In her first show since taking time off to have a son in November, Anky van Grunsven scored four wins in four classes at the CDI-W
‘s-Hertogenbosch (the Nether-lands), March 18-20. Aboard IPS Krack C, the reigning Olympic champion won the Grand Prix for the Special and the Grand Prix Special, and aboard Keltec Salinero, she topped the Grand Prix for the freestyle and the $51,797 World Cup freestyle.

With a percentage of 83.60, the Dutch rider showed that she is prepared to defend her title in the FEI World Cup Final to be held in Las Vegas, Nev., April 20-24.

Nevertheless, Dutch dressage has a “King” as well as a “Queen,” and some of the audience made their displeasure known when van Grunsven’s compatriot and student Edward Gal did not take over first place aboard the KWPN stallion Lingh. The runners-up of last year’s World Cup Final at Dusseldorf (Germany) took second again in the World Cup qualifier at ‘s-Hertogenbosch with a score of 79.55 percent.

“Of course, I would have liked to have won, and I am happy when the audience sees me in first place, but I am very satisfied
with the performance of Lingh, with his scores and with my second place,” said Gal diplomatically.

Salinero’s 83.60 percent for an expressive and powerful–but still in some points inconsistent–performance was certainly high. But both van Grunsven and Gal showed a perfect union between music and movements.

Isabell Werth of Germany also expressed satisfaction with her ride and third place aboard Satchmo. With a percentage of 78.52 for a very pleasant ride–which was wildly applauded from the Dutch audience–she stayed in the lead for quite a long time.

With her third place at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the 1992 World Cup champion will have secured her participation in this year’s final. But, since the scores at the top of the Western European World Cup League are close, and because only the best four of five scores count, Werth will compete in the last qualifier at Dusseldorf, the first weekend of April.

Werth moved up to fourth place in the standings, behind Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff, Silvia Iklé ¡nd Carl Hester, who took sixth and ninth at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, respectively. Hester and Gal rank just behind Werth, followed by Sven Rothenberger and Marie-Line Wettstein. With a fourth place in ‘s-Hertogenbosch’s freestyle aboard Aramis, who showed significant improvement in the Grand Prix, ninth-ranked Hubertus Schmidt also still has a realistic chance to qualify for the final.

Werth has not decided yet if she will take her 19-year-old (still very fresh) Antony to Las Vegas or if she will take the 11-year-old Satchmo.

Van Grunsven still has to compete in the last qualifier at Dusseldorf. Although she is, as title defender, automatically qualified for the final, she has to compete in at least two qualifiers with her World Cup Final mount. Since ‘s-Hertogenbosch was her first World Cup class of this season, she has to compete Salinero at Dusseldorf.

In the Grand Prix qualifier for the World Cup freestyle, van Grunsven won over the Swedish bronze medallist of the 2003 Open European Championships, Jan Brink and Bj?lls Briar (74.95%).

In the Grand Prix Special, van Grunsven and Krack C (72.56%) bested Germany’s Ellen Schulten-Baumer, as she had also done in the Grand Prix for the Special Tour. But, in the Special, only three judges placed van Grunsven first, while two judges gave preference to Schulten-Baumer and her 11-year-old Grand Prix prospect Donatha S.

The young rider earned a score of 72.16 percent for a very well-done performance with a nice piaffe-passage tour. She can be happy about continuing improvement of her elegant, but nevertheless powerful Donnerhall daughter. At the same time, Schulten-Baumer, who became 25 on March 23, won an extra prize as best rider under the age of 25.

A New Passion

When Anky van Grunsven acquired a poisoning during her pregnancy that threatened her life and her baby’s, her son Yannick had to be born by caesarean section on Nov. 23, after just 30 weeks of pregnancy. For 10 days van Grunsven stayed with him in the hospital. Then, for the following six weeks she was almost always at his side.

“In that time I had no interest in my horses,” said the 37-year-old rider.

She didn’t return to the saddle until New Year’s Day. “In the beginning [I rode] just for about 11³2 hours per day. More was not possible, since I visited Yannick three times a day in the hospital. In January he was moved to a hospital just five minutes from my place, and after that it became easier to visit him,” she said.

On Jan. 26, four days before his original due date, Yannick was released from the hospital. “I am very happy, since today he is a sound baby, who likes to laugh, and he is very interested in everything around him. When I am on the horse, a nanny is taking care of him,” said the happy mother, “and everything works out very well. Sometimes he even comes with me to the stables.”

Since the end of February, van Grunsven has returned to riding three horses per day. But she still hadn’t expected such success at ‘s-Hertogenbosch. “I just ride and do my best,” she said. “Obviously, [my partner], Sjef [Janssen], has trained my horses very well. They also went very well with me again at home, but this would not necessarily mean that it would work out as well at the show, but it did.”