Ireland’s Anna Merveldt and Esporim shine in Austrian Freestyle World Cup

Irish Dressage rider Anna Merveldt and the 10-year-old stallion Esporim have recorded a person best score as a pairing, on their way to a 10th place finish in today’s (Sunday) FEI Dressage World Cup Freestyle Grand Prix at Salzburg in Austria.

An excellent performance saw them score 73.310% when fifth to go in a competition that featured 13 competitors, with Esporim being one of the youngest horses in the competition. The winners prize went to Germany’s Isabell Werth and Emilio on a score of 85.905%.

On Saturday, Anna Merveldt (pictured) and Esporim finished in equal eighth place in Salzburg’s FEI World Cup Grand Prix with a score of 68.326%, which came on the back of two top five finishes for the pair at the four-star show German show in Munich a fortnight ago.

Merveldt and Esporim were part of the Irish Dressage team that made history at the 2019 FEI European Dressage Championships when they became the first Irish Dressage team to qualify for an Olympic Games.