Two days, two silver medals! Laura Bechtolsheimer made history last night with a fabulous test on her long term partner Mistral Hojris to claim GB's first ever World Championship individual Silver medal. The previous only British World Championship medallist was Jennie Loriston-Clarke in 1978 with Dutch Courage. Laura, 25, once again rode a test of pure harmony and elegance which included several tens. The pair danced their way to 81.708% with a fault free test that showed all 'Alf's' power and lightness. The final piaffe earned them a ten from every judge except one, who awarded a nine. Laura stayed focused in the super charged atmosphere and showed what the big Michellino sired chestnut is capable of. Big reaching extensions and on-the-spot piaffes complemented the superb passage tour.
The score is a new personal best for Laura in a Special, and sets a new British record.
The winner of the special was Edward Gal with Moorlands Totilas who looked even better than in the previous day's grand prix to score 85.708%. The home team collected their first Dressage medal of the games when Steffen Peters and Ravel posted 78.542% for bronze.
Rumours are circulating that the black stallion has been sold to the US and will be staying there when the other members of the Dutch team return to Europe. Others suggest the stallion is simply staying on to breed. However, Edward was quick to dispel rumours of the sale in the post event press conference and stated that nothing was going on.
A delighted Laura commented; “I’ve worked hard to keep his focus for the Grand Prix special and I’m pretty happy with silver. I probably had a better chance of winning gold yesterday as he was more relaxed – he made me work quite hard today! I didn’t hear my mark for a long time as I was too busy telling my horse he was a legend.” In the press conference, one journalist asked if she’d considered swapping nationalities for Germany where she was actually born, she replied; “I only lived in Germany for one year – I grew up in Britain, went to school in Britain, all my friends are in Britain and I’m proud to compete for Britain!” Phew!
Earlier in the day, Maria Eilberg was the first of the four British riders to contest the Grand Prix Special with her ever consistent partner Two Sox and they were again solid for 68.500%. As Maria promised, she “went for it” in her extended trot and the horse generally looked more active today. They finished 21st overall.
Fiona Bigwood was next with Wie Atlantico and their test was well presented for 69.708%. She commented; “I’m delighted with him today. It’s not always we get to do the Special and I wondered how he would go as we really prepared him to peak for Monday’s test. Also, I hadn’t done that much preparation for this test so there were a few little mistakes. He’s exceeded all our expectations out here.”
Fiona finished in 16th position and the top 15 automatically qualify for Monday night’s Dressage climax, the freestyle. However, there are four German riders in the top 15 and only three can qualify so Fiona will join Laura.
Carl Hester went just half an hour later with Liebling II and there were a few errors early on including a break to canter in the extended trot which cost a few percent but ever the showman, he continued well with the marks creeping up and up for a final total of 69.417%. He was clearly disappointed but the focus of his preparation had been yesterday’s team test and Leibling II or “Lenny” just couldn’t give him any more.
Carl finished 17th just behind Fiona and will be in the kur if any of the horses above drop out for any reason.
Perhaps the biggest surprise and delight was the Spaniard Juan Manuel Muñoz Diaz with his fabulous grey stallion Fuego XII. This horse can piaffe amongst the best of Spanish horses but is also correct and expressive in the extended work. His walk is a little fragile but the horse so clearly wants to please that the combination is a total pleasure to watch. In the special they went one better than their placing in the grand prix, securing fourth place in the special on 76.042%.
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