GERMANY’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl completed her second perfect championship of 2021 by taking three gold medals at the FEI Dressage European Championships in Hagen, Germany on Saturday.

Having already won gold with the team on Wednesday, the Olympic champion then went on to take gold in the Grand Prix Special, before making it a hat-trick when topping the Freestyle on Saturday at the venue which stepped up to host the championship following the withdrawal of original host Budapest.

“It’s like a fairytale, the ride today was the best I ever felt,” said the 35-year-old who also swept all before her at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this summer. “It may not have been the highest points ever, but for me it was the best feeling I ever had with Dalera. I was very emotional after finishing. No matter what points or what place I got I was so happy.

“She was 100% focused, she was light, she was on fire but not too much. She loves what she does, and I feel it in every second and every movement. Even my collected walk felt super today. The feeling was the best I’ve ever had so far, in my whole life, on any horse!”

Scoring 91.02% when third-last to go, she finished almost three percentage points ahead of Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour who took silver with Bohemian, and it was Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and Gio who grabbed the bronze. The three medal-winning horses all competed in Tokyo earlier in the summer.

Competitiveness

Fifth-last into the arena, Dujardin put 87.24% on the board, and she might have expected that would not be enough for a podium placing with the final German partnership of Isabell Werth and Weihegold OLD still to come. But, second-last into the arena, Werth’s multiple medal-winning mare, who won silver in the Grand Prix Special two days earlier, was clearly lacking energy and power, and their score of 84.89% left them in fourth place.

Dujardin was hugely pleased with her result and the 10-year-old Gio who won double bronze in Tokyo and helped Britain to team silver a few days earlier. “I’m so proud of him, it’s only his second time through that music and as you could see the degree of difficulty is immense. The Olympics was the first time I rode it and it was mistake-free there, unfortunately I made a mistake in the ones on the centre line today, rider error not horse error, and I thought that would have cost me a medal,” said Dujardin.

Competitiveness is in Dujardin’s DNA and having finished fourth in the Special, she wanted a medal this time. “I went in there wanting a medal for sure, I wasn’t going down without a fight! And being the first of the last five combinations you know you have to give it a good go, set the standard. I felt we did that, even with a mistake. We got 87% even with those mistakes, without those mistakes who knows what it might have been,” she added.

Cathrine Dufour (silver), Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (gold) and Charlotte Dujardin (bronze) after the Freestyle to Music at the 2021 FEI Dressage European Championships \ FEI/Liz Gregg

Pleased

Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour was next into the arena after Dujardin and went into the lead with a score of 88.43% aboard the 11-year-old gelding Bohemian. “I’m really happy, first because I had a super ride – almost flawless – we had a tiny mistake in the ones at the end and that was totally my mistake. We have grown a lot since Wednesday this week and today he felt so happy, so ready to deliver,” said the 29-year-old.

It was the first time in six years that Isabell Werth did not appear on a championships podium following a few mistakes to place fourth, ahead of Britain’s Charlotte Fry who scored her second fifth place finish of the championship and her third personal best score of the week. The 25-year-old, also part of the British team in Tokyo, was last to go with the fiery stallion Everdale and they scored 84.72%, just 0.17% behind Werth.

Just 15 combinations qualified for the Freestyle to Music, and one – Adelinde Cornelissen (The Netherlands) and Governor-STR – was eliminated for blood on the mouth during their test.

The German team of von Bredow-Werndl, Werth, Dorothee Schneider (Faustus) and Helen Langehanenberg (Annabelle) won their country’s 25th gold medal in Wednesday’s team competition.

Dujardin and Fry were joined on the British team by Carl Hester (En Vogue) and Gareth Hughes (Sintano van Hof Olympia) to win silver, ahead of the Danish team led by Dufour, with Daniel Bachmann Andersen (Marshall-Belle), Nanna Skodberg Merrald (Atterupgaards Orthilia) and Charlotte Heering (Bufranco).

Ireland’s Carolyn Mellor and Anna Merveldt competed an individuals in the Grand Prix. It was a championship debut for 59-year-old Comber-based Mellor who rode Gouverneur M to a score of 64.39%. Mellor bought the 10-year-old KWPN gelding by Voice as a three-year-old and has produced him to this level herself.

“It’s very surreal, I never thought I’d make it to this stage but it’s brilliant and I think with this horse there is much more to come,” said Mellor, who finished 63rd overall.

Merveldt was back in action with Eleonore Higgins and Giovanna Mazza’s 12-year-old Lusitano stallion Esporim, who had a small injury earlier this year which kept him out of contention for Tokyo. They scored 68.33% to finish in 46th place.

“I am thrilled, he was so fantastic, Esporim gave everything as usual, especially after such a long break. Going straight to a European Championships is not the easiest but I am thrilled, he gave everything and I couldn’t expect any more,” Merveldt said.

Under 25s

German U25 riders matched their senior counterparts when claiming all the gold medals in the FEI Dressage European Championship U25 at Hagen.

Semmieke Rothenberger, Raphael Netz, Ellen Richter, and Ann-Kathrin Lindner grabbed team gold on Wednesday, pinning The Netherlands into silver medal spot. Sweden took the bronze.

In Saturday’s Grand Prix which decided the Individual medals, Netz squeezed Rothenberger off the top step of the podium by just 0.05%. Netz, who was born into a family with no connection to horses, is trained by von Bredow-Werndl, who spotted his talent when he was 17.

“She sent me an email asking if I wanted to ride for her – I thought it was a fake! But we ended up having a call and I took the train to Bavaria and stayed there for four days. And I just fitted in perfectly. So I finished school, packed my things and moved,” said the young rider who has been working for the German star for the last five years.

CDI3*

Ireland’s Sorrell Klatzko competed in the CDI3* Grand Prix at the venue, aboard her eight-year-old Totilas-sired gelding Turbo. The pair scored 65.76% to finished 21st from 29 starters. Germany’s Jessica Süss won the class with Duisenberg (72.15%).

Writing on social media, Klatzko, who has produced Turbo herself in Ireland, said: “What a wonderful young horse. Youngest in the whole show and he kept his cool and performed a really lovely test. Some expensive whoopsies but I could not be happier with this special horse and the start of a wonderful journey together.”