Wednesday, 05 February 2025
It’s been a busy few weeks for the dressage and jumping athletes on our World Class Programme. We’ve rounded up some of what they’ve been up to…
Lottie Fry and Glamourdale picked up their second FEI Dressage World Cup qualifier victory on the trot – pardon the pun – after winning the Amsterdam leg with an impressive Grand Prix Freestyle score of 89.840% on 25 January. They had previously finished top of the class in the London leg in December. This also marks a second consecutive World Cup win for Lottie in the Amsterdam venue, who took the class with Everdale last year.
Second place in both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle went to Paris teammates Becky Moody and Jagerbomb. The pair’s Beatles medley floorplan earned them a Freestyle score of 86.500% – a new personal best that surpasses their Olympic result by over 2%.
Third place went to Germany’s Isabell Werth and DSP Quantaz, who currently tops the qualification rankings ahead of the World Cup Final in Basel (2–6 April). This result moves Lottie into 12th position and Becky into 19th, with the top nine athletes from the Western European League qualifying for the Final.
There’s no better way to start your five-star Grand Prix career than with a win, but that’s exactly what 10-year-old Hello Folie produced for Scott Brash on the Doha Tour in Al Shaqab, Quatar on 25 January. The pair were one of 11 combinations who made it through to the jump-off, with Scott and Folie putting in a lightning-fast round to finish two seconds clear of the rest of the field.
It proved to be a good week for Scott, who’d already finished second in the CSI5* speed class two days previously with Hello Valentino.
Making his customary trip State-side for the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida, Ben Maher has picked up a series of good results with his enviable string of horses. He took the runner-up spot in the NetJets CSI4* Grand Prix (25 January) with Enjeu de Grisien, finishing 1.73 seconds behind Olympic champions Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 of Germany.
The following day, Ben was back on the podium with a third-place finish in the CSI4* Hermes 1.50m Classic with his Olympic ride, Dallas Vegas Batilly. One of 16 combinations to make it through to the jump-off, they finished 1.15 seconds behind winners Henrik von Eckermann and Glamour Girl of Sweden.
Finishing the show’s third week on a high, Ben rode Corlander – who shares a sire, Cap Kennedy, with Dallas Vegas Batilly – to victory in the CSI Hermes 1.50m Classic on 3 February. The pair finished just 0.5 seconds behind Nicola Philippaerts of Belgium. Ben also finished fifth in the same class with Ginger-Blue.
Paris 2024 teammate Harry Charles is also competing at the Winter Equestrian Festival, finishing second with Casquo Blue in the CSI4* Adequan WEF Challenge (30 January), again behind Belgium’s Nicola Philippaerts.
In a tightly fought contest, Great Britain got their Nations Cup campaign off to a great start with a win in the United Arab Emirates on 2 February, under the guidance of chef d’equip Stanny Van Paesschen.
With the Brits drawn third out of the seven teams, it was pathfinder Joe Stockdale and Billy Santorini who got their campaign underway, just tapping the final part of the combination to add four faults to the tally. Georgia Tame and BE Golden posted the discard score of 16 faults, while Lily Attwood with Johnnie Walker and William Funnell with Equine America Billy Picador both went clear to put the Brits into second place after the first round.
Joe and ‘Santi’ jumped a super clear in their second round, while Georgia and BE Golden were able to put their first round troubles behind them to pick up just a single time fault. While Lily and Johnnie Walker picked up eight faults, the Brits managed to hold the runner-up position behind Saudi Arabia heading into the final rotation. After Abdullah Modh Al Marri and BBS McGregor were forced to retire, a second clear round from William and Equine America Billy Picador secured the top spot on the podium for Great Britain with a combined score of 4+1. Saudi Arabia finished second with 4+4, while Belgium completed the podium with 12+4.
On 28 January, Natasha Baker and her husband, Marc Jaconelli, announced via social media that they’re expecting their second child, who is due to be born in July. The couple already share son Joshua, who will turn two just a few months before the arrival of his new sibling.
For the third time in his career, Lottie Fry’s World Championship winner Glamourdale has been voted KWPN Horse of the Year by the Royal Dutch Sport Horse studbook. The presentation took place at the KWPN Stallion Show in s’Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands on 31 January, with Lottie and Glamourdale performing their ‘best of British’ Freestyle routine to a packed house. The impressive black stallion was also awarded ‘keur predicate’ status, in recognition of his impressive record as a breeding stallion and the results of his progeny.
Also at the KWPN Stallion Show, Lottie did the double with two of her up-and-coming stars, scooping the M-Class for six-year-olds in the KWPN Stallion Competition Final with Secret Lover and the equivalent seven-year-old Z-Class with Everest.
Great Britain continue their stronghold on the FEI Eventing World Rankings, holding seven of the top eight places. Tom McEwen continues to lead with 552 points, 16 points ahead of New Zealand’s Tim Price, while Paris 2024 teammate Ros Canter sits third with 487 points. The next five placings are all in British hands and very tightly packed – respectively, Yasmin Ingham (396 points), Laura Collett (378 points), Tom Jackson (378 points), Harry Meade (377 points) and Oliver Townend (375 points).
In the FEI Dressage World Rankings, Lottie Fry maintains third place with 2012 points, behind leader Isabell Werth (2079 points) of Germany and Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour (2072 points) of Denmark. Becky Moody has broken into the top 10 for the first time, moving from 11th to seventh with a score of 1764 points. In the corresponding horse rankings, Glamourdale matches Lottie’s third place, while Jagerbomb moves up two places to sixth.
In the Longines FEI Jumping World Rankings, Ben Maher continues to hold third spot with 2967 points from 89 results. Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann maintains his lead with 3345 points from 92 results, ahead of Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat with 3124 points from 103 starts. Harry Charles continues his long-time domination of the U25 World Rankings with 2096 points.
In the FEI Para Dressage World Rankings, Mari Durward-Akhurst remains third in the Grade 1 rankings, Georgia Wilson holds fourth in the Grade 2 rankings, Natasha Baker is third in the Grade 3 rankings and Sophie Wells is third in the Grade 5 rankings.
The new series of the FEI Longines League of Nations will get underway at Abu Dhabi (UAE) from 12–16 February at the Al Forsan International Sports Resort. Representing Great Britain will be Tim Gredley with Imperial HBF, Robert Murphy with either Hulde G or Kannem J A Z, Joe Stockdale with Ebanking and Donald Whitaker with either Picasso VD Zwartbleshoeve or Millfield Colette.