Last Updated on February 23, 2024 by adminahb
Felicitas Hendricks & Drombusch OLD. Photo © SusanJStickle.com
The Stillpoint Farm FEI Nations Cup was the feature competition on Thursday, February 22, to kick off week seven of the 2024 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, FL. Four flags lined up in the Nations Cup CDIO3* Grand Prix, with Germany taking the gold medal for the fourth consecutive year with 213.369 points. The silver was awarded to the Dutta Corp-sponsored US team with 210.978 points, while Sweden’s tally of 198.956 points secured the bronze. Canada finished fourth.
The Nations Cup format has been simplified for the first time since the series first came to Wellington in 2014. Formerly, countries could put forward horse and rider combinations at small tour or big tour, but the new format requires all competitors to compete at grand prix level. The placings are now decided by adding up the top three scores from each team’s riders — both Germany and the United States fielded four team members, while Sweden and Canada had three members apiece. The CDIO Grand Prix Special and Freestyle classes will be individual contests under the overhauled format.
The 23-year-old Felicitas Hendricks spearheaded the German charge, topping the Grand Prix individually with 72.087%. She was bolstered by teammates Anna-Christina Abbelen (70.825% on Sam Donnerhall) and Frederic Wandres (70.456% on Total Recall), as well as Michael Klimke, whose 67.565% on Uwe Kappel’s 12-year-old Domino 957 was the drop score for the winning nation. He was also the Chef d’Equipe.
Hendricks, who was also on last year’s winning Nations Cup team on her senior squad debut, said, “It’s a great honor to be back on the senior German team. I had a fantastic team with great teammates and team spirit. The scores are reflecting our improvement, but it’s not just about the scores. I was able to do a more detailed test today than last year, so we improved our Grand Prix for sure.
“There are still things to work on and we’re far from being perfect, but we keep working on it,” she added of Drombusch, her own 13-year-old gelding by Destano. “This season can’t really be going any better for me. It’s a great honor to be showing this horse in this fantastic ring. He’s so happy to be showing, and that’s the best feeling in the world when they’re willing to give their all in the ring. So whenever a mistake happens, you know that’s on me.”
For more information and results, visit https://gdf.coth.com.