6,000 fans jammed into a stadium built for 1,500 spectators to watch Moorlands Totilas and his partner Edward Gal perform an emotion-laden dance for six minutes Sunday, sweeping the Exquis World Dressage Masters and picking up an extra €25,000 (US$31,000) inaugural rider award.
Spectators were not disappointed. In their first outdoor competition since last August's European Championships-their first World Cup title they collected two months ago is the final of an all indoor circuit-they scored 88.450 per cent.
Although almost six percentage points off their world record, three of the five judges in the CDI5* awarded marks of 85 per cent for technical and Germany's Katrina Wüst, president of the ground jury, gave the pair a whopping 95 per cent for artistic.
Fellow Dutch combination Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival were stunning but had a few minor mistakes to place second with 83.100 per cent, while Isabell Werth and Warum Nicht FRH were third on 81.900 per cent.
Only six combinations entered the freestyle – there were nine in the Grand Prix Special Saturday-and their scores were: Austria's Victoria Max-Theurer on Augustin 13 in fourth place with 79.250 per cent, Switzerland's Marcela Krinke-Susmelj was fifth on 73.350 per cent and Germany's Ulla Salzgeber on Wakana in sixth with 71.950 per cent.
This was in keeping with what WDM CEO Anthony Kies said is the goal of creating the lineup of competitions: to get the best horses and riders in the world, the stars, competing against each other. Munich fulfilled that requirement with the No. 1 and No. 2 combinations, Edward and Moorlands Totilas and Adelinde and Jerich Parzival, and multi Olympic gold medalist Isabell Werth competing against each other.
In commenting on the success of Totilas at Munich, Edward said: “Six minutes of riding to get so much money is amazing.”
For the top ranked combination in the world, the money amounted to €25,000 for the Rider Award, €16,920 for first place in the Grand Prix Freestyle and €2,800 for first place in the Grand Prix, a total of €44,720 (US$55,270).
The closeness of the crowds to the arena made Totilas a “little excited,” but he needs to get used to it “because so many people love the horse and want to see him perform.”
He said that although semen is being collected from Totilas three times a week it has “not really made any difference” to his attitude.
The schedule for the remainder of 2010 is:
* June 10-13 – Cannes, France;
* July 8-11 – Falsterbo, Sweden, and
* July 29-Aug. 1 – Hickstead, England.