Team Australia lies in 9th place, currently.
Australia’s Mary Hanna was the third and final rider for our nation today, riding Sancette, an 11 year old Hanoverian gelding purchased from Gwen Blake specifically with the view to compete at the London Olympics. The pair scored 67.964, a good score typical of consistent Mary, an Olympic veteran with four Games under her belt now.
(And, relating back to my first post today… what was the music Mary rode to, played in the background in the arena? It was a Genesis medley, from what I could hear… now, I didn’t see that coming…)
Was Patrick booed?
As mentioned previously, Swedish dressage rider Patrick Kittel has been pictured allegedly warming up Scandic in a rollkur position yesterday; his test today went without a hitch fortunately, with no obvious booing from the passionate crowd!
The leading rider for much of the time today, Kristina Sprehe riding Desperados for Germany, was deserved of her medal-worthy position. This horse is something special – dare we say the ‘T’ word, and make comparisons with Totilas, who is obviously not contesting the Games due to rider illness? Desperados, just 11, painted a really elegant picture, easily shooting into the lead after her test with 79.392. It was a really beautiful test that gripped the audience. “I felt the score reflected my test,” she said modestly afterwards.
However, her top placing was later toppled by Charlotte Dujardin, the last to go for the Brits; the pair produced a spectacular, stylish, unhurried and expressive test; the transitions in particular were sublime and her score was 83.663. This set a new record for an Olympic Grand Prix – what a day for Charlotte and her team mates!
The action at Greenwich today concluded with some fairly predictable positions, with Charlotte Dujardin for Britain in first; Adelinde Cornelissen for the Netherlands in second; Helen Langehanenberg for Germany in third; Kristina Sprehe for Germany in fourth and Carl Hester for Britain in fifth. The team placings are Great Britain in first, followed by Germany, and then the Netherlands.
The standard at the top is certainly very high, with little separating the leaders. Britain has burst into the leading echelons of the dressage scene in recent years, and it is refreshing to see another nation challenge the main players.
The dressage action continues at Greenwich with the GP Special on Tuesday – tomorrow sees the start of the showjumping competition, where Julia Hargreaves, James Paterson-Robinson, Edwina Tops-Alexander and Matt Williams represent Australia.
