AACHEN, Germany--Frederic Wandres of Germany on Bluetooth OLD leads individually after day one of team dressage on Tuesday, Aug. 11 at the World Championships.
Frederic Wandres on Bluetooth OLD (Photo by Allen MacMillan)Wandres, who competed Bluetooth at the Dressage Festival in Florida last winter, leads on a score of 75.963 over Becky Moody of Great Britain on Jagerbomb,,, who scored 73.820.
After two riders of each four man team have competed, Germany leads Great Britain with Australia third if you take just the top score of each team, while it's Germany, Denmark and Great Britain if you use both rider's scores.
For the U.S., Kasey Perry-Glass on Heartbeat W.P. is 11th on 70.608, and Meagan Davis on Toronto Lightfoot is 25th on 67,624 of the 45 riders that have gone, while the U.S. is eighth of 17 teams.
Both Perry-Glass and Davis were last minute substitutes on the team when first Jotfan LaPlata and then Genay Vaughn had to withdraw.
"I just hoped or a clean, consistent, solid test for him," said Perry-Glass, who had previously been a member of the Rio dressage squad. "I'm so proud of him. That is the biggest atmosphere he's been in and biggest I've been in. I've been to a couple games, but this is just something else. What I love the most is that I know what to expect and how to channel my nerves."
"I'M VERY proud of him." she said. "His one-tempi changes are his best, I mean, he just gets it. They can be so big and and he can kind of bounce me out of the tack a little bit. He can score really high on them, and they're really fun to ride.
Kasey Perry Glass on Heartbeat W.P. (Photo by Allen MacMillan)"If I make the next round, oh man, I, I will just be ecstatic. I built confidence in there today, so I'll just go and ask for a little bit more from him, and just try to show a positive, clean, harmonious test.".
Davis, on Toronto Lightfoot, was the first one out for the U.S., team.
It was so thralling," said Davis. "My horse put his head up and kind of stopped, and looked around. I petted him, and I was, like, okay, buddy, I need you to be my partner and all of a sudden, off we went.It's a surreal moment. It was a dream come true."
"I got the call Saturday night at five o'clock, saying we were going," she said. "I packed my hotel real quick. I went back to the barn, packed him up, and we were ready to hit the road at 7, 30 in the morning."
"We had just kept prepping him as if we were going, so we were ready.Thisis a really thrilling time.
"This is his first big event. I've had him four years now. He didn't have much of a show record prior, so everything is sort of a new experience with the two of us. And this is my first big one too, so we kind of went in holding each other's hands.
So we're a green combination, but I think we, we held our own for our first time.
Meagan Davis Toronto Lightfoot (Photo by Allen MacMillan)“After today, I feel good about both riders and their performance,” said Chef d'Equipe Christine Traurig. “Kasey proved to all of us, again, what a wonderful rider she is, and she performed well in the sense that she had a very clean and solid test. I can see that she is aiming to tap into his potential in the special."
“I think Meagan—being a rookie at an event of this magnitude—did a beautiful job,” continued Traurig. “There is so much more to come from that pair; this was the tip of the iceberg for them.”
Germany is the favorite to win team gold and leads after the first day on 149.301%, but nothing came easily for any of the leading nations.
Even some of the favorites made mistakes, increasing the pressure on the remaining team athletes who will enter the arena tomorrow.
Raphael Netz of Germany, making his World Championship debut, also gave Germany a strong start with Great Escape Camelot with a score of 73.338%, putting him in third place.
Netz, a multiple medalist at FEI Youth Championships, had an error in the one-time changes but otherwise produced a strong test.
Denmark currently sits second with 144.130% and Great Britain is still well placed in third after the opening day with a team total of 143.168%
Moody, one of the leading individual combinations and winners of this year’s FEI Dressage World Cup Final, made several mistakes.
Her 73.820% currently puts them in second individually, but the result was way short of her best scores.
Jagerbomb was a little too excited in the arena, and mistakes crept into the test.
“Some of our test was the best we’ve done; some of it was really bad. He was a little too excited and distracted when we entered the arena, but we pulled it back and still had some really good bits,” Moody said.
Sweden currently is fourth in the team standings with 141.087%, followed by Portugal in fifth on 140.078% and Australia in sixth on 139.658%.
The Grand Prix team competition continues tomorrow with team medals awarded at around noon Eastern, and the 30 individual combinations qualifying for the Grand Prix Special will be confirmed.
