Dufour shows an outstanding performance winning World Cup leg today at Gothenburg

Cathrine, Cassidy and coach Nathalie at yesterday´s World Cup Grand Prix pricegivning at Gothenburg - photo credit: Kim Lundin

Cathrine, Cassidy and coach Nathalie at yesterday´s World Cup Grand Prix pricegivning at Gothenburg - photo credit: Kim Lundin

New freestyle  

It was just lovely to sit back and enjoy today´s debut of the new freestyle for Danish Cathrine Dufour and Atterupgaards Cassidy.

Very nice choice of music, more light and modern for the young Danish top combination and combined with a lot of transitions in the music where Dufour really showed her strength being a top rider making it all happen without any issues. 

H2R comments during the test:

Wauw nice music, starts with passage, into piaffe to passage, into extended trot, lovely transitions in the music, piaffe pirouette out into extended trot, superb walk tour, change of music for canter suits perfectly, power extended canter into double high quality pirouette, super 1 times. Transitions spot on, open halt, tiny ahead of the music for final halt.

New personal coach

H2R caught the Danish national coach Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein after this outstanding World Cup victory for her comments about Dufour and Cassidy. 

"I think I know Cathrine quite well now, last year from standing at the sideline as a team coach watching her training with Rune Willum, and this year where I´ve been "in charge".

"It is a pleasure to work with Cathrine, she is so quick and at the same time is able to use my advices, and said that, 15 years of top schooling by Rune Willum with thorough training just makes her able to recieve an advice and follow it. And it is not about changing things, it´s just about adjusting things to try to get a bit more, and this part went into a higher level here at Gothenburg, scoring personal best for both Grand Prix and Grand Prix freestyle."

"I haven´t heard the music for the freestyle before today, as we´ve just been practising the movements, and some of the details, and at the same time Helle Krasnik, our chef d´equipe which is also a trained dressage judge, has been giving advices where to optimize the exercises," tell Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. 

After this victory Cathrine is now ranked as no 12 at the World Cup ranking, and therefore not secured at spot for the World Cup final, but will now instead apply for Wildcard for the final, tells Nathalie.