IRISH dressage rider Anna Merveldt’s hopes of qualifying for this season’s FEI World Cup Dressage Finals received another huge boost today (Sunday), after she recorded an impressive ninth place finish in the FEI World Cup Freestyle Grand Prix at Salzburg in Austria.

Drawn second to go of 13 competitors and riding the 12-year-old gelding Esporim, Merveldt produced an excellent score of 73.705% which kept her in second place until the midway point of the competition. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (GER) and TSF Dalera BB went on to take victory on a score of 87.960% ahead of Isabel Werth (GER) in second with Weihegold Old on a score of 84.720%.

Merveldt and Esporim arrived in Salzburg in seventh place on the Western European FEI World Cup league table, with 24 points picked up last year at World Cup fixtures held in Hungary. The Irish combination have now climbed to equal fifth place on the table on 26 points, with the top nine combinations set to qualify for the World Cup Final.

Just one more qualifying round remains – at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in The Netherlands in March, before the 2021 FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Gothenburg, Sweden from March 31st to April 5th.

Source: Horse Sport Ireland press release