Danes win exciting last leg at Hickstead: Dutch confirmed as back-to-back series champions

By Louise Parkes

Denmark came out on top at the sixth and final leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ Dressage series at Hickstead, Great Britain yesterday, but it was a close call all the way to the very end of the 2014 pilot season.  When the scores were averaged out, with the results of the best three horse-and-rider combinations from each country taken into account, only 0.752 points separated the winners from the host nation in second while Sweden lined up third just 0.689 further behind.

A total of five nations - Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and USA - competed at the British fixture, but the 2014 series title went to The Netherlands who also came out on top in 2013.  Only Sweden could challenge the defending champions, and it was again a close call when they finished just a single point behind the Dutch in the final standings, with the Danes in third.

This year’s Hickstead format created extra tension and excitement as the FEI Nations Cup™ Dressage was judged across two separate competitions.  Riders lined out in the Grand Prix on Thursday and Friday and those scores were added to the ones earned in yesterday’s Grand Prix Special to decide the result. 

“What made this really work was that the result was completely unpredictable” said Ground Jury President, Great Britain’s Stephen Clarke.

Held the advantage

It was the British who held the advantage after the Grand Prix when star rider, Carl Hester, boosted their chances with the top score of the competition.  Riding Fine Time 13 in this one for a score of 73.640, Hester was judged best by four of the five Ground Jury members, only Denmark’s Susan Baarup putting him in second place.  

Nikki Crisp’s 67.289 was the drop score when Lara Griffiths posted 68.080 with Andretti H and Michael Eilberg and Marakov earned a mark of 67.760.  

The Danes lined up second, but everything about their end-result was all the more creditable for the fact that there were only three of them.  Rikke Svane and Finckenstein RSF posted 68.520, Ulrik Moelgaard and Michigan scored 69.000 and Anders Dahl and Wie Atlantico de Ymas earned their best mark of 70.140.

Sweden’s Juliette Ramel (Ten Points), Charlotte Haid Bondergaard (Triviant 2), Malina Hamilton  (Fleetwood0 and Mads Hendelio Witz (Jimmy Choo SEQ) lined up third ahead of the USA in fourth and Germany in fifth place.

Sheer consistency

Yesterday however, the sheer consistency of the Danes saw them win through.  Svane slotted into individual fourth spot on a score of 71.216, Dahl finished sixth with 790.843 and Moelgaard lined up ninth when posting 70.588.  

Britain’s Hester topped the individual scoreboard once again, but not with his team ride, Fine Time, who finished just behind Svane in fifth place.  Griffiths, Eilberg and Crisp claimed 17th, 20th and 22nd individually, and the difference was enough to leave the Danes at the head of affairs when the scores from the two competitions were combined.  

American team-member, Lisa Wilcox, finished second individually in the Grand Prix Special with a score of 71.608 from Denzello while Hester topped the individual rankings when posting 71.922 with Dances with Wolves.  Sweden’s Juliette Ramel and Ten Points finished third with 71.392.  It was super-tight at the top of the scoreboard, with only 1.785 points separating the top 12 individual finishers.

Delighted

The Danes were delighted their victory.  “We are very excited that our little Danish offshore team has won!” said Ulrik Moelgaard.  All three riders live outside Denmark, Anders is based close to the Hickstead showgrounds, and Moelgaard lives in the Cotswolds in England while Svane is based in Luxembourg.  

“We rode six very solid performances” Moelgaard said.  “We were under pressure with only three on the team but we were determined”.  They arrived in Hickstead with a plan.  “Anders got married last weekend in England and we talked about it at the wedding and said OK, let’s do it, let’s really go for it at Hickstead!  Now we’ve had two fantastic Saturdays in a row!” he added with a laugh.