The German dressage team made up of Nadine Capellmann/Elvis, Hubertus Schmidt/Wansuela Suerte, Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff/Sterntaler-Unicer and Isabell Werth/Warum Nicht lived up to their role as favourites in the Lambertz Prize, Dressage Nations' Cup.
With a total score of 223.374 points the German squad finished ahead of the Danish (209.875) and Swedish (209.542) teams. "Last year's defeat against the Dutch team was particularly painful, because Aachen is of special significance for us", the German national coach, Holger Schmezer, remarked. Whereby one must state that the Dutch had made it somewhat easier for the German team, since with this year's World Equestrian Games in mind, they didn't send their strongest pairs to Aachen, for instance Olympic gold medallist, Anky van Grunsven, didn't compete at the CHIO and her fellow-countryman, Edward Gal, didn't ride his Championship horse, Lingh, but instead saddled his "number two" horse, Gribaldi. Thus the Dutch team only took fifth place (205.958) behind the Swiss riders (207,417).
In the individual classification, Nadine Capellmann from Aachen, triumphed with the ten-year-old Hanoverian Esprit son, Elvis (75,833). At the subsequent press conference, the local rider admitted afterwards, "I was a little bit nervous, after not having competed in the team for three years, but Elvis was really calm. And everything went very well except for the flying changes á tempo." The Finnish rider, Kyra Kyrklund came a close second with the Swedish gelding, Max (75.542). The pair, who took only tenth place at the European Championships in 2005, impressed everyone with their considerable improvement in performance.
Isabell Werth, whose 10-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Warum Nicht by Weltmeyer, had made constant progress over the winter, also celebrated her comeback to the German team. Having taken second place in the World Cup Final, behind Anky van Grunsven, the chestnut gelding also came third in the dressage arena in Aachen (74,833).
After the team competition yesterday, the dressage riders now go on to fight for victory in the individual classification, the Grand Prix of Aachen that is endowed with prize-money totalling 100,000 Euros. Tomorrow on Saturday (starting 9 a.m.) the best 30 riders will compete in the Grand Prix Spécial and on Sunday (starting 10 a.m.) the best 15 pairs qualify for the final freestyle competition.
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