"As always, our horses lead the way": The favourite for the World Cup Final is injured

Isabell Werth has said that she will not be competing in the 2024 Dressage World Cup Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Emilio 107 (Ehrenpreis x Cacir A), her longtime partner.

"Our horses lead the way as always," Isabell remarked. Unfortunately, Emilio has periostitis [inflammation] due to trauma. He will therefore not be able to compete in the World Cup Final.”

The combo achieved the highest qualifying average freestyle score (87.41%) and was one of the favourites to win the championship. For Madeline Winter-Schulze's eighteen-year-old horse, it was probably also the last appearance.

Before this, Isabell had informed Dressursport Deutschland that Emilio would retire at the end of 2023, with his farewell performance scheduled for Frankfurt CDI.

However, Isabell revealed to Dressursport.kim that she was reconsidering Emilio's retirement after a solid performance at the World Cup qualifier in Stuttgart: "I might even ride him on a World Cup stage." Let's see; I'm still not sure in my heart," she remarked. When the FEI published the list of confirmed entries on March 30, it was verified that they would be competing.

Isabell will now ride DSP Quantaz, the team that won the's-Hertogenbosch World Cup qualifier. “He is in very good shape and I hope we can prove our form there,” she said.

At the finals, Quantaz is now probably going to compete against Lottie Fry and Everdale from Britain for first place. At the World Cup qualifier in Amsterdam on January 27, Lottie and Everdale (88.18%) defeated Isabell and Quantaz (86.45%); although, the German combination had a better average score (85.98% to Everdale's 85.11%) heading into the match.

Emilio, who occasionally takes a backseat to Isabell's other prize horses, such as Quantaz, Weihegold, and Bella Rose, will retire as one of the most accomplished dressage horses of the past ten years.