Dressage icon Isabell Werth had a stumbling start at the World Cup final in Riyadh, while Raphael Netz impressed on his debut. Hans-Dieter Dreher got off to a good start with the show jumpers.
Isabell Werth looked quite unenthusiastic and gave her wild gelding Quantaz an encouraging pat despite the bumpy performance. The world‘s most successful rider “started very well” with her animal partner in the Grand Prix of Riyadh, “but then showed clear mistakes in the canter,” said national trainer Monica Theodorescu.
At the World Cup final in Saudi Arabia, the title is still within reach. Despite the stumbling performance, in which Werth and Quantaz were weak not only in the canter tour but also in the two-man changes, the five-time World Cup winner achieved fourth place. In the free skate on Friday (4:15 p.m. CEST) it starts from scratch, but world champion Charlotte Fry and Everdale were a long way away as winners in the Grand Prix.
Nevertheless, with a flawless freestyle like last year in Omaha/USA, where Werth impressed with her rocking choreography and won bronze, she can compete for the sixth title. “There is a day of training on Thursday in the hope of improving the mistakes,” explained Theodorescu.
Debutant Netz “almost error-free”
Debutant Raphael Netz and his Great Escape Camelot impressed in the Grand Prix with a good 72.003 percent and came in just behind Werth (72.236). The pair “performed very well, almost flawlessly,” praised the national coach. As the third German, returnee Matthias Rath also had a successful start with Destacado (sixth place).
Show jumpers start mixed
The German show jumping trio had a mixed start in Riyadh. In the first round of the final, which consisted of a timed round without a jump-off, “Hansi” Dreher and Elysio convinced across the board. The pair rode quickly and flawlessly to third place, only surpassed by the Swedish duo Peder Fredricson and top favorite Henrik von Eckermann, who took the lead.
The three-time winner Marcus Ehning, who started with Coolio, suffered a drop and fell back to 19th place. Things went better with Christian Ahlmann, who, in a faultless seventh place with Mandato, is also still within striking distance of the leaders.