„It was great, and it was close“, said Anna Kasprzak after the victory in the Reem Acra FEI World Cup where she referred the two Dutch top riders Edward Gal and Hans Peter Minderhoud to secondary placings. It was a popular Danish home victory for Anna Kasprzak in the international Reem Acra FEI World Cup Grand Prix. The audience stood up and cheered the 26-year-old Dane as she and her 16-year-old companion Donnperignon danced their way to victory in the prestigious world dressage tournament which has now kicked off the winter season at Odense Horse Show sponsored by ECCO.
Anna Kasprzak won ahead of the former world champion from the Netherlands, Edward Gal, and his partner Hans Peter Minderhoud. Anna and Donnperignon achieved 73.86% in a beautiful and harmonious programme where especially the horse’s wonderful passage and beautiful series of flying changes secured her a head start in the battle for victory in Odense this weekend.
„I am super happy because it went so well, and I hope it goes just as well tomorrow“, said Anna Kasprzak after today’s victory. Anna won the Reem Acra FEI World Cup freestyle in Odense Horse Show back in 2013, and she would love to repeat the victory tomorrow Sunday. Anna says that she always looks forward to riding at the JBK Horse Show. „It is a lovely show to ride at. Riding in front of a Danish crowd is a lot of fun and always creates a good atmosphere.“
Strong Dutch competitors
„Edward came so close“, Anna said. With great excitement she had followed the live scoring of Edward Gal’s ride, and during the 5 minutes of his ride Anna went through different emotions feeling nervous, excited and relieved.
Both Edward Gal and Hans Peter Minderhoud have competed several times in Odense with different horses. This time Minderhoud has brought along the breeding stallion Glock’s Romanov and today they scored 73.32% in the Grand Prix and came third.
„We always begin the World Cup season in Odense. Today was my first show with Romanov since Aachen 2014, and therefore we still need some fine tuning, but all in all I am very pleased with him“, Hans Peter Minderhoud commented.
The black stallion Glock’s voice is Edward Gal’s mount in Odense this year. Together they earned 73.38% which earned them a second place.
„Voice got very distracted today and when you do not have your horse as smooth as you want it, then the small mistakes start coming“, said Edward Gal hoping that he will be able to nail it in the freestyle tomorrow.
Agnete in the top five
Agnete Kirk Thinggaard landed a fifth place with Jojo AZ scoring 72.1%. Agnete qualified for the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Final in Las Vegas last season, and it is no secret that it is one of her goals to make it to the finals again. The finale will held at Gothenburg Horse Show on 24-28 March 2016.
Agnete Kirk Thinggaard was only just beaten by the Swedish team rider Emilie Nyreröd who rode Miata, a horse previously ridden by Danish Vikki Vermod.
Among the 15 riders who qualified for the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Freestyle tomorrow Sunday at 14.00 are another two Danes, Daniel Bachmann Andersen with the breeding stallion Blue Hors Hotline who came 10th today in their World Cup debut, and Princess Nathalie who has retired her top horse Digby and now has another horse bred at home at Berleburg castle, Fabienne, ready for the big sport.
Source: press release
