Faurie on form in World Cup qualifier

Emile Faurie and Reuters Rascher Hopes score more than 70% in the grand prix at Dusseldorf CDI-W

Emile Faurie and Reuters Rascher Hopes set a new personal best and got their winter World Cup season off to a flying start in Dusseldorf, Germany (19/20 October).

In what must have been the hottest World Cup qualifier ever, with a start list that read like a who’s who of international dressage the British combination took sixth place scoring more than 70% in the grand prix (short version)and 10th place in the qualifying kur. It was also the first World Cup qualifier they have contested.

Rascher Hopes produced a clean, straightforward test in the grand prix then just danced his way through the kur, where he piafffed like a demon and didn’t put a foot wrong.

“Apart from tension in the collected walk, for which he dropped to sixes across the board, he never gained less than a seven over the two days,” said Emile who plans to contests the next qualifier in Amsterdam in December with Hilary Sawyer’s 11-year-old Danish bred gelding.

European gold-medallists and last year’s World Cup winners Ulla Salzgeber and Rusty headed both classes scoring more than 76% in the grand prix, ahead of Isabell Werth and Anthony FRH

Lisa Wilcox and the breeding stallion Rohdiamant took third in the grand prix.

Although only ninth in the grand prix, Farbenfroh made up for his disappointing kur in the Europeans in Verden this year to rise to second place in the kur to score moe than 80% for his rider, this year’s European bronze-medallist Nadine Capellmann.

Such was the standard of this competition the top 12 qualifying places in thegrand prix scored more 67% and in the kur all 12 combinations scored over 70%