Gold and Silver for Andreas Helgstrand at 5 Yr Old World Championships

The final of the FEI World Dressage Championship for 5 year old horses was a triumph for Andreas Helgstrand, Denmark and Danish dressage horse breeding. Today Helgstrand was the first rider in the history of the FEI young dressage horse championships to win both gold and silver medal. His amazing powerhouse Uno Donna Unique took silver and his long lined, breathtaking athlete Honnerups Driver came an inch closer to perfection and deserved the gold medal. Four Danish competitors, riding top dressage horses registered with the Dansk Varmblod dominated a wonderful final in Verden. The Danish party was complete when WBFSH president Jan Pedersen from Denmark was involved in the prize giving ceremony.

It was an exciting final too, starting off very well with four time World Champion rider Hans Peter Minderhoud from Holland presenting the KWPN approved stallion Zizi Top (Tango x Ferro), who was praised by Annette Fransen-Iacobaeus, the Swedish spokesperson of the judging panel, as a horse with an active trot, a clear walk and a balanced canter. In this top quality field the mark of 8,54 proved to be only good enough for fifth place.

With Uno Donna Unique (Don Schufro x Falkland), his first horse in the final, Andreas Helgstrand made clear that he would be on the podium. His expressive, electrical mare Uno Donna Unique (Don Schufro x Falkland) is a very functional, highly talented horse, without any flaws and with a lot of energy. She received high marks for trot (9,3), walk (8,8), canter (9,2), submissiveness (8,9) and general impression (9,8), which was an average of 9,08.

The winner of the selection round was supposed to be able to beat this great result. But Paul Schockemohle's beautiful stallion Furst Romancier (Furst Heinrich x Romancier), ridden by dr Ulf Moller, was distracted by the huge crowd in a tent alongside the arena, and there was a hesitation in one of the simple changes of leg in canter. This was not the same horse that seemed unbeatable two days earlier: 8,74.

Directly after the test of Furst Romancier, Andreas Helgstrand returned to the arena, riding what he later described as the best horse he ever tried. "I found this horse one year ago at a very small show. I sat on him and from the first step, I knew this was an exceptional horse."

The judging panel (Jennie Loriston-Clarke, Mariette Sanders-van Gansewinkel, Linda Zang and Annette Fransen-Iacobaeus, totally agreed. "A wonderful, wonderful horse. For the trot we couldn't go any lower than a 10!", was the opening statement by Annette Fransen. The walk and the submissiveness were the lowest notes (9,0), canter was awarded with a 9,5, general impression was a 9,8. "In the selection test I had mistakes with both horses", said Andreas Helgstrand, explaining why he was 5th and 6th on the first day. "Today everything worked for me!"

But Eva Moller, dr Ulf Moller's wive, was yet to compete. The runner up after her husband on the first day rode a supreme test aboard Blickpunkt (Belissimo M x Weltmeyer), faultless and with thrilling performances in extended trot. The audience in Verden had its favorite, expressing its feelings with a standing ovation. But the judges sticked to their double choice for Andreas Helgstrand. With 9,4 (trot), 9,0 (walk), 8,7 (canter), 8,7 (submissiveness) and 9,0 (general impression) the 'happy athlete' Blickpunkt had to settle for the bronze position (8,96).

Above all, the FEI World Dressage Championship for 5 year old horses marked the rise of Danish dressage horse breeding and the importance of Don Schufro, who is either the father or the grandfather of all four Danish final horses.