Werth wins at Dutch Masters, Britain’s Faurie grabs spot in 2018 World Cup Dressage Final

Even before the European competition circuit started a few months ago, Werth, the much-decorated Olympian from Germany, was automatically qualified for Paris after winning the World Cup title last year in Omaha, Nebraska on Weihegold OLD. And while Weihegold, a 13-year-old black mare, is expected to be back as Werth’s partner at the French capital’s AccorHotels Arena, the World No.1 in the sport was thrilled with the performance of Emilio at the Dutch Masters competition.

“He certainly showed an improvement today, he was amazing, he felt like 90%!”, Werth said, referring to her and the 12-year-old bay gelding’s second place to Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour & Cassidy two weeks ago in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Alongside Werth, nine riders from six nations – Austria, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden – have qualified for the Dressage Final, from April 11-15:

1. Patrik Kittel SWE – 74

2. Dorothee Schneider GER – 72

3. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl GER – 62

4. Madeleine Witte-Vrees NED – 56

5. Edward Gal NED – 55

6. Daniel Bachmann Andersen DEN – 54

6. Tinne Vilhelmson Silfven SWE – 54

8. Belinda Weinbauer AUT – 53

8. Emile Faurie GBR – 53 

British rider Faurie and his 14-year-old bay gelding Lollipop earned a ticket to France after finishing in a tie for eighth place in the standings, despite having had to withdraw from the final qualifier in the Netherlands. 

And Faurie’s achievement with partners Lollipop and Delatio caps a successful past year for the 54-year-old rider, who almost pulled off a victory on home ground at London Olympia in December. “It has been a great season so far,” Faurie told FEI.org. “It has exceded all my expectations, to be honest. I didn’t really know Delatio very well before the season began. We were a new partnership and I had only been riding him for a short period of time.” Faurie is also proud of his climb back to 34th in the world rankings for the sport, and is hoping to continue on that trajectory at the 2018 Final.

Also taking place at the competition in ’s-Hertogenbosch this weekend was the prestigious Grand Slam Show Jumping class on Sunday, with Belgium’s Niels Bruynseels and mare Gancia de Muze coming out on top of a close jump-off ahead of German veteran Marcus Ehning on Cornado NRW and Dutchman Harrie Smolders on Emerald.

For more information on the 2018 Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final and FEI Dressage Final, see here.