I’ve just discovered the cure for a belly ache. Watch Valegro.
Some of you know me as a somewhat cynical, even jaded observer of equestrian sport. It continues to surprise even me that every time I see Valegro perform all the hair on my arms stands on end and I get a lump in my throat. He is just a magical dream horse. There was a ridiculous gap between him and the rest of the field; no one but Edward got within ten points of the 94.196% that falls just short of Charlotte’s current world record, and Edward was nearly ten full points behind. Outrageous. I still think the judges go a bit ape shit on the artistic scores, but I suppose as long as no one can touch Charlotte and her miracle pony it hardly matters if their score is a titch high.
Without further ado, here is my usual horse-by-horse commentary on the second half of the freestyles.
Mister X – this is a great horse. I’m slightly surprised that Inessa still has him. I know there were several offers on him in Normandy last summer. But good on her for keeping him, either because she can or because she wants to or because some good and loyal sponsor helps them stay together. She gets my booby prize for the worst mash up of music. There was some very fine passage music – cheeky and swingy – but the canter music was absolutely unfitting to the rest and simply wasn’t canter music at all. I know how hard it is to find great canter music – believe me, it can be the bane of my freestyle existence at times. Canter is almost always the hardest gait to fit to music. But some of these freestyles, Mister X’s included, had canter music that didn’t come anywhere near supporting the gait with a matching rhythm. But I do love the horse.
Painted Black – It’s wonderful to see a horse at that age (ripe at 18)looking so limber and happy. Kudos to everyone involved in keeping that horse doing his job so well. I got the distinct impression with Morgan’s music that the designer was given Painted’s old Tango freestyle and told to more or less duplicate it with a different style and theme. It dotted all the ‘i’s and crossed all the ‘t’s but it did not raise a goose bump. It lacked the tension and bounce of the Tango music, which suited him so well. I hate to be critical of a rider who changes up the music. I just wish Painted’s new music was just a little more emotionally captivating.
El Santo – I see Isabell’s sticking with the top hat. No more giant golden brain bowl for her. The crowd loved her Bowie ‘Let’s Dance’ start. They were clapping right in the first passage tour. Being a Euro-raised horse, El Santo clearly wasn’t bothered by the noise. What he did take exception to was the World Cup, which stood under a spotlight right behind H. He gave ‘keeping your eye on the prize’ a whole new meaning with a big spook on his first pass. But of course it’s Isabell, she’s dealt with far worse in the ring, and he never spooked again. Isabell really is the queen of the go-for-broke extended canter. And it was so nice to see a consummate professional like her with a big grin on her face from start to finish.
Spook? Me? Never.
Glock’s Flirt – this is a lovely horse, but I do believe his neck is given literal short shrift. Why are the judges so forgiving of the frame in which this horse is presented? I wasn’t too keen on the Zorro music for him. To me it seemed busy and frantic. The horse’s canter can get quite tight, and the rat-a-tat clapping seemed to just add to that impression. HP had to walk to get to trot from the canter; and while that transition doesn’t have a place to get a mark in the freestyle, I still wonder at a score of just short of 80% with little bumps like that.
Verdades – Laura was clearly dealing with a horse impressed by his surroundings, and not surprising. When would Verdades ever have had an opportunity to be an indoor horse? She did an excellent job of getting his eyes back off the sticks and into his head again. This is a pair destined to remain the darlings of American dressage for some time to come.
Valegro – I’ve already gushed enough, haven’t I? The standing ovation (repeated in the prize giving) was fully deserved. I do like their Train Your Dragon freestyle, but I still crave something even better for the Secretariat of the dressage universe.
Undercover – Another short neck picture, but this guy HAS a short neck to start with. I’m still a bit baffled at the scores he gets, because there are enough things to raise an eyebrow, like that walk, and the two-strikes fail at the one tempis. But then again, I can’t think of who should have been second if not Edward today…his music was overall fairly quiet, which is probably not a bad idea for such a hot, quick horse, but I think the low volume caused it to underwhelm.
Legolas – well I don’t know what happened here. They tried to keep Steffen in the ring to hear his score (they did it with Laura – none of the non-American riders were asked to do this), but he left before the 80.286% went up on the board. Then, in the victory lap, he wasn’t there at all and was not mentioned in the results. Laura was declared the fourth placed finisher. I should be at the press conference asking what’s up, but I wanted to get this blog to you so I guess we will all just have to wait to get the official story from the FEI or the potentially wildly inaccurate story from Dressage-News.com. The official results do show that he was eliminated, and the European journalists behind me are mumbling about blood in the spur area.
Unee BB – more confusion for me. I’m almost certain she rode two left pirouettes and no right one, but her third placed score would suggest either I’m blind or the judges are. I need to look at the on-demand video and get back on that. I was looking forward to seeing this horse and rider. They are definitely ones to watch, even though today looked a bit nervy and ‘deer in headlights’. Unee’s passage music was one of my favourite single bits of music all day.
I’ll be back tomorrow before the jumping final with some parting thoughts on the dressage. Now, to see how my stomach likes food after two days of rejection.
