Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour dominated both the CDIO5* and CDI4* with her two rides, the British-owned 10-year-old Vamos Amigos in the former and her European silver medallist Bohemian in the latter, while the Brits put in solid performances.
Lottie has the luxury of three potential rides for the worlds and at Aachen her Olympic and European medallist Everdale threw his hat decisively into the ring ahead of selection. The pair finished a fabulous fourth in the grand prix with 76.5%, and although their scores dipped to 73.68% for ninth in the special, they came back strongly to achieve 82.65% for seventh in a hugely competitive freestyle, where just 1.5% covered second to seventh places.
“The special was going really well and was probably one of his best tests right up until the final centre line, where you have to go into the shadows and he had a spook and some mistakes with that,” said Lottie. “It cost us about 3% probably, but I’m still really pleased with Everdale. He is so much more relaxed in the big atmospheres now; he’s really grown up.”
“The freestyle felt really amazing, and he was just incredible,” she added. “It was so nice to be riding in front of a really packed audience – the crowd at Aachen is unlike anywhere else in the world.”
After a busy early campaign with her top grand prix horses, Everdale, Glamourdale and Dark Legend, as well as her upcoming stars – including Inclusive, 11th in the CDI4* at Aachen – Lottie will now focus on training at home ahead of selection for the worlds this month.
Laura Tomlinson, Lara Butler and Susan Pape joined Lottie on the British Nations Cup team, finishing sixth.
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Laura’s hot 12-year-old Vivaldi stallion Fallatijn faced his biggest challenge yet in the huge Aachen atmosphere, but he improved on a rather tense, distracted grand prix to score a fraction under 71% with a much more focused ride in the special.
“I really believe when he learns to take a breath and stay relaxed when away from the other horses he will be mega,” said Laura. “Being first to go [in the special] meant we were not in front of the big crowd, which helped ‘Finn’ too.”
Lara also improved her scores over the two tests with the Bechtolsheimer family’s home-bred Polarion gelding Kristjan, scoring 69.7% in the grand prix and 70.1% in the special.
Germany-based Susan rode the Zenon stallion Harmony’s Eclectisch to 69.15% in the grand prix and 68% in the special.
Denmark won the Aachen Nations Cup for the first time, relegating home side Germany to second, and cementing them as one of the favourites to win team gold at the dressage World Championships in Herning this August.
The Danish line-up of Carina Cassøe Krüth (Heiline’s Danciera), Daniel Bachmann Andersen (Marshall-Bell) and Nanna Skodberg Merrald (Atterupgaards Orthilia) alongside their top performer Cathrine Dufour (Vamos Amigos), are the same quartet who will form the home team in Herning, and they proved unstoppable throughout the competition at Aachen.
Riding the Pidgley family’s 10-year-old Vamos Amigos (by Vitalis out of a Blue Hors Hotline mare), Cathrine achieved a CDIO5* hat-trick, leading the grand prix on 81.54%, the special on 80.06% and the freestyle on 88. 38% – personal best scores for this incredibly talented gelding in each respective test.
“I’m super proud of [Vamos Amigos],” said Cathrine. “I might have had five minutes too much warm-up [in the special], so I had little less power compared to the grand prix, when he was super, super electric. He’s 10 years old and is doing a super job.”
The German team, comprising Isabell Werth (DSP Quantaz), Benjamin Werndl (Famoso OLD), Ingrid Klimke (Franziskus 15) and Frederic Wandres (Duke Of Britain FRH), finished second after Isabell was eliminated in the grand prix special.
Sweden finished third, ahead of the Netherlands in fourth, Spain in fifth and Britain in sixth. The USA took seventh, with Australia eighth.
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