Aachen, August 26th, 2006

Freestyle Gold: Anky van Grunsven overjoyed

The Dressage World Championships ended jubilantly for the Olympic gold medallist Anky van Grunsven in the Deutsche Bank Prize. After the Dutch equipe failed to win the gold medal in the team classification and Anky van Grunsven had to make do with silver in the Grand Prix Spéciale, she finally managed to grasp the coveted gold medal late on Saturday evening. In the freestyle routine, her 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Keltec Salinero, danced to the music of French songs in front of 40,000 enthusiastic spectators. She was awarded a total score of 86.1 percent by the five judges. So the 38-year-old will be taking home team silver, silver in the Grand Prix and gold in the Freestyle.

It was possible for the first time this year to win three gold medals in the dressage discipline. Whereas for the past 12 years the Grand Prix Spéciale only served as the qualification competition for the Freestyle, it is now once again judged as an independent competition rewarded with separate medals. Anky van Grunsven explained: "I wasn't happy about the new modus initially, but of course I have changed my opinion now. It is much more exciting. The best riders are offered the same chances in each competition."
Mariette Withages (Belgium), Chairwoman of the FEI Dressage Commission, drew a positive balance: "The result is that the dressage becomes fairer." She hopes that this medal allocation concept will establish itself in the long-term for the Olympics too. This regulation will however not yet apply for the coming Games in Hong Kong (2008).

Isabell Werth and her 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Satchmo, are the most successful sports personalities at the 2006 Dressage World Championships. The team World Champion and World Champion in the Grand Prix Spéciale also took bronze in the Freestyle. Two gold medals and one bronze medal - Isabell Werth would not even have dared dreaming of this outcome, after Warum Nicht had to be withdrawn due to injury a few days before the Championships, which meant she had to change her strategy and ride Satchmo instead.

The Danish rider Andreas Helgstrand and his grey mare, Blue Hors Matine, caused a sensation in the dressage arena in Aachen. Only known among the insiders until now, the nine-year-old Danish-bred mare stunned the crowds with her piaffes and passage in the Freestyle: Silver medal (81.5). The 28-year-old rider from the Blue Hors Stud secured two medals at the Championships: Bronze in the Spéciale and to round it off silver in the Freestyle.