A turning tide?
IT’S been seven years since Germany was beaten in the team competition at a major dressage championship. In the years since the 2015 Europeans, when the Netherlands claimed victory in Aachen, Germany has started every championship as favourites, and gone on to deliver the goods. But there is everything to suggest things will be different this year.
Denmark have never yet won a team gold medal in dressage. But if it’s ever going to happen, it will be now, buoyed by a home crowd and the strongest Danish line-up yet.
One rider emerges as the standout favourite, and you’d be a fool to bet against Cathrine Dufour taking home her first-ever gold medal. At the time of going to press it was not yet confirmed whether Cathrine will ride her European silver medallist from 2021, Bohemian, or the younger, but fast-improving Vamos Amigos. It hardly matters – both horses have what it takes to be world-beaters.
Germany will still need to be beaten, of course, but while the Danish combinations who proved so exciting in 2021 are on track to reach their peak in 2022, this is a new-look German side, with last year’s biggest guns – namely Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Isabell Werth’s two top mares – leaving holes. It’s opened the door for Jessica’s brother, Benjamin Werndl, and Frederic Wandres to take a well-deserved team slot each. Both will make their mark, but there’s no doubt Germany has lost a little of its clout.
AND what of Britain’s chances? There’s no question that they have been dented by the absence of Carl Hester – for the first time since
