Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour has once again delivered an impressive performance with her 16-year-old Hanoverian mare Mount St. John Freestyle. During Saturday's World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle, the Danish duo exceeded the magical 90% mark for the third time in a year.
With a score of 90.175%, they convincingly won the opening competition of the Western European League, which consists of ten rounds and leads up to the final in Fort Worth (Texas) in April next year. Their result was no less than nine percentage points higher than that of their closest rival, Patrik Kittel.
Laudrup-Dufour, currently number three in the world rankings, has been a successful combination with Freestyle for many years. Last year, the pair won silver for Denmark at the Olympic Games in Paris and six weeks ago they won individual silver at the European Championships.
Second place went to Swedish rider Patrik Kittel with Touchdown, a 13-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding, who scored 81.645%. His compatriot Maria von Essen finished third with the 13-year-old Oldenburg Invoice with a score of 81.040%.
The next qualifying competition of the Western European League will take place at the end of October in Lyon, where riders will once again compete for one of the nine coveted tickets to the World Cup Final.
