Dressage star Edward Gal and his mare Sisther de Jeu simply did what they set out to do at the sixth leg of the 2010/2011 Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage series in Mechelen, Belgium today, following their victory in the Grand Prix with the same result in the Freestyle. As Gal is the title defender and does not receive points in his starts, his partner, Hans Peter Minderhoud, claimed maximum points when runner-up with the mare Exquis Nadine.  And Ulla Salzgeber, winner at both Kaposvar in Hungary and at Frankfurt in her native Germany this season, finished third with her chestnut mare Wakana to forge a strong lead at the top of the series leaderboard.

Inexperienced Sisther

Gal was relieved and happy with the win. He took the rather inexperienced mare Sisther de Jeu to Olympia in London and now to Mechelen. “She is very sensitive and is not used to a lot of noise and to the crowds, but she is learning to behave better, and to relax - this definitely will be her future,” the 40-year-old rider said. “Sisther de Jeu, just like Totilas, descends from Gribaldi. All horses are different but the good news for me is that owner Emmy de Jeu has her eyes focused on me and her mare Sisther de Jeu and I’ll make the best out of this combination I promise! There is still a lot of room for improvement.”

Hans Peter Minderhoud was enormously happy about receiving the full 20 points normally allocated to the winner when finishing as the runner-up. “In the Grand Prix I had a flashback to the amazing jump at the WEG when Exquis Nadine was affected by the noises around the arena!" he pointed out. "Don’t forget this was the very first time for her to enter a show arena again after the WEG.  So I decided today to ride a serpentine instead of a straight line toward the judge at C to avoid a too-energetic reaction. and it worked out very well. I was very happy with my test,” he added.

Challenges

Chairman of the judges Mariette Withages said that the first five competitors had given each other quite a challenge. “To me they didn’t differ a lot, each showing their own strong points,” she explained. She also said she had rewarded Edward Gal and Sisther de Jeu with some nines.