Dressage horse and rider combinations to watch at the Olympics

Here we take a little dive into the horses and riders competing in the Dressage at the Tokyo Olympics. It’s fair to say there has been lots of shuffling and withdrawal of riders prior to this Olympics. The heat in Japan is a concern for some of the horses, and a few have been withdrawn due to this

The most notable withdrawal to date has been Charlotte Dujardin’s expected ride, Mount St John Freestyle. Freestyle’s owner Emma Blundell mentioned in a statement on Instagram:

Having been delighted to make the GB team short list for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics with Freestyle and Charlotte, we are devastated that she’s not maintained sufficient fitness to cope with the long travel and extreme climate required to perform at her best. It has been decided together with Carl, Charlotte, the vets and selectors that she should be saved for a later date.

This has been a big shake up for team GB as it was thought that Charlotte on Freestyle was the candidate most likely to give Isabel Werth a run for her money. Charlotte has had 5 wins at Grand Prix level between 2020 and 2021 with the 10 year old Gio (Apache x Tango) and he will be her mount for the Games.

MARES FOR THE WIN

Gone are the days where stallions alone are at the pinnacle of the sport in Dressage. The top three ranked FEI horses are mares, two of whom are ridden by Isabell Werth. Isabell Werth and Bella Rose 2 were the Gold Medallists at the FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon in 2018. Isabel has had 4 wins at Grand Prix level on Bella Rose this year alone, and a massive 35 wins in total. She scored over 90.8% in the Freestyle at Rotterdam in 2019 and took her 19th European title and Gold with Bella Rose in the Grand Prix Special in Rotterdam.

Isabell has said that Bella Rose is the horse of her career. Bella Rose is a lightly built, athletic mare, quite different from the recent norm seen in the Dressage breeding world. This may be due to the fact that her dam sire is the purebred Anglo Arab Cacir. Her sire, Belissimo M is the sire of Callaho stud’s famous Benicio. Benico’s score for dressage in his Stallion Performance Test was 9.88, a score that beat his own father’s score, years before. Rivendell Stud in the Cape also has a stallion by Belissimo M, in the form of Rivendell Beregond (Belissimo M x Wolkentanz x Bergkristall).

Callaho Warmblood Stud’s impressive Benicio.

Olympic debutant and second-ranked Jessica von Bredow Werndl and Dalera, a Trakehner mare, won leg three of the Western European League in Stuttgart in 2019. It was a thrilling win, especially as it put Jessica’s German teammate Isabell Werth into second place with the formidable Weihegold OLD.

Jessica and Dalera scored 89.64% in the Grand Prix Freestyle in February 2020 and 84.766% in the Grand Prix Special in June 2021. At the CDI Hagen in April this year Jessica won the Grand Prix Special.

Jessica has this to say about Dalera:

Dalera is a very, very special mare as she is the cutest in the world when you are cuddling her and working with her on the ground, but as soon as you sit on her she wants to give you her very best. She is very eager, willing to work and feels like a Rockstar in competition. She really wants to present herself in competition and she enjoys it.

Her personality perfectly shows the typical breed traits of a Trakehner: good natured, even tempered, but with an energy and athleticism that matches their work ethic.

KEEP AN EYE ON

1. Catherine Dufour is another one to keep an eye on at Tokyo. She and Bohemian have beaten Isabell and Jessica at the FEI Dressage World Cup in Aarhus in 2020. She had 4 wins in 2020 and 2 in 2021 on Bohemian.

2. Showtime FRH (Sandro Hit x Rotspon) and Dorothee scored 90.561% for the Freestyle at Rotterdam in 2019 to secure Silver, with Isabell in Gold on Bella Rose and Jessica in Bronze on Dalera.

Dominey Alexander on Daddy Cool.

Photography: Hilary O'Leary

Showtime FRH’s (Dorothee Schneider’s mount) damsire Rostpon is found in SA breeding at Von Ghaku Hannoveraners as he is the sire of the winning 2-3 year old at the SA Warmblood Young Stock show, Von Ghaku Rembrandt (Rotspon x De Niro). The Von Ghaku Stud have Benicio, De Niro, Sir Donnerhall, Wolkenstein II, amongst others, in their immediate lines so they are a stud to watch out for in dressage breeding here in SA. They, like many others, have seen the potential in Daddy Cool (Don Index x Lauries Crusader xx), who has produced some fantastic foals already and stands with Dominey and Karen Alexander at Cellehof Stud. Rivendell Stud also have dressage lines including De Niro, Wolkenstein II, Wolkentanz, Rotspon, Ampere, amongst others.

3. Simone Pearce has had 6 wins at Grand Prix level between 2020 and 2021 with her latest score on Destano in the Freestyle at 81.385%. Simone is an Olympic debutant but is the current Australian record holder in the Grand Prix, Free Style and Special.

4. Glock’s Dream Boy (Vivaldi x Ferro) ridden by Hans Peter Minderhoud recently won the Grand Prix Special at Rotterdam with a score of 78.894%. Dream Boy has had 2 wins at Grand Prix level in 2021. Glock’s Total US (Totilas x Sir Donnherhall I) recently came third in the Grand Prix with Edward Gal, and second in the Grand Prix Kur to music at the CDIO in Rotterdam. Edward is famous for his partnership with the great Totilas (Gribaldi x Glendale), who never actually competed in the Olympics. However, Edward will be riding his son Total US and has another Totilas son Glock’s Toto Jr as his reserve.

5. Everdale and Lottie (Charlotte) Fry’s best score is 76.848% at Grand Prix (5 May 2021) and 82.62% in Grand Prix Freestyle (Olympia, 2019). Everdale’s dam sire is Negro (Ferro x Variant), the sire of the multiple Olympic champion Valegro. Val Olst Horses have had great success using Negro as a dam sire. Everdale’s sire Lord Leatherdale, is seeming to breed consistently high performing sons. Glamourdale (Lord Leatherdale x Negro), also ridden by Lottie, is a horse to look out for in the future. Ambeck stud have bred horses by Glamourdale, Furstenball, Sir Donnerhall and Negro.

PROMINENT HORSES REPRESENTED

Jazz is, as one would expect, very well represented at these Games. He is best represented in South Africa by Desperado (Jazz x Gribaldi), the KWPN black stallion being campaigned by Catherine Berning. Horses featuring Jazz at this Olympics include Carl Hester’s En Vogue, Nanna Skodborg Merrald’s Blue Hors Zack and Maxime Collard’s Cupido Pb.

Sandro Hit is very prominent in the pedigrees of the horses competing in dressage at Tokyo - not just in the immediate pedigree, but in dam-lines as well as in previous generations. In South Africa our most accomplished Sandro Hit son is Vinducath (Sandro Hit x Casimir). There are also plenty of crossings of the legendary Sandro Hit and Donnerhall in the horses competing at the Olympics, as well as two notable features of sire Donnerhall I (Sandro Hit x Donnerhall) as a sire.

A FINAL NOTE

Just about all of the top lines represented at the Olympics can be acquired through the fantastic small and large dressage studs in South Africa, as well as imported semen via De Bruyn Equine, Iconic Sires and Embriosem.

OUR GUESS

We think Germany is the team to beat for the Gold Medal!