2013 FEI World Breeding Dressage Championships for Young Horses

Eva Moller and Sa Coeur became one of an elite group of double champions when adding the Six-Year-Old title to last year’s victory in the Five-Year-Old category at the 2013 FEI World Breeding Dressage Championships for Young Horses in Verden, Germany today. And it was Lena Stegmann and Scara Boa who topped yesterday’s Five-Year-Old division when earning an overall score of 9.6 including a perfect 10 for submissiveness. These Championships were marked by the determination of the judges to reward good training, good riding and the cooperation and obedience of the horses.

“It was more or less a perfectly organised Championships, providing the best possible conditions for young horses to show themselves in the best way. It wasn’t necessarily the most spectacular horses who came out on top, it was well-trained horses with good basic gaits and submissiveness who were the medal winners” explained FEI Director of Dressage, Trond Asmyr.

Together, FEI and WBFSH have organized the World Breeding Championships for Sport Horses (WBCSH) in Dressage, Jumping, and Eventing since 1992, and this year the Dressage Championships attracted a field of 84 talented young horses from 21 countries. Almost 42 percent of the entries were German-born, with 15 competing for the nation of their birth and 20 competing for other countries.

Five-year-old Championship

The chestnut Hanoverian mare Scara Boa (by Scolari x Wolkenstein ll) produced a lovely test to win the Five-Year-Old Final in which Andreas Helgstrand slotted into silver medal spot with the Oldenburg stallion Floricello 2 (Florencio 1 x Dormello) and Emmelie Scholtens took the bronze with the KWPN stallion Dorado (Krack C x Rousseau).
The judges for the this Final were led by The Netherlands’ Ghislain Fouarge and included Jacques van Daele (BEL), Linda Zang (USA) and Sandy Phillips (GBR). They awarded the winning marks to the mare bred by Rixtra Stolter and owned by Ingo Pape from Hemmoor in Germany. Lena Stegemann has been riding Scara Boa for less than a year, and the 30-year-old German rider achieved 9.5 for trot, 9.0 for canter, 9.7 for walk, a full 10 for submissiveness along with 9.8 for general impression. Stegemann admitted to being suprised by her wonderful result – “we were already happy when it became evident that we qualified for the Championships – I would never have imagined to win!” she said.

The liver-chestnut Floricello, bred by Germany’s George Siverding, earned a score of 8.72, having been awarded 9.8 for his wonderfully expressive trot, 8.0 for walk, 8.8 for canter, 8.0 for submissiveness and 9.0 for general impression. Danish rider Helgestrand took the stallion to the Swedish fixture at Falsterbo this summer in preparation for these Championships, and the experience gained on that trip paid off handsomely when they clinched the silver.

Dutch rider, Emelie Scholtens, admitted that her hopes for success had been invested in her other ride, Desperado, who however didn’t perform as well as expected when finishing seventh on a score of 8.32. Instead it was the chestnut stallion Dorado who rose to the occasion, receiving scores of 9.6 for trot, 8.0 for walk, 9.0 for canter, 7.9 for submissiveness and 9.0 for general impression to take bronze on a final tally of 8.70.

Six-Year-Old Championship

Eva Moller was under plenty of pressure following her victory with Sa Coeur (Sir Donnerhall x Don Davidoff) at last year’s Championships. Moller is a busy lady at any time as a mother of four children and with a very successful career as a producer of top-quality young dressage horses at the world-famous Kasselmann Stables where she has been working for the last 15 years.

The Oldenburg Sa Coeur was bred by Gestut Lewitz and originally owned by Hof Kasselmann but sold at last year’s PSI auction for a staggering €2.3m. The gelding’s new Russian owner returned Sa Coeur to Moller so that he would contest the World Championships once again as a six-year-old, and the faith shown in his rider was well-rewarded today.

With scores of 9.2 for trot, 9.2 for walk, 8.9 for canter, 8.7 for submissiveness and 9.2 for general impression, the overall mark of 9.04 left the pair clear winners. They pinned reigning Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage champion Helen Langehanenberg and the Westfalian mare Damons Delorange (Damon Hill x Rubin Royal) into silver medal position while the Oldenburg gelding Discovery (Dimaggio x Classiker) took the bronze.

The judges for the Six-Year-Old Final were Isabelle Judet (FRA), Annette Fransen-Jacobaeus (SWE), Kurt Christensen (DEN) and Dr Dietrich Plewa (GER), and they awarded the silver-medal-winning partnership with 8.2 for trot, 9.4 for walk, 9.2 for canter, 9.0 for submissiveness and 8.8 for general impression which rounded Langehanenberg’s score with Damon’s Delorange to 8.92.

Heiner Schiergen steered Discovery into bronze medal position having racked up 8.7 for trot, 8.9 for walk, 9.0 for canter, 8.6 for submissiveness and 8.8 for general impression which brought their total to 8.80.

Winning rider Moller admitted that her horse’s history piled extra pressure on them both, but now that Sa Coeur has done what they both set out to do in recording the significant double of wins over two consecutive Championships she has high hopes. “His future plan is that he stays with me to train as far as we can go together, and then – well, who knows!” she said this afternoon.

Results

Five-year-old Championship: GOLD – Scara Boa (Lena Stegemann) 9.6; SILVER – Floricello (Andreas Helgstrand) 8.72; BRONZE – Dorado (Emmelie Scholtens) 8.70.

Six-year-old Championship: GOLD – Sa Coeur (Eva Moller) 9.04; SILVER – Damon’s Delorange (Helen Langehanenberg) 8.92; BRONZE – Discovery (Heiner Schlergen) 8.80.