KILDARE’s Judy Reynolds made history at Gothenburg last Sunday, when she scored a top 10 finish as the first Irish rider to compete at the Reem Acra Dressage World Cup Finals.

Watched from the pocket by her husband Patrick and her father Joe, who owns Vancouver K, Reynolds produced an excellent score of 77.339% to finish in eighth place overall against some of the world’s top dressage riders.

The result caps an amazing few months for Reynolds, in which she broke several Irish dressage records on her way to booking a place for Ireland at the Olympic Games in Rio.

A delighted Judy Reynolds told The Irish Field: “It was a fantastic experience and as the World Cup Final had not been what we had been working towards, it was a bonus to be there. I was also very conscious of wanting to put in good performances and not to be there to just make up the numbers.

“It’s a very atmospheric place. You come in from a level below, the horses are walking up a steep ramp and straight into the arena, greeted by 11,000 people above you. I was pleasantly suprised JP (Vancouver) was so relaxed, delighted it did not affect him, he really did do his job, he was with me 100%, I was delighted. While a couple of the big names were not there, it was still a very strong field with 12 of the 18 from the world’s top 50 riders and all within the world’s top 100, so it was by no means a second class final and then to finish eighth on Sunday, I was delighted.

“I was very happy overall with our two performances overall. On the Friday, there was a few little things alright and we could have been fifth instead of ninth. Then eighth in the Freestyle on Sunday, it was a very clean test but didn’t just have the polish in comparison to our Doha test. I was absolutely delighted overall, there is more points to be gained, we have not yet reached our limit which is very exciting. I’d also like to thank Denis Lynch for the very generous loan of his horse for the prize giving ceremony.

“Vancouver is very fresh and feeling well in himself today (Wednesday), it did not take too much out of him. Work continues for me with my other horses but JP will go on a break whether he really wants it or not and will have a bit of a chance to relax.

“I’d like to thank everyone for the fantastic level of support, family, friends, dressage enthusiasts, even a lot of non-horsey people who heard me on the radio last weekend,” said Reynolds.

DUTCH MASTER

Dutch rider Hans Peter Minderhoud and Glock’s Flirt were crowned the new dressage World Cup champions, just edging out home favourite Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén from Sweden with Don Auriello. Minderhoud claimed the trophy and the winner’s cheque of €50,000.

The 42-year-old, team gold and individual bronze medallist at last year’s FEI European Championships in Aachen, gave it his all to earn a mark of 82.357%.

“It was really special for me,” Minderhoud said afterwards. “This was my sixth final and I’ve never been on the podium, although I was twice really close. I started off as a groom and it was always my dream to win it so it’s very emotional. The horse is almost like a dog, you can take him everywhere. He’s very sweet and always tries for you, he’s a really good boy!”

The win came at the expense of home crowd favourite Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfen, who finished just 0.928% adrift with Don Auriello. Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and the stallion Unee B, third-place finishers in Las Vegas 12 months ago, once again stood on the third step on the podium.

Minderhoud’s victory was the 13th Dutch win in the World Cup Dressage Finals, with Hans Peter’s partner Edward Gal winning the title six years ago on home ground in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. “It’s good we have one each now!” Minderhoud joked.