After gold in Tokyo and three European Championship titles in Hagen, dressage Olympic champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl also won the World Cup.
Riding the 15-year-old Trakehner mare Dalera, the 36-year-old from Gut Aubenhausen beat Catherine Dufour (Denmark/86.164), third at the European Championships with Vamos Amigos and record Olympic champion Isabell Werth (Rheinberg/85.921) with Weihegold in the freestyle with 90.836 percentage points through. For “JBW” it was the last major championship for the time being, she is going on maternity leave.
The appearance of Werth and Weihegold was also part of the farewell. The 17-year-old mare had her last competitive sport in Leipzig and is now going back to her owner Christine Arns-Krogmann in the Oldenburger Land. “The collaboration was designed for five years, and that’s over now,” Werth told SID. At the end of a great career, Weihegold showed once again why she was considered one of the best freestyle horses in the world for a long time.
With Weihegold, Isabell Werth entered the big stage for the first time at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. At that time, their top horses Bella Rose and Don Johnson were out for a short time, Weihegold was only plan C. Then the night-black mare danced to gold with the team and silver in the individual, there were more than 90 percentage points for second place in the freestyle behind the British Charlotte Dujardin and the unbeatable Valegro.
The World Cup was the very own terrain of the freestyle mare. In Paris 2017, Omaha 2018 and Gothenburg 2019, Werth and “Weihe” dominated the prestigious competition. “She gave me so much,” said Werth, “and that’s why I’m glad we were able to say goodbye to her at this level.”