US rider Hallie Coon and Kapriccio hold the lead after the first day of CCI5* Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials dressage, with the only sub-30 score.
Hallie and her 11-year-old five-debutant Kapriccio, whom she owns with Helen Coon, were second-last to go this afternoon and scored 27.8 to take the lead.
“I’m feeling very confident at the moment. He’s just the best horse I could possibly have underneath me,” said Hallie.
KWPN gelding Kapriccio was produced by Julia Norman from BE100 to CCI4*. Julia last competed him in March 2025, before Hallie took over the reins. Hallie and Kapriccio recorded top-20 places at Ballindenisk CCI4*-S and Boekelo CCI4*-L last autumn and enjoyed their first CCI4*-S victory at Oudkarspel in the Netherlands in April.
“He’s the type of horse if you hold his hand and make sure he’s comfortable, he’ll give you his heart on a plate, it’s just a lovely feeling. I wouldn’t want to be on any other horse,” said Hallie.
The Luhmühlen five-star field is considerably smaller this year, just 21 combinations were presented at the first trot-up yesterday (17 June). This has since reduced to 20 following the withdrawal of Bill Levett and RNH Tom Tom R ahead of the dressage.
World number one Tim Price was last to go of the nine combinations in the five-star dressage this afternoon with his own, Susan Lamb and Therese Miller’s Happy Boy. The pair made a super entrance, scoring a nine from Nick Burton at C and eights from Christian Steiner and Edith Schless-Stortenbecker at M and E respectively, but they had an expensive mistake in the medium trot, when Happy Boy broke into canter, and had another slip-up in the extended trot across the diagonal. But their test got better, earning 31.7, for overnight second.
“I thought he tried really hard. We had two mistakes in the trot which was a real surprise as he normally has a good trot,” said Tim.
“I think he was just over-concentrating almost, he’s just a little trier and wants to do the right thing. But I was really pleased with everything else.”
Great Britain’s Stephen Heal in provisional third
Britain’s Stephen Heal makes up the overnight top three, with his own and Heather Chapman’s lovely grey mare Hagonda. The pair rode a relaxed looking test, scoring 33.6.
Stephen Heal and Hagonda. Credit: Peter Nixon
“I’m really pleased with her. This is only her second five-star and she wouldn’t have been in many big arenas like that. She can sometimes not be so easy in a test, so it was nice that she stayed rideable. I was able to really ask her for all the movements and get stuck in and everything came up quite nicely,” said Stephen.
“I was probably a bit slack after the stretch circle to get the second-last change, but otherwise I was really happy with how everything went. She felt really relaxed, she can get a little excited and I can lose her a little bit, but she just felt really at ease in there today.”
Cross-country thoughts
Looking ahead to Saturday (20 June) there are mixed views among the top three about tackling cross-country course-designer Mike Etherington’s track. Hallie Coon was feeling confident following her Luhmühlen Horse Trials dressage test, but Tim had some reservations, as it is a tough track and Happy Boy can be challenging.
“I don’t know if I’m looking forward to it, but I’m going to hopefully have a good plan to do a good job,” said Tim.
Hallie said she is still to walk the whole course.
“I was so focused on this first phase but from what I can see it looks like a big bold galloping track. The conditions are perfect it seems, the ground is lovely. Luhmühlen has done a very good job of preparing and I’m excited to see the rest of it,” she said.
“The general consensus I’ve heard [among riders] is that there’s plenty to do out there and it’s not going to be a dressage show.”
Stephen believes his long-standing partnership with Hagonda, having produced her up the levels, will put him in a good place.
“I’m looking forward to the cross-country. I think it will suit her because she doesn’t get strong, so I’m not too worried that it’s quite twisty,” he said.
“There’s plenty of questions out there, lots of tricky lines to corners and things like that which I think could catch out. But I think as we know each other so well now and she’s been round some tough courses in the past, she was really good at Pau and then this year she was fab round Belsay, so it’s given me confidence coming here.”
Luhmühlen Horse Trials dressage day two
The second day of dressage for both the CCI4*-S Meßmer Trophy and the remaining 11 combinations in the CCI5* is tomorrow (19 June).
Australia’s Grace Kay and Bluefields For Cello will start at 8am UK time (9am local) in the CCI4*-S. Britain’s Harry Horton and Cooley With Ambition will kick off the CCI5* proceedings at 1pm UK time (2pm local).
This morning German Olympic rider Julia Krajewski took an early lead in the CCI4*-S Meßmer Trophy with Tullabeg Platinum on 27.2. New Zealand’s Samantha Lissington and Delarado are in overnight second on 29.2 and US rider Cosby Green and Highly Suspicious are provisional third on 31.0.
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