Moorlands Totilas captures 3 gold medals at WEG

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Courtesy of Dressage Direct~

In an historic sweep, Dutch rider Edward Gal and his black stallion Moorlands Totilas captured three gold medals at the Dressage World Championships, presented by Alltech, part of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Friday night, in front of a sold-out crowd at the Kentucky Horse Park's Main Stadium, he won the Grand Prix Freestyle with a score of 91.8 percent. On Tuesday they joined their Dutch counterparts to scoop the team title, on Wednesday they topped the Grand Prix Special and last night they made it a hat-trick when taking centre-stage on the Freestyle podium. They've broken so many records over the last year that another came as no surprise - they are now the first partnership ever to win three World titles at a single Championship.

The three top riders also finished the team Grand Prix on Sept. 28-29 and the Grand Prix Special in the same order. Tonight's silver medalist Laura Bechtolsheimer, produced a personal best score of 85.35 with Mistral Hojris to become the first ever British rider to take three medals at a World Dressage Championship - in the Team, Special and Freestyle. It's been a sensational week for the 25 year old. "My horse has found Freestyle difficult, but thankfully he concentrated enough to stay with me tonight. We made little mistakes in the two-time changes and a little in piaffe, but he showed his true colours and just picked it up again afterwards. I"m very proud of my horse" she said.
And tonight's bronze medalist, Steffen Peters, "put the icing on the cake" as he said himself, when topping up the record he set on Wednesday when he became the first American to win an individual Championship medal in Dressage in the 78 years since Colonel Hiram Tottle and his horse, Olympic, took bronze at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1932.

Edward Gal praised the people behind him including Dutch Chef d'Equipe Sjef Janssen, his trainer Nicole Werner and partner Hans Peter Minderhoud. "We work as a team, and they're doing a great job, but a horse like Totilas helps a lot!" he admitted. He said that knowledge of his horse was key to their success. "You have to be good to a horse and to have fun with him, to respect him. We are horse people who know what's good for a horse and what's not good, and that's important" he added.

Not only the medal winners were worth watching. The Spanish partnership of Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz and the stallion Fuego promised to be a spectacular entrée and so it was. The crowd had fallen in love with them earlier in the week, so they were already particular favourites, but no-one could have expected them to produce the form they found tonight. Prancing into the ring with his knees almost touching his nose, the grey stallion demanded maximum attention. But just before the Spanish pair were to go before the judges, Diaz stopped to settle himself and Fuego joined in, leaning down to scratch his nose on his foreleg, leaving spectators a little bemused. Smiles turned to gasps of delight however as they stormed into the routine set to their Spanish soundtrack, and there were spontaneous cheers during Fuego's first extended trot.

Fuego's extended trot, here in Grand Prix Special, received spontaneous cheers
There was lots more to come however, including one-handed one-tempi changes, and by the time Diaz steered his horse up the centre line - in passage and once again using only one hand - there was near-hysteria around the ring. The showman Diaz couldn't contain his excitement at the halt, but very nearly parted company with his horse who shot forward as the Spaniard whipped off his hat and thumped the air with his fist in delight. The crowd went wild, and voiced their disapproval when this partnership were awarded 81.450 which they thought wasn't nearly enough, but it was a spectacular score and well deserved.
A personal record rode Danish Nathalie zu Sayn Wittgenstein on Digby. Her West Side Story theme filled the stadium while Digby showed his lectures with fluency, impulsion and a wonderful light contact (78,75% place 7). Worth mentioning also is Christoph Koschel showing Finnish bred Donnperignon to its advantage on great rhythmical swinging music, using Sting and The Police (76,100%, place 10). Swiss champion Marcela Krinke was the first to be welcomed with cheering from the crowd for her one tempi changes at the circle. (75,300%, place 11). Australian Brett Parbery did great two tempi changes and one tempi changes and had an impressive passage from Victory Salute, resulting in the best score ever ridden by an Australian rider at World Championships (76,350%, place 9)

Last to go, Holland's Imke Schellekens-Bartels couldn't change the medal-order. Although Hunter Douglas Sunrise showed her customary bounce and exuberance in the very fitting piano music Freestyle, it wasn't enough to squeeze onto the podium when 82.10 flashed up on the board.

Linda Zang, president of the ground jury, discussed her impressions of the top three horses: "They're actually, to me, three totally different types of horses. Totilas is a horse that shows so much power, but at the same time is very easy and seems very light. I think Edward does an amazing job to be able to sit and keep a horse with so much power and energy into a frame and work happily with him. Laura's horse, for me, has a lot more power and is a very big horse. And Steffen again has a different kind of horse. It's a horse that is very elastic and soft and as all three horses show harmony, Steffen's horse has a different kind of harmony."
Before the medals ceremony, announcer Brian O'Connor brought Gal into the arena to thank him for taking dressage in an "unbelievably new direction. ... You are in charge of what's happening worldwide in dressage, leading dressage into a new league" O'Connor said.
Peters noted that he dedicated the freestyle ride to his fellow U.S. rider Courtney King-Dye, who suffered a head injury after a riding accident in March. Peters wore a protective helmet in his celebratory victory lap aboard Ravel. Three horses took the honours tonight and many more distinguished themselves. Once again tonight, the magic of Moorlands Totilas reigned supreme.....

Some Facts

Nations represented in the Grand Prix Freestyle were the Netherlands, Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Austria, Poland and Switzerland.
Judges were Zang (United States), Mary Seefried (Australia), Ghislain Fouarge (the Netherlands), Evi Eisenhardt (Germany), and Maribel Alonso (Mexico).
Attendance on Friday's Freestyle night was 46,496, including a sold-out Main Stadium of 25,00 for the Grand Prix Freestyle. Thursday's total attendance was 34,211.