FEI Alltech European Dressage Champs 2009: thumbs up for GB!
last updated on September 23, 2009 13:28
After the first day of the Grand Prix at the FEI Alltech Windsor Europen Championships 2009 it's a Dutch one two, with Adelinde Cornelissen and Parzival leading the field on a wow score of 80.63%. The Brits still have plenty to smile about though after two great performances from Carl Hester and Maria Eilberg leave them very in touch of the medals at the half way stage.
Riding in her first senior championship with the 15 year old bay gelding Two Sox, 24 year old Eilberg was the trailblazer for the team and ends the day in 9th position from 28 riders with a score of 67.91%. She commented:
"It's difficult to pull it out the bag but sometimes you just have to dig in and if you've done your preparation it will all come together; this is the culmination of all that work, he was fantastic! His extensions were great for him and the trot half passes were megga, we've really worked on those. It's a huge arena but Two Sox felt nice and relaxed; during the test I was concentrating so much I wasn't really aware of the atmosphere but I feel pretty buzzed up with it now!"
After the final halt of his test the smile on Carl Hester's face said it all. He rode a personal best on Donald McTaggart's 12 year old gelding Liebling II to lie in third place overnight with a score of 72.08%, missing the final one-tempi change the only mistake in an otherwise faultless test. Hester commented:
"I've only had the ride on Liebling for10 months and this is only our fifth international - I always say it takes about a year to form a proper partnership and after Aachen things suddenly started to improve for us. We took three weeks out to train with Anne van Olst in Holland and really concentrate on our grand prix; it was a big sacrifice but it's really paid off. This week is all about the team and it was our job to give GB the best chance possible of a medal. I'm so pleased with Liebling; he worked so hard for me in there today."
The grand prix team competition concludes tomorrow, Wed 26 August
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| Maria Eilberg, Two Sox |
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| Carl Hester, Liebling II |
Overnight leaders:
1. Adelinde Cornelissen, Parzival (NED) 80.63%
2. Imke Schellekens-Bartels, Hunter Douglas Sunri (NED) 73.14%
3. Carl Hester, Liebling II (GB) 72.08%
