News

Hayley plays starring role at FEI World Cup™ Final

  • Written By: British Dressage
  • Published: Wed, 18 Apr 2018 14:01 GMT

Hayley Watson-Greaves and Rubins Nite (pictured) were at the top of their game in Paris at the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final (13 – 14 April 2018), hosted by the AccorHotels Arena in the French capital.

Having narrowly missed out on qualifying from the Western European League, Hayley made the very most of a well-deserved place at the Final following the withdrawal of Australian rider Mary Hanna. With the wonderful Rubins Nite, Hayley has enjoyed a tremendous 2017/2018 World Cup season and last week she continued this run of success with two top drawer performances at her first ever FEI World Cup™ Final, against many of the world’s best in the City of Lights.

In Friday’s Grand Prix, Hayley and Rubins Nite were awarded 69.82% to finish 11th and thus comfortably qualify through to the following day’s Freestyle. “He felt relaxed in the arena, and the atmosphere was buzzing. [There were] a couple of mistakes in the test but overall I was pleased with the way he was as some riders were struggling with their rides,” said Hayley on her Facebook blog.

The class was won by the USA’s Laura Graves with the spectacular Verdades who put the pressure on defending champion Isabell Werth with Weihegold OLD for Germany who was forced to settle for second.

The air was buzzing on Saturday as a knowledgeable, enthusiastic crowd packed the spectacular AccorHotels Arena for the much anticipated finale to the 2017/2018 World Cup season – the Freestyle. Hayley relished the occasion and rode a cracking test to score 75.34% despite a costly mistake in the two-time changes. The British combination finished an excellent 11th. “I was really pleased with our performance, just a shame about the expensive mistake. Still at our first World Cup final, scoring over 75% and coming 11th I was delighted.”

Supreme competitor Werth, spurred on by her opponent’s victory the previous day, came back full of fire to ride an exemplary Freestyle for 90.65% and her fourth World Cup title. “This is life, a lot of people think it’s easy, you win and you win again, but it’s not like that. You have to think about it all the time and keep listening to your horse. Yesterday was not our day, but today we could solve it. And this is what I really like to do, and that’s the reason why I love to compete!” she said.

“To have experience is an advantage if you use it in the right way, and I think we did that from yesterday to today,” she said. “After a lot of years in the sport you know how many things can happen, how things can change very quickly. It gives you the confidence to go in the ring and to try your best - you know what your horse can do and you know what you can do. This was just a great day today!” said the happy German star.


Results
Grand Prix
1st – Laura Graves with Verdades, 81.413% (USA)
2nd – Isabell Werth with Weihegold OLD, 78.261% (GER)
3rd – Jessica Von Bredow-Werndl with Unee BB, 75.668% (GER)
4th – Dorothee Schneider with Sammy Davis Jr, 75.311% (GER)
5th – Patrik Kittel with Deja, 74.689% (SWE)
6th – Daniel Bachmann Andersen with Blue Hors Zack, 74.130% (DEN)
7th – Inessa Merkulova with Mister X, 74.115% (RUS)
8th – Madeleine Witte-Vrees with Cennin, 73.975% (NED)
9th – Edward Gal with Glock’s Zonik NOP, 73.758% (NED)
10th – Belinda Weinbauer with Söhnlein Brilliant MJ, 70.357% (AUT)
11th – Hayley-Watson-Greaves with Rubins Nite, 69.829% (GBR)
12th – Ludovic Henry with After You, 69.224% (FRA)
13th - Yvonne Losos De Muñiz with Foco Loco W, 69.177% (DOM)
14th – Morgan Barbançon Mestre with Sir Donnerhall II OLD, 69.099% (ESP)
15th – Patrick Van Der Meer with Zippo, 68.478% (NED)
16th – Hanna Karasiova with Zodiak, 68.478% (BLR)
17th – Shelly Francis with Danilo, 68.326% (USA)
18th – Ellesse Tzinberg with Triviant 2, 58.292% (PHI)

Grand Prix Freestyle
1st – Isabell Werth with Weihegold OLD, 90.658% (GER)
2nd – Laura Graves with Verdades, 89.083% (USA)
3rd – Jessica Von Bredow-Werndl with Unee BB, 83.725% (GER)
4th – Patrik Kittel with Deja, 83.146% (SWE)
5th – Dorothee Schneider with Sammy Davis Jr, 81.843% (GER)
6th – Madeleine Witte-Vrees with Cennin, 81.336% (NED)
7th – Daniel Bachmann Andersen with Blue Hors Zack, 80.532% (DEN)
8th – Edward Gal with Glock’s Zonik NOP, 79.654% (NED)
9th – Inessa Merkulova with Mister X, 79.140% (RUS)
10th – Morgan Barbançon Mestre with Sir Donnerhall II OLD, 76.208% (ESP)
11th – Hayley Watson-Greaves with Rubins Nite, 75.347% (GBR)
12th – Shelly Francis with Danilo, 74.190% (USA)
13th – Belinda Weinbauer with Söhnlein Brilliant MJ, 74.050% (AUT)
14th – Ludovic Henry with After You, 72.786% (FRA)
15th – Yvonne Losos De Muñiz with Foco Loco W, 72.679% (DOM)
16th – Patrick Van Der Meer with Zippo, 72.290% (NED)
17th – Hanna Karasiova with Zodiak, 70.622% (BLR)