Finland's Therese Wiklund leads the CCI3*
It has been another blazingly beautiful day here in Strzegom with plenty of sun and not a cloud in sight, keeping the spirits high and truly we couldn’t ask for better conditions.
DRESSAGE, DRESSAGE and more DRESSAGE
Today has been mainly about dressage. Having six classes means that the Ground Jury members have been busy all day from early morning. The main arena is a real treat for the eye with the big trees and the spacious court next to the VIP area, restaurant tents and exhibitors. It makes even such a big arena feel close and gives a great atmosphere. The Arena B has a bit more of a “cosy” feel overall, being half the size, yet both arenas presented themselves as a bit tricky for some horses who are ready for the cross country
The CIC2* dressage started yesterday and the same two riders who started off the dressage test yesterday as first and second riders are still in the lead! There were 58 riders in total but no one managed to move around the top three from yesterday. No-one managed to get above the magical 70%, leaving Kai Ruder still in first and second places followed by Jan Kaminski in third. Tomorrow these riders tomorrow will head out on to the cross country course.
The riders in the CIC 1* also completed their dressage test today. 48 riders took on today’s challenge in Arena B with mixed results, with some of the horses again having trouble focusing on the task at hand and giving their riders a bit of a hard day. The top three of today´s dressage ended up with a Noora Cederberg from Finland in first place and again strong rides from Germany putting Rebecca Juana Gerken in second and Janet Wisner in third. The CIC 1* riders also head out on cross country tomorrow.
And yet more dressage; the CCI3* had 33 competitors starting today’s contest after lunch and finishing off just after 5.30pm with some very good rides raising the scores to just above 70% for the top three riders. Coming out on top in this class were the Swedish rider Therese Wiklund, Karin Donckers from Belgium in second and Marina Köhncke in third. It was exciting all the way to the end as the final rider Merel Blom from the Netherlands gave the top three a bit of a scare coming in on fourth place just behind Marina. The riders in this class can now take a bit of a breather until they head off on cross country on Saturday.
Tomorrow the FEI Nations Cup CICO3* starts with Great Britain’s Alex Bragg on Redpath Ransom the first combination in the arena at 9am. You can follow the action via livestream on the Strzegom website here
Article by Katarzyna Boryna / Strzegom Horse Trials
