Queenparks Wendy and Andreas Helgstrand - photo credit: Lily Forado
For the commentator spots at live stream provided by Zibrasport were Danish international top rider Daniel Bachmann Andersen from stud Blue Hors and his former colleague breeding consultant Karsten Pedersen.
Daniel was very informative and clear in his opinion about each horse, giving a good explanation and adding his personal experiences. It was very interesting also to hear both Daniel and Karstens opinions about the entire format for these championships, as they were questioning about the differences in the judging from each qualifier, and then without 2nd round with selection before going into the finals.
The finals are the first indoor event for the young horses of the year, and for more riders it became kind of a challenge keeping the horses relaxed and focused on the job in the impressive surroundings.
A 2nd qualifier would for sure have been nice for the combinations not directly qualified for Sunday´s finals, while the young horses then got one more opportunity in the arena with the possibility to qualify for the final.
Helgstrand Dressage medal horses did not disappoint
When Mr. Helgstrand himself put on his competition clothes he is going for the victory. Today with a busy and successful day winning both preliminary tests for 5 year old and 6 year old.
5 year old
Danish Warmblood mare Queenparks Wendy by Sezuan / Soprano was dancing through the test without any technical issues. From H2R point of view the trot tour became a bit forced for some moments. The golden boy KWPN stallion Jovian came second today with a bit of tensions but still so much power and quality. Severo and Swedish bred Springbank II VH showed great form today with no marks under 9,0!
H2R Personal favorites Elverhøjs Raccolto by Sezuan / Sandro Hit with Meike Lang and Eternity by Escolar / Sir Donnerhall I with Cathrine Dufour came 5th and 10th today. Both girls showing their horses in the best way nice and easy, in a good balance and accurate all the way. Very disappointing scoring though for Eternity and Dufour the walk just scored with 6,0! and the rideability with only 8,8 - it clearly looked like a 10 as Eternity was very attentive, super balanced and all the way in a beautiful frame.
The full results here.
6 year old class with a strong top 3
Revolution and Andreas Helgstrand - photo credit: Lily Forado
Revolution and Helgstrand showed a strong performance with lot of power and well balanced. Still the flying changes are lacking a bit more fluency.
The stunning mare Atterupgaards Delorean with Selina Vittinghus in the saddle showed a super performance even though the overall all picture became with a bit of tensions.
Favour Gersdorf with Nadja Sloth also showed a strong performance without any technical issues. The weakest pace was the canter today.
The entire results from the 6 year old qualifier here.