The Dutch team consisted of:
Thamar Zweistra and Hexagons Luxuriouzz N.O.P.T. (9-year-old gelding by Johnson TN x San Remo)
Marieke Van Der Putten and Kuvasz RS2 N.O.P.T. (10-year-old stallion by Glamourdale x De Niro)
Hans Peter Minderhoud and Glock’s Taminiau (10-yer-old stallion by Glock’s Toto Jr x Sandro Hit)
Marlies Van Baalen and Habibi DVB (13-year-old gelding by Blue Hors Don Schufro x Johnson TN)
They were the only nation to have all four riders posting scores of 70%+ in the Grand Prix test (team decider), which was an exciting feat. Additionally, they had the team consisting of the youngest horses with three of the four being ten or younger.
Chef D’Equipe for the Dutch Team, Patrick van der Meer, comments: “I have to say, we have three kind of inexperienced horses here, so they really did a good job, but they also learned good things. I think it’s really important that when we ride with an audience like this, that the horses are able to relax enough, and that they can get good experience, and I think they really did a good job and managed it well.”
Hans Peter Minderhoud and Glock’s Taminiau posted the highest score for the team with 72.739%,placing them second individually.
Great Britain was hot on their heels with Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale (14-year-old stallion by Lord Leatherdale x Negro) finishing on the highest individual score of 75.109% despite two costly mistakes. Laura Tomlinson and her 9-year-old gelding, Full Moon II (Fuerstenball OLD x I.P.S Gribaldi) posted a personal best score of 70.956%. Sadie Smith and her 10-year-old mare Swanmore Dantina (Dante Weltino OLD x Charatan W) finished with a score of 69.087%, and Thomas Goode and Furstenrausch PS (10-year-old gelding by Fuerstenball OLD x Hilltop Festrausch) scored 68.609%.
Third overall was Belgium, who finished on a score of 205.609.
No mistakes for Lottie and Glamourdale in the Special
Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale delivered a flawless test in the Grand Prix Special for 80.276%, over 10% ahead of second place.
Hans Peter Minderhoud and Glocks Taminiau won the Grand Prix Freestyle with 81.905%. It was a stunning final freestyle for the combination, with Glocks Horse Performance Centre now beginning to withdraw their horses from the sport.
The Dutch victory has them now sitting in equal first for the FEI Dressage Dressage Nations Cup™ series leaderboard with Germany, both on 35 points. Great Britain sits third with 24 points. The series continues in Aachen on 3 July.
For full results click here.
