Mads Hendeliowitz and Autograf Q claimed the win in International Dressage Grand Prix in Helsinki with a great score of 68,00%. Fellow Swede, Sofia Möller with Flawless delivered an excellent performance as well and posted a strong 67,42% for the second place. The competition was a true Finland-Sweden fight as Anu Sironen & Ypajan Fioretto followed in the third place, much to the thrill of the home crowd.
Hendeliowitz hasn’t had the easiest start for the season due to a neck injury that made him lose sensitivity in his left arm, so the Swede was very pleased to be back on top.
“It’s been a journey and we’ve really been working on this suppleness and relaxation. He’s a very capable horse but also has a lot of temper. He is super high-sensitive so I was very pleased with his overall frame, relaxation and communication between him and I.”
Hendeliowitz enjoys the new arena in Helsinki and is looking forward to tomorrow when the dressage programme continues with freestyle.
“I like this arena; it has a bit more space. It makes it a little bit easier for the horse that the crowd is a bit further away. Tomorrow we have the same Kür I rode the last time. It’s the Hunger Games Kür – we made some changes to make it a bit more difficult. It’s a new day.”
Third-placed Anu Sironen and her horse Ypajan Fioretto have faced some struggles ahead of the season, so the home rider was very happy with their performance.
“I was really pleased with my boy because he is extremely sensitive and of course he has never been in such an arena. Training at home the whole winter and then coming to this atmosphere; that was the main thing for me. Just to kind of feel that he is relaxed and listening to me. Of course, I could’ve asked him a little bit more but I didn’t want to do it, not today. Maybe in the future, if he stays that relaxed then it’s easy to put a bit more in the test itself. After last summer when he lost his eye, I thought I can’t even compete with him anymore, but he has come back so strong. He’s just amazes me every day with how he deals with these type of situations.”
For the judge, Susanne Baarup, this was the first time in the new environment, and she was very pleased with the setup.
“First of all, I will say I’m very happy to be here. I’m so impressed so many people came to look on a Friday afternoon, it’s really good for the sport. I must say I enjoyed the class, it’s not an easy arena to go into and some horses were quite spooky in the corners. I think all riders did well, they tried to do their best but of course some mistakes came. Overall, I think it was a nice class here.”
International Dressage Grand Prix. Starts 9, placings 5.
1) Mads Hendeliowitz – Autograf Q , SWE 68,00%,
2) Sofia Möller – Flawless , SWE 67,41%,
3) Anu Sironen – Ypajan Fioretto , FIN 65,76%,
4) Ville Vaurio – Dante NL , FIN 65,65%,
5) Peggy Högsten – Frisco , FIN 65,37%,
…9) Katja Kuokka – Fillyhill’s my Special , FIN 60,94%
Results: LINK
