Anky van Grunsven and Keltec Salinero won the FEI World Cup Qualifier on home ground in Maastricht this afternoon in fine style with an 82 per cent score. The reigning world cup champions had been working on improvements and fine-tuning since Aachen, and reaped the benefits here.

Anky's husband and trainer Sjef Janssen explained: " We have been doing a lot of work on relaxation and we saw that here especially in the walk and the changes. You expect Salinero to be a 'live bomb' at these shows but he did his halts without hesitation and even after the very last passage he managed to stand still. He deserved the score, I'm happy." As an experiment the team substituted the normal passage entry for a long rein walk and it worked beautifully proving that even though multiple champions don't rest on their laurels, being able to stand to attention can count for a lot.

Edward Gal and Geldnet Lingh also surmounted the 80 per barrier for second place and in third Isabell Werth was just a whisker away on 79.025 with the Hanoverian Warum Nicht FRH.

Gal was delighted. " Lingh has done a lot of breeding this year and it was a bit much for him, so we have been concentrating on the basic work in training. He felt very good today, although the extended walk was a bit tense. He's quick off my leg again and the work felt easy."

Isabell Werth's nine-year-old Warum Nicht FRH was much complimented after this, only his fourth ever freestyle, ridden to Elgar's 'Pomp and Circumstance' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. She commented: "I'm so happy, Warum Nicht was so good today. I'm really surprised as how quickly he has developed in his first grand prix season. Even in a week he is less spooky and more concentrated. He is such a big horse - 1.84 - but he has a small heart and can be afraid of his own shadow, yet he is a real athlete who likes to move and is very elastic. I don't like to compare my horses but in some ways he is the same type as Gigolo."

Like Anky and Edward, Isabell's next FEI World Cup show will be London's Olympia next month.

Jan Peeters at C reflected in the class: " In my opinion this was the first show where Salinero made really good halts! He was on the best form, although Edward Gal and Geldnet Lingh were also very good, and Isabell did a very good job." And has Gal's unusual music perhaps taken some getting used to for the judges? "With the music I look for the rhythm and the fit to the horse's movement and in that respect Edward's music is exact. The style is very Edward!"

Although it was not a full house, the Maastricht crowd certainly made the atmosphere feel as if it was. And while the applause dies down in Holland, tomorrow afternoon in Stockholm, the next FEI World Cup qualifier begins at 12.55.

Result
FEI World Cup Qualifier, Freestyle to Music
Presented by NASHUATEC

1, Keltec Salinero (Anky van Grunsven NED) 82.375
2, Geldnet Lingh (Edward Gal NED) 80.875
3, Warum Nicht FRH (Isabell Werth GER) 79.025
4, Salieri CH (Silvia Ikle SUI) 76.550
5, Sunrise (Imke Schellekens-Bartels NED) 76.375
6, Forest Gump NRW (Hubertus Schmidt GER) 74.60
7, Hexagon's Ollright (Laurens van Lieren NED) 73.475
8, Hardthof's Ludewig G (Lone Joergensen DEN) 73.00
9, Paganini (Jeroen Devroe BEL) 69.475
10, Amando (Gina Capellmann-Luetkemeier GER) 69.350

Media Contact: Fred Lubbers
Tel(general): +31 40 844 76 44
Email: jim@bcm.nl
Website: www.jumpingindoormaastricht.nl

CDI-W Stockholm
Media Contact: Lotta Amnestal
Mobile: +46 709 79 56 35
Email: lotta.amnestal@ridsport.se
Website: www.stockholmhorseshow.com

www.feiworldcup.org

The FEI World Cup Dressage, initiated in 1985, is the only worldwide series in this discipline. It comprises qualifying leagues encompassing Western and Central Europe, North America, Canada and Australia. Each FEI World Cup Dressage qualifier comprises a Grand Prix test, which in turn is a qualification for the Freestyle to Music competition, where league points are accumulated towards places in the Final. Judged on both technical and artistic merit, the FEI World Cup Dressage combines art, sport and partnership between horse and rider at the highest level and consistently proves a winning formula with audiences all over the world.

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