New York City—Sept. 25
Last year Isabell Werth made the long trip from Germany to New York City with El Santo NRW, and she won the inaugural Central Park Horse Show Grand Prix freestyle. So this year, she again put El Santo on a plane for New York, hoping to repeat that victory.
She got a good start on that mission by topping today’s Rolex Central Park Horse Show Grand Prix, which was hosted as an exhibition class, on a score of 75.10 percent.
“It was a warm-up, so I didn’t take the full risk, of course,” said Werth. “The weakest point was the second piaffe, where I had a little stop, and then he started again. That was the only mistake; the rest was serious and safe. The changes were really nice, and the canter zig-zag was really good. It’s good we could do like the jumpers did, let them go in there and know what to do. I hope tomorrow evening we can take a little more risk and have some fun.”
Sweden’s Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfven picked up second on Paridon Magi (73.16%), and Spain’s Juan Matute Jr. was third aboard Don Diego Ymas (69.96%). Riders will return tomorrow night for the Grand Prix freestyle, and they’ll be joined by Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin on a borrowed mount.
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Central Park is swarming with activity today as Pope Francis arrives for a drive through later this afternoon. Despite the increased security for spectators arriving into the park, the Grand Prix was still sold out.
“It’s a really special atmosphere, and now we’re all waiting for him to arrive!” said Werth. “To have the Pope in Central Park today, it makes it unforgettable.
“It’s really amazing and really great and special to come here and compete in Central Park and be part of this show,” she continued. “Never have I been somewhere like this, with the skyline, and I don’t know how to describe how special the feeling is.”
Werth targeted this class again for “Ernie,” who’s been her partner for numerous past FEI World Cup Dressage Finals, since she knew he could handle the atmosphere of the arena.
“It was a pretty clear decision for me to bring him here because he’s easy to fly,” she said. “With Don Johnson, it could be much more dangerous. You need the right horse for it. This is special, and you can only do it with a special horse.”
