Cathrine Dufour’s double of victories with Attergaards Cassidy proved pivotal to Team Denmark’s success. (FEI/Britt Carlsen)

Lausanne (SUI), 16 May 2016 – Team Denmark pipped their neighbours from Sweden at the second leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ Dressage 2016 series on home ground at the Odense Horse Festival. In a game of cat-and-mouse, the Swedes had a narrow lead after Saturday’s Grand Prix but were overtaken by their hosts in Sunday’s Grand Prix Special. And in a thrilling finale, the Danes held on tight to come out on top by an overall margin of just 0.317 percent following the deciding Freestyle.

Team Germany finished more than 20 points behind in third place while the three-member Australian side lined up fourth ahead of USA in fifth, Great Britain in sixth and another three-strong side from Finland in seventh spot.

Closing competition

The Scandinavian countries were in a league of their own going into the closing competition, with Germany already trailing by a 10-point margin.

Denmark’s Agnete Kirk Thinggaard threw down a real challenge when posting a Freestyle mark of 73.975 with Jojo AZ. This pair has established a big fan-base throughout the last few Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage seasons and performed a charming new Freestyle for the very first time. It wasn’t all plain sailing, however, as Jojo was affected by the strong winds sweeping across the showgrounds, while his rider struggled to follow her music. “I am not so familiar with my new Freestyle yet, but I love the music of Robbie Williams and the choreography. At the end of my test I show piaffe and passage in a heart shaped line in front of the judges,” Thinggaard explained.

The question now was: would this be enough to leave her country out in front? There was huge suspense when Sweden’s Therese Nilshagen steered Dante Weltino OLD through an almost flawless test. But the lovely black stallion was also a bit tense and the judges were not in total agreement. Nilshagen’s score of 75.425 secured individual victory in the Freestyle, but it wasn’t quite enough to swing the team scoreline back in her country’s favour.

Home-side celebration

It would a very happy home-side celebration for Thinggaard, Cathrine Dufour, Daniel Bachmann Andersen and Lisbeth Seierskilde.

Dufour won both the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special on the Danish Warmblood gelding Attergaards Cassidy. She was over the moon, especially after her performance in the Grand Prix Special scoring 75.961% and showing a very relaxed horse in a harmonious ride.

Commenting on the experience of the last few days, Dufour said it was “super exciting, and the victory in the FEI Nations Cup today crowned a perfect weekend for me! I simply love riding in team competitions, and I find it very valuable to ride together with my colleagues in a team competition. It adds to the unity of the team,” she added after her side posted a final tally of 436.521.

Swedish rider Therese Nilshagen was also very happy with her quality test. “It is our first Grand Prix season, and he (Dante Weltino OLD) is only nine years old, so I am very pleased with the result,” she said. The final score for the Swedish side that also included Rose Mathisen (Zuidenwind 1187), Juliette Ramel (Buriel KH) and Paulinda Friberg (Di Lapponia T) was 436.204. Germany’s Kathleen Keller (Daintree 3), Brigitte Wittig (Bodega W), Marcus Hermes (Zinq Cabanas FH) and Svenja Peper (Disney World) posted 412.113 for third place.

This is the first official season for the FEI Nations Cup™ Dressage series following three years at pilot level. Team USA won the opening 2016 leg on home turf at Wellington (USA) last month, and the remaining legs will take place at Compiegne (FRA) next weekend, followed by Rotterdam (NED) in June and Falsterbo (SWE), Aachen (GER) and Hickstead (GBR) in July.

Detailed results are available here.

More information about the FEI Nations Cup™ 2016 Dressage series can be found here.

By Louise Parkes

Media Contacts:

At Odense:

Britt Carlsen
Press Officer
press@jbkhorseshows.dk
+45 202 42928

At FEI:

Shannon Gibbons
Manager Press Relations
shannon.gibbons@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 46

Leanne Williams
Manager Press Relations
leanne.williams@fei.org
+41 79 314 24 38