Germany's "Queen of Dressage" proved her mettle and battled her way back to the top of the board in the concluding class of the 2021 CDIO Aachen on Sunday 19 September 2021, the 5* Grand Prix Kur to Music.

While Werth won the "Deutsche Bank" 5* freestyle for the 14th time in her career on six different horses, it was Dutch shooting star Dinja van Liere who became the 2021 Aachen Grand Champion.

Unique Edition
A very unique edition of the CHIO Aachen, the most prestigious international equestrian competition of the year, took place in 2021.

Due to the ongoing corona pandemic the organizers were only allowed to sell tickets to 30% of its full capacity, although the local authorities increased that amount to 50% at the start of the week.

In 2020 the CHIO was initially postponed to the month of September and then eventually called off, the first time a CHIO Aachen ever got cancelled since 1898 (!), although no shows were held during World War II.

Werth Battles Back

Having ridden Bella Rose to individual silver at the 2021 Olympic Games and Weihegold to individual silver and team gold at the 2021 European Championships a week ago, it was time for rising GP star Quantaz to step up to the plate and prove himself in Aachen.

The lack of consistent training over the summer showed in the Grand Prix and Werth had her hands full piloting Madeleine Winter-Schulze and Victoria Max-Theurer's 11-year old Brandenburg stallion Quantaz (by Quaterback x Hohenstein) through the Grand Prix test. An explosion in the one tempi changes reduced their score to 76.130% and a fourth place.

However, Werth is not the most decorated dressage rider of all times for no reason and she ironed out the creases on Sunday for the freestyle. I was secretly hoping that she would use her David Bowie freestyle for Quantaz, but it was back to the good-old "Land of Hope & Glory / Queen" remix as her choice of music. Isabell had the advantage of entering the arena as last to go and pulled out all the stops. The horse was still not 100% submissive in the bridle, but Werth solved it well. The walk was still a weak point although the judges appear puzzled what to score it. The collected scored between 5.5 and 7.0, the extended walk between 6.0 and 8.0. The half passes and extensions were well ridden, the passage had a nice bounce and the horse seemed comfortable in the piaffe pirouettes. The test had a very high degree of technical difficulty which the young Quantaz coped with well today. Werth had a score of 86.740% to beat and the crowd erupted when a winning 88.335% flashed on the board.

“I felt really inspired when I entered the arena. It is something very special to ride in this stadium to compete in this atmosphere," she said after winning the Kur. “I think Quantaz really showed what is possible today and how much potential he has. I am very proud. I didn’t mind on Friday. I prefer having a horse that is a bit sharp and willing to go. Okay, it was a little too much, but today he was very focused and concentrated."
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