Here’s a video to give you a feel for the atmosphere.

I’m Catherine Haddad, and I’m sayin it like it is from s’Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

Training Tip of the Day: Don’t over-train for big horse shows. Stick with your routine.