Germany threw down a definitive performance to win the fifth leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ Dressage 2014 pilot series on home ground at Aachen today. The powerful side included Kristina Sprehe (Desperados FRH), Isabell Werth (Bella Rose 2) and Helen Langehanenberg (Damon Hill NRW), but it was Matthias Alexander Rath who stole the show when producing the top mark of the competition with the stallion Totilas.
For Rath this was a pivotal performance. In recent months he and the horse, which already had legendary status long before flying the German flag, have rocketed up the world rankings to 25th place following a long absence from the sport. Today they produced a great score of 82.300, and German supremacy was further cemented when Langehanenberg slotted into second and Werth finished fourth in the individual standings.
Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival led the Dutch team to runner-up spot, while Spain finished a very creditable third despite the loss of a team combination at the last moment. Great Britain finished fourth, and there was near-disbelief when the world no. 1 partnership of Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro failed to show anything like their usual accuracy and sparkle. For the first time since January 2012 the British duo had to settle for a minor placing, their score of 76.900 only good enough for sixth place in the final analysis.