Sunday April 23, 2006

Anky van Grunsven Lands Eighth World Cup Title

Text and Photos for DressageDaily by Astrid Appels/Eurodressage.com

Anky van Grunsven and Salinero have won the 2006 World Cup Finals in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It was Anky's third consecutive World Cup title aboard Salinero (Salieri x Lungau) and the eighth in her career in twelve years.

With an 87.750% score, Anky van Grunsven freewheeled to the World Cup title, staying more than a 6% point advantage ahead of second placed Isabell Werth. Never before has Van Grunsven been this invincible.

The Dutch double Olympic champion scored just a bit below the world record score she achieved a month ago at the CDI-W 's Hertogenbosch. Despite the fact that she didn't improve her own world record, her freestyle ride in Amsterdam was her best aboard Salinero so far.

The hot to trot Salinero was relaxed, calm and collected. He looked mature and prepared for the kur and showed little to no tension during the entire ride. Anky rode her beautiful L'Esprit Chanson kur, a Slings & Kerkhof creation she's been using for almost three years. The piaffe passage tour was lovely. The two tempi's were ground covering and regular. Only the first change of the one-tempi's was the croupe a bit high, and the zig zag could be perfected a bit more. The biggest improvement was the extended walk which now showed clear overtrack. With the great progress shown in Salinero's performance, Anky couldn't have deserved the title more.

"It was my best ride ever on Salinero. Everything went well today. I can remember anything in the test I wasn't happy with and I can't come up with a thing I would improve. Maybe when I look at the video I'll find something," she said.

Anky will now give Salinero a long break and slowly work towards the World Equestrian Games. She'll be showing him at the CDI Rotterdam and Gelderland, but not at the CHIO Aachen which is three days before the 2006 Dutch Dressage Championships, where she's riding Krack C and Painted Black.