Thursday June 1, 2006

Catherine Haddad Aims at the 2006 World Equestrian Games

Haddad and Maximus Fly High

With a slow start in her first few WEG qualifiers last year, Hadded's points and the placings finally began to take off for us at the Frankfurt CDI-W last December with an 8th placing and over 70% in the Freestyle. "In 2006, Maximus and I consistently improved at each show. We have moved up to over 68% in the Grand Prix and over 71% in the Freestyle," Haddad said.

All of their placings have been at CDIs against top European competitors. Since the Frankfurt show, Haddad has placed ten times in the Grand Prix, the Special or the Freestyle alongside such names as Isabell Werth, Nadine Capellmann, Ann Katrin Linsenhoff, Hubertus Schmidt, Anky Van Grunsven and Ulla Salzgeber.

In mid May, Haddad placed third in the Grand Prix Special at the CDI Hansbeke in Belgium, which was won by Anky Van Grunsven. At their last competition at the CDI Munich, they placed 3rd in both the Grand Prix (68.75%) and the Grand Prix Freestyle (71.6%). It was double European Champion Ulla Salzgeber who won. Their next step on the road to Aachen is the CDI Wiesbaden, which takes place this weekend. The rest of the summer will include starts at the Rotterdam, Lingen and Verden CDIs.

Though Maximus and Haddad have only been doing the Grand Prix for two years, the pair has already taken flight this 2006 show season. "I think it is a bit early in our Grand Prix career for Maximus and I to be making a bid for the US Team. But Maximus seems to be telling me something different," Hadded explained. "He is getting better at every horse show and responding incredibly well to the stress of competition and travel. He stays absolutely cool in the head. So, hey, why not keep our options open? We have nothing to lose by trying."

Photos copyrighted: Altenhofer - Ruechel.

Related Links
Horsesdaily Scoresource: CDI Hansbeke
Training For the Team: Catherine Haddad (pdf file)