Cornelissen_1.jpgAdelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival made the perfect start to the 2009/2010 FEI World Cup™ Dressage final at the Brabanthallen in s’Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands tonight when winning the Grand Prix by a convincing margin of more than two percent.  On a tense evening when nerves were jangling, she held her big strong gelding together to produce a powerful test that left her with a clear advantage over the firm favourites to take the title – Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas. And the Dutch totally dominated the line-up in this preliminary competition when Imke Schellekens-Bartels and her lovely mare Hunter Douglas Sunrise claimed third place.  It looks like a Dutch are destined to win next Saturday’s final test, the Freestyle to Music, but whether Cornelissen and Parzival can rise to the occasion again as they did tonight or whether Gal and the record-breaking Totilas can re-find their true form and outdo all the rest remains to be seen.  If tonight’s result is anything to go by then Saturday’s finale is going to be a very close-fought affair.

LIGHT-FOOTED

It was Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfven and the light-footed Favourit who held the lead at the halfway stage, and in this 10 year old gelding the veteran Swedish Olympian seems to have found a promising replacement for her great old campaigner Solos Carex who was retired in Gothenburg last month.  Her mark of 69.23% was quickly bettered by Germany’s Matthias Alexander Rath and Triviant however who were first to go after the break and moved the target score to 70.42% with their level and accurate performance.  Denmark’s Nathalie zu Sayn Wittgenstein then raised the standard further when earning 71.19% wth Digby whose good passage, piaffe, canter zig-zag and square halt ensured a strong score and the Danish Princess, who is competing at her final event as she is expecting her first baby to arrive in July, was glowing with satisfaction as she left the arena. 

Despite an expressive test from Le Bo, Carola Koppelmann could only manage a mark of 68.63% having made a couple of mistakes, but fellow-German rider Isabell Werth steered the 14 year old Warum Nicht to a mark of 73.277% to raise the bar even higher.  Schellekens-Bartel’s mare however was in the form of her life as she danced her way to a score of 74.89% in a test that was so pleasing to the eye and full of grace and elegance, and Hunter Douglas Sunrise might almost have had a smile on her face as she happily left the arena knowing she had done a very good job indeed.  This partnership finished second in the FEI World Cup™ Final in Las Vegas two years ago and will be ones to watch in next Saturday’s Freestyle finale. 

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