Denmark were lying in second place coming into this leg on 13 points, trailing just behind Sweden on 15.
Sweden were looking to gain maximum points and extend their lead even further and with a strong team, and excellent performances the day before in Uggerhalne, it seemed the most likely result.
Denmark were not going to take anything lying down though and with Bachman Andersen coming off a high with a win in the previous day’s Grand Prix, the Danes were coming out all guns blazing.
Cathrine Dufour, who is at the forefront of international Dressage at the moment, got the day off to a roaring start early on in the day with a solid performance on her home turf aboard the relatively inexperienced 8yo gelding Bohemian to score 72%.
Her score went a long way towards helping the host nation maintain a strong position, even against the formidable Swedish and Dutch teams.
She remained in the lead until Sweden’s Therese Nilshagen posted a 75%, further cementing the Swedish dominance in the series.
Nevertheless, Denmark had their secret weapon waiting in the wings - Bachman Andersen, as predicted, pulled out a stellar performance and danced his way to 78% with Blue Hors Zepter.
Sweden produced strong rides from all of the team members, leaving it very clear that they had no plans of relinquishing their chances at gold.
Their efforts to take home the win were successful, in no small part thanks to Nilshagen on Dante Weltino and Tinne Vilehmson Silfven, who scored 72% with Paridon Magi.
Ultimately, strong performances from throughout the team proved crucial, but Bachman Andersen was able to celebrate his own personal success.
He said: “Riding Zepter has become art. He is so soft and reacts to my aids in a split second which gives me fantastic feeling. The best of it, is that we can achieve even more points once I can succeed in riding a faultless test on him.
“Today we made 11 one-tempis on the centre line instead of nine. I will choose his sire Blue Hors Zack over Zepter for the bigger events this year, but I believe that Zepter will be my future horse for the big international championships.”
