Charlotte Dujardin concluded her great show in Aachen with Sonnar Murray Brown’s Erlentanz with fifth place in the freestyle, the Deutsche Bank Preis, today (Sunday, 21 July).
“The degree of difficulty isn’t there [for a really high score] so I just went for a clear round and I couldn’t have asked any more of him,” she said after scoring 83.995%. “This is the first time he’s done three tests at a show and the atmosphere has been electric — especially going in after Dorothee [Schneider] today — but he’s coped with everything.”
Things did not really go the way of Britain’s other rider in the freestyle, Lottie Fry. Her ride, her own and the Van Olsts’ Dark Legend, became very tense, which led to some tricky moments in the test, including in the first and final halt. The pair finished 15th with 75.465%.
Isabell Werth celebrated her 50th birthday by topping the leaderboard for the third time this week with Madeleine Winter-Schulze’s Bella Rose 2. They were the only pair to break 90%, scoring 90.45% for their freestyle, which has an extraordinarily high degree of difficulty.
The winners’ only glitch came in the one-time changes, but their highlights won them a total of 23 10s, including from all judges for the piaffe-passage transitions and their music.
Fellow German Dorothee Schneider again claimed second with Showtime 2, landing a mark of 89.66%. Her test received six 10s and it was mistake-free, with no marks below 7.5.
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl made it an all-German top three when she put in her best performance of the week with TSF Dalera BB to receive 87.595%.
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Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour presented her chestnut Bohemian at his best today too and claimed fourth place on 85.39%.
Check back for a final showjumping grand prix update from Aachen later, plus full reports on the dressage, eventing and showjumping in next week’s Horse & Hound (dated 25 July).
