Leipzig, Germany—April 28
Adelinde Cornelissen has been waiting patiently to take the spotlight, and after the Grand Prix at the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Final she’s well on her way to basking in its glow.
Cornelissen and her Jerich Parzival has been putting in exciting performances for two years but have run into bad luck. At the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, they were hot favorites for an individual medal, but in the Grand Prix they were eliminated when judges saw blood in Parzival’s mouth.
Cornelissen and Parzival rebounded with a vengeance, winning five World Cup qualifiers on their way to Leipzig. Cornelissen believes that the elegant chestnut is in top form.
”He’s been better than ever so far, so I hope he can keep it up,” she said. “He’s getting more and more relaxed every time. Last year, he could still be spooky and scared of things, and now he’s really at ease in the arena. He likes the audience and he enjoys it.”
Cornelissen scored an 80.95 percent in the Grand Prix, more than 4 points higher than second-placed Natalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein on Digby. Listen to her discuss the test here.
Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein wasn’t too upset about it, however. The Danish rider had one of her best tests ever on Digby. Hear how happy she is here.
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“I’m rather speechless, actually,” she said. “If someone would have told me four years ago that this little horse would one day score a 76, I would have laughed. But really tries his heart out, and I’m really thankful for him. Over the winter, he started offering a lot of expression in the trot, and now I can ask for it more and more in the ring.”
Ulla Salzgeber of Germany rounded out the top three, riding Herzruf’s Erbe to a 76.21 percent.
The U.S. riders fared relatively well, with no major errors. Jan Ebeling came in determined to have Rafalca redeem herself from her panic at the 2009 World Cup Final, when she wouldn’t go into one end of the ring. And other than a small moment in the first halt, when Rafalca reacted to the atmosphere, they had a solid test. They were the top U.S. scorers, in 10th with a 68.19.
“[After the first halt], Rafalca never put a foot wrong,” said U.S. team technical advisor Anne Gribbons. “She’s never really shown in this kind of company, so she had kind of the ‘unknown’ factor working against her. But she’s now going to a whole other level. When I saw her last year, she had improved far beyond what I expected, and this year she’s gotten even better.
“The mare is lovely in her topline, and she can’t do enough to please Jan,” she continued. “They went a bit early in the class for the scores they could have gotten, but I’m thrilled to death with their performance. She’s steady as a rock now and very businesslike. Jan is also riding much better. They’re a real team.”
Just behind Ebeling, in 11th, is U.S. rider Catherine Haddad-Staller, who is based in Germany (check out her blogs for the Chronicle). She and Winyamaro didn’t have their best test, but a 67.34 puts them into the freestyle final on Saturday, where Haddad-Staller plans to shine. Hear her thoughts here.
“Catherine’s horse had a few silly mistakes happen. Her rein-back wasn’t very good, and he stuttered behind in one of the tempi changes. And then the first pirouette kind of fell apart for her. That’s very unusual for them, and they have a phenomenal freestyle, so I expect big things from her in the freestyle,” said Gribbons. “That horse has so much character and presence. He looks like he’s having fun out there.”
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Winyamaro has a history of being tense in electric atmospheres.
“I was not taken by surprise,” said Haddad-Staller. “He was tense in there; I couldn’t relax and really let him go. But I thought our trot half-passes were really good, and he’s got such impulsion and elasticity, and I think we really showed that out there.”
Shawna Harding showed Come Back III to 15th place (64.69%).
“Shawna is an excellent rider. Her test had no major problems except that her horse was tense at the walk,” said Gribbons. “Their overall score dropped 5 percent in that movement, which, as a judge, I understand. The horse never really walked; he was jigging and tense. Other than that, Shawna has fabulous ability in the ring; she really knows how to ride the test. Come On is comparatively green, so they’re a new combination for the judges.”
Gribbons was thrilled that the three U.S. riders were new blood—none of them have ridden on an international championship team. “We can expose them to this, get them the experience and perhaps see some of them at Aachen as well. I’m excited that we’re finally developing a little bit of depth for the team,” she said.
2011 Reem Acra FEI Dressage World Cup Final
