Freesytle victory for Anky & Salinero at WDM CDI5* Palm Beach, USA.
Dutch superstars Anky and Salinero, who won Olympic Gold in 2004 and 2008, scored 84.450% to beat US favorite and current FEI World Cup Champion Steffen Peters and Ravel 81.700 % and Germany's Isabell Werth on Satchmo 78.950 % in Saturday night's freestyle under lights at the Exquis World Dressage Masters CDI5* Palm Beach USA. It was the first time since the 2009 World Cup Final in Las Vegas that the trio had come head to head in a freestyle competition. "Tonight everything just worked out how it should be,” Anky said. “I was really, really pleased with him. I am very proud. We’ve had worse competitions and better competitions, but if you have a horse, you know that's life. I'm so proud that he's still fit, wants to do his job, and wants to compete. He's still a happy horse. He likes to compete and do training. It's nice to feel that it's still there. He does get older and settles down a bit, that's nice too. It's fantastic to still have a horse like this.”
The musical freestyle with prize money of US$82,000 was the highlight of the opening event of the second year of the world’s richest lineup of dressage competitions. The Palm Beach event, as with other Exquis World Dressage Masters competitions, carries total prize money of US$136,000.
The Exquis World Dressage Masters series includes:
USA Palm Beach 4-6 Feb
GER Munich 13-16 May
FRA Cannes (to be confirmed)
GBR Hickstead 31 Jul- 1 Aug
Results Place Horse Rider Judge E Judge H Judge C Judge M Judge B Total
1. Salinero Anky van Grunsven (NED)82.750, 83.500, 87.750, 83.000, 85.250, 1689 84.450%
2. Ravel Steffen Peters (USA) 83.500, 80.25,0 84.75,0 80.750, 79.250, 1634 81.700% 3. Satchmo 78 Isabell Werth (GER) 77.500, 80.250, 81.250, 79.750, 76.000, 1579 78.950% 4. Pop Art Ashley Holzer (CAN) 74.500, 77.000, 78.000, 76.750, 75.250, 1526 76.300% 5. Leonberg Mikala Munter Gunderse (DEN) 74.000, 74.250, 69.250, 72.000, 71.500, 1444 72.200% 6. Ovation Christa Laarakkers (NED) 71.750, 72.000, 70.250, 68.750, 73.000, 1423 71.150% 7. Calecto V Tina Konyot (USA) 72.000, 67.500, 70.750, 72.500, 70.750, 1414 70.700% 8. Le Mont d’Or Anja Ploenzke (GER) 69.000, 70.750, 68.500, 69.000, 72.500, 1399 69.950% pictures courtesy of Ilse Schwarz at www.dressage-news.com
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