Great Britain’s Becky Moody and Jagerbomb were in scintillating form at the Zen Elite FEI Dressage World Cup™ Finals in Fort Worth, Texas last week, claiming victory in both the Grand Prix and the Freestyle.
It was a week of “firsts” for the pair, who not only finished first in both competitions on their first attempt, but the event also marked the first time Becky had competed in North America and the first time Jagerbomb had been on a transcontinental flight.
In the Freestyle, Becky and the homebred 12-year-old achieved a personal best score of 88.330% to top the leaderboard. USA’s Christian Simonson and Indian Rock finished second on a score of 83.810%, while Poland’s Sandra Sysojeva and Maxima Bella occupied third with 80.770%.
“Insane”
“I’ve never ridden in an arena like that. It’s just insane to be part of such a cool competition,” said Becky who was impressed with the crowds at Dickies Arena.
“The crowd here was absolutely something else. To be sat here with these [riders] is just fantastic. I think all of our horses are complete and utter diamonds.”
“Today, right from the get-go, [Jagerbomb] was just so focused and so with me.
“The beauty of the Freestyle is that you are able to showcase your horse’s strengths, and he finds the changes on the curved lines very easy, and because he is good in the balance, he can go from one [movement] to another without a struggle.”
Beatles-themed music
The pair, who was the last to go, performed their routine to a medley of Beatles-inspired songs which featured iconic tracks like All You Need is Love, With a Little Help From My Friends, Here Comes the Sun, Love Me Do, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Twist and Shout and Come Together.
In the Grand Prix, Becky and her bronze medal-winning partner from Paris 2024 received a score of 76.761% to claim victory. Christian Simonson and Indian Rock finished as runners-up once again on 75.413%. The 2024 World Cup champions Patrik Kittel (SWE) and Touchdown were third with 72.869%.
“He felt really good. I had that nice balance of energy, but with relaxation as well,” said Becky.
“I always say, he’s not exceptional at anything, but he is just really good at everything so he’s just a joy to ride in an arena like that, and it was an amazing crowd.
“I had never flown a horse before, and he had never flown before, so that was a factor in my decision making [to come here].
“I wanted that experience, and for him to have that experience, and I’m really glad that I did, because we definitely learned things. This is just an amazing opportunity to come to such a fantastic place, and it’s so cool to be surrounded by such a strong equine culture [in Texas] that is completely different to anything I’ve experienced before.
“When you have bred them, it just adds that little bit of extra. I don’t have any children, so he is my child. He’s just my pride and joy.”
Images © FEI/Shannon Brinkman.
