Germany seize World Championships control on day one – can Britain claw back the gap?
Frederic Wandres and Bluetooth OLD took the day-one lead for Germany, a costly Becky Moody mistake opening the door. Here’s the gap Britain needs to close, how the rest of the field stacks up and what’s still to come on day two.
The race for the team gold medal on day one at the Dressage World Championships in Aachen has swung the German way decisively.
The Germans were the pre-competition favourites but were expected to be pushed all the way by the British. But a difficult test from Becky Moody and Jagerbomb – scoring 73.82%, almost three percentage points below their season average – opened the door for Frederic Wandres and Bluetooth OLD to capitalise, scoring 75.96% to sit top after the first day of competition.
Germany’s Raphael Netz with Great Escape Camelot (73.34%) and Britain’s Fiona Bigwood with Donna Bella (69.35%) had gone earlier in the day, but both are likely to be their nations’ discard scores.
It wasn’t a flawless test from Frederic – he pointed to an unexpected complication in the arena itself. “What we couldn’t train in the familiarisation was that the video screen was showing movement; the horse was moving on it.
“We didn’t have that in the familiarisation, so that was something different for him. He came a little bit back to me when he saw himself – maybe he was thinking, ‘Is there another horse?’ I don't know,” he said.
“Especially in those lines, which is important – the one-tempi line, you’re going in the video’s direction – and the second extension too. So he was a little bit holding himself back. But other than that, I think it was quite a fluent test, a consistent, harmonious round, like always.”
Knowing Becky's score before he entered the ring shaped his approach. “I saw it a very little bit on the video screen in the warm-up in the covered arena, but of course I had to focus on my warm-up. Then when the result came up, I got the final result,” he said.
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“Honestly, it’s better that it pops up as a 73.8% in my mind than a 78.8%; that’s for sure. But in another way, it also gives my alarm bells a little bit of a signal, because I know Becky is super experienced, the horse is super experienced, and obviously she had problems or mistakes. So that’s my alarm bell that makes sure you’re not the next one who has problems.”
That instinct – consistency over ambition – was echoed by the German team leaders as he headed into the arena. "I heard a bit when I went in that Monica [Theodorescu] and Isabell [Werth] were talking, ‘Don't go crazy, bring it home’,” he said. “Because they’d already got the result from Becky, and they thought, okay, we don’t have to go all-out, just bring it home like always, and we’ll see. I heard it through my coach’s earpiece.”
An ultra-experienced competitor, Frederic rode accordingly – a conservative round built on the knowledge that avoiding mistakes, not chasing marks, was now the priority for the German team.
Even from the top of the leaderboard, he’s wary of reading too much into day one. “It doesn’t mean anything at the moment. We’re a little bit ahead, but it can change by one ride tomorrow completely,” he said. “Carl [Hester] and Lottie [Fry] will have to go all in – they’re super experienced, they know how to do that, and they know that if they want to reach something, they have to go all in, or the points won’t come. But our other two riders, Katharina [Hemmer] and Isabell, also have to deliver good, consistent, or even better, personal-best scores. So everything is still open.”
Where the race for team medals stands
Understandably, Frederic didn’t want to get ahead of himself – but it's difficult to see a path to gold now for the Brits.
Carl (Fame) and Katharina (Denoix PCH) go head to head in the group just before lunch tomorrow (12 August), before Lottie (Glamourdale) and Isabell (Wendy De Fontaine) close out the day in the final group.
Britain have a banked deficit of 2.14% to close – the gap between Frederic’s counting score and Becky’s, assuming both teams' weakest scores so far (Raphael and Fiona) end up as their discards. Season form doesn’t offer much encouragement on top of that: Carl is up on Katharina by 0.13%, but Lottie is down on Isabell by 0.77% – a net swing that, if both pairs simply rode to their averages tomorrow, would stretch Germany’s lead closer to 2.78% rather than close it.
Of course, Becky’s test is proof that you can’t go on form and averages alone. Aachen‘s vast stadium is an unknown quantity for every rider still to come. We’re not in miracle territory yet, but it’s safe to say both Carl and Lottie will need to score close to their personal bests, while hoping either Isabell or Katharina slips up somewhere.
If you’re watching tomorrow, the number to have in mind is 2.14% – the deficit Britain needs to close over their two remaining rides to beat Germany to top spot.
Where the rest of the teams sit
Australia are in an unexpected third place – but don’t expect that to hold. They sent their best combination, Simone Pearce and Will Marq, out on day one, unlike most other nations, who have held their strongest pairings back for day two.
Denmark doesn’t look to have made much of a dent in Britain’s grip on silver – both Nadja Aaboe Sloth with Favour Gersdorf (71.96%) and Carina Cassøe Krüth with Heiline‘s Danciera (72.17%) scored below their season averages too. But should Carl or Lottie have a day like Becky’s, while Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour (Mount St John Freestyle) and Daniel Bachmann Andersen (Flash Gordon 37) both ride to form, that gap could close quickly.
Elsewhere, expect Belgium and the Netherlands to rise up the leaderboard, and the battle between Canada and the US looks tight – it would be quite the boost for the Canadians to come out on top.
Team standings after day one
- Germany – 75.963
Frederic Wandres (Bluetooth OLD) 75.963%
Raphael Netz (Great Escape Camelot) 73.338% (discard) - Great Britain – 73.820
Becky Moody (Jagerbomb) 73.820%
Fiona Bigwood (Donna Bella) 69.348% (discard) - Australia – 72.391
Simone Pearce (Will Marq) 72.391%
Mary Hanna (Ivanhoe) 67.267% (discard) - Sweden – 72.376
Therese Nilshagen (Navarro) 72.376%
Rebecca Mauléon (Johnnie Walker BCN) 68.711% (discard) - Denmark – 72.174
Carina Cassøe Krüth (Heiline's Danciera) 72.174%
Nadja Aaboe Sloth (Favour Gersdorf) 71.956% (discard) - Portugal – 71.398
João Miguel Torrao (Lirio MVL) 71.398%
Vasco Mira Godinho (Marques Dos Cedros) 68.680% (discard) - Austria – 70.730
Felicita Simoncic (Four Legends) 70.730%
Ulrike Prunthaller (Fleur TSF) 68.665% (discard) - United States – 70.606
Kasey Perry-Glass (Heartbeat W.P.) 70.606%
Meagan Davis (Toronto Lightfoot) 67.624% (discard) - Canada – 70.559
Camille Carier Bergeron (Finnlanderin) 70.559%
Denielle Gallagher (Come Back de Massa) 68.074% (discard) - Belgium – 69.690
Jeroen Devroe (Lestor) 69.690%
Wim Verwimp (Jedai de Massa) 68.121% (discard) - Netherlands – 69.503
Rowena Weggelaar (Don Quichot) 69.503%
Thamar Zweistra (Hexagons Mr Magnum N.O.P.T.) 65.342% (discard) - Spain – 68.913
Severo Jurado Lopez (Flaconi W) 68.913%
Lucia Gallardo (Hip by Johnson) 68.370% (discard) - Finland – 68.509
Ville Vaurio (Dante NL) 68.509%
Anu Sironen (Ypajan Fioretto) 65.373% (discard) - Switzerland – 67.795
Estelle Wettstein (Quaterboy) 67.795% - France – 67.407
Alizee Roussel (Bel Amour) 67.407%
Bertrand Liegard (Ginger) 65.637% (discard) - Poland – 67.282
Roy First (Infinity Win T) 67.282%
Hubert Jankowski (Guerlain) 66.506% (discard) - Ireland – 66.289
Kevin Acres (Ganesh) 66.289%
Alex Baker (Top Gear) 64.596% (discard) - Brazil – 66.273
Nuno Chaves De Almeida (Noga) 66.273%
Manuel Rodrigues Tavares De Almeida Neto (Hermes) 60.761% (discard) - Thailand – 65.078
Suphajit Vuntanadit (Wall Street JV) 65.078%
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Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).