Laura Bechtolsheimer rocked the house at the 2010 Olympia Horse Show in London, Great Britain, blowing away all competition including her biggest rival of the moment, Adelinde Cornelissen on Parzival. Bechtolsheimer and her Danish Warmblood Mistral Hojris scored a staggering 82.936% in the Grand Prix and was a league of her own today at this 2010 London World Cup Qualifier.
Bechtolsheimer became the first Brit to win the Grand Prix at Olympia, setting a new Grand Prix British record in the process. Laura looked delighted with her win, which beat her previous Grand Prix British record of 82.511%.
"Alf was really on the ball tonight, she said. "He was excited, strong and even more spectacular than usual. I have nothing to complain about with his performance, he was physically and mentally on top form."
Looking ahead to tomorrow night's Grand Prix Freestyle to music, Laura added: "I'm a little nervous about the Freestyle as Alf hasn't been out in a while - it will certainly be an exciting ride!
Dutch Adelinde Cornelissen, who swept the board at the World Cup qualifier in Stockholm, finished second with almost five percent less than the double WEG silver medal winning Brit. Aboard her athletic Parzival, the amiable Dutch girl scored 78.170%.
Second place Adelinde said: "Parzival got a little scared in his extended trot and from then on stayed a little reserved. I had to get him going again after that but he did his job - he just needed something a bit extra. I knew the little mistakes we made weren't enough to win."
Last year's winner in London, Edward Gal, saddled his new number one Sisther de Jeu to finish third in the Grand Prix with 72.553%. Edward was suitably upbeat with his mare's performance.
"She was tense and didn't move quite as I wanted but tomorrow I will beat them all! he said. "I'm happy with her in general. Of course she's not Totilas but she's a great horse and I'm looking forward to tomorrow night as she too can be quite wild to music!"
American Catherina Haddad and her colourful chestnut Winyamaro was unable to break the 70% barrier, but still finished in a respectable fourth place with 69.191%. -
View full 2010 CDI-W London scores here
For audio interviews with the top three placed riders in tonight's competition, follow the links:Laura Bechtolsheimer - Adelinde Cornelissen - Edward Gal