Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival dominated the final Exquis World Dressage Masters of the year with a resounding victory in the Grand Prix Freestyle Sunday with Dutch team mate Hans Peter Minderhoud on Exquis Nadine as runner up.
Adelinde and the 13-year-old chestnut gelding ranked No.2 in the world, received a score of 85.650 per cent with Hans Peter and the mare receiving marks of 78.850 percent in the €60,000 freestyle.
Great Britain's Laura Bechtolsheimer and Andretti, who had finished second behind Adelinde in the Grand Prix, was third on 78.250 per cent. Adelinde and Parzival had won the Grand Prix with a score of 81.362 per cent, a margin of eight percentage points over the second placed pair.
The WDM at Dressage at Hickstead completed the 2010 lineup of the richest series of dressage events that began in Palm Beach, USA, then Munich, Germany, Cannes, France and Falsterbo, Sweden for the first time with total prize money of €525,000.
The stadium was packed for the freestyle although it was held at the same time as the jumping Grand Prix.
Adelinde said that Parzival was “really relaxed, not so scared of the audience any more so I can think more about riding and not having to get him past all the scary things.”
“Now that he's not afraid of the crowds any more when he comes into the arena he grows bigger.” That leads to some adjustments in planning the freestyle as his gaits are much bigger in the show ring than at home.
Parzival will have a short break before a two-day training session with the Dutch team for the WEG in Kentucky.
She said that with the scores she recorded this weekend, it's hard to think Parzival could do better but she said that he has not yet peaked.
“Kentucky is still almost two months away and that's when we need to be at our best,” she laughed.
Laura said that Andretti, her second horse behind the European Championships team silver and individual bronze winning Mistral Hojris, was a bit lazier Sunday than on Saturday when the pair achieved a personal best.
“I had to work a little bit harder,” she said.