Benjamin and the 14-year-old Westfalen gelding scored 80.790 per cent for the victory to eclipse their previous best of 80.340 per cent set last month. The pair also posted a personal best in the Grand Prix Saturday.
“This horse is a gift,” he said. “I’m having an unbelievable trip with him, he’s developed so much over the last few months and I can’t find the right words to describe how much it means to me.”
There was so much more potential in Daily Mirror, he said, “and now my job is to find out how to bring it out. He had a break of two years before he came to us a couple of years ago, so he still feels a bit like a young horse building up experience, and I really wasn’t expecting him to be so cool in this arena today–he’s just the perfect gentleman.”
Benjamin and his sister, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, both were undefeated at different shows this week–Benjamin on Daily Mirror here in the fifth World Cup event of the 2018/19 season and Jessica on TSF Dalera BB at the CDI5* in Geneva. As Young Riders in 2004, the two took silver at the European Championships.
Sweden’s Patrik Kittel riding Delatio in only the second show for the pair placed second on 80.010 per cent to move up to fifth in the Western European standings as the veteran of three Olympics and three World Equestrian Games pursues a start at the final in Gothenburg, Sweden in April that would be his seventh World Cup start. The only other competition for Patrik and Delatio, 14-year-old Hanoverian stallion, was the World Cup event in Lyon, France.
Dorothee Schneider and Faustus, competing in only their second freestyle since starting Big Tour nine months ago, also logged a personal best of 79.730 per cent.
Kristy Oatley and Du Soleil placed fourth on 79.330 per cent, an Australian record freestyle score, and beating their previous recordbeating result of 78.130 per cent in October.
The next Western European World Cup event is scheduled for London Olympia Dec. 17-18.