Wellington favorites Frederic Wandres and Bluetooth OLD en route at the Olympics

Germany’s Frederic Wandres and Bluetooth OLD were the first to go for their nation as the Grand Prix dressage qualifying got underway at Versailles and their score of 76.118 percent means they will take the stage for Sunday’s Grand Prix Freestyle.

Frederic Wandres and Bluetooth OLD setting the stage at Versailles for Germany. Photo: Stefan Lafentz

Frederic – competing in Paris in his first Olympics – and 14-year-old Oldenburg Bluetooth, are crowd favorites at the winter Global Dressage Festival in Wellington and were winners of the five-star Grand Prix Special held at the Wellington International showgrounds last winter – a contest they also won when the event debuted there in 2022.

Setting the stage for the weekend in Paris! Frederic and Bluetooth off to a good start at Versailles. Photo: courtesy of Frederic Wandres.

This morning the pair held the top spot in their group, beaten by the final partnership of Denmark’s Daniel Bachmann Andersen and the Westphalian stallion Vayron, with a score of 76.916. The contest, divided into six groups over two days, sees the top two of each group qualify for the Freestyle and individual medals on Sunday – as well as deciding which nations compete for a team medal in Saturday’s Grand Prix Special.

“I was very happy. I was the first German starter. I can now say that in retrospect, I was very happy that I was the first to get in there and we could all get a taste of the stadium atmosphere and see how things were going,” Frederic said.

Frederic first laid eyes on three-year-old Bluetooth at the PSI auction but says “I was never thinking about it that one day he could be my grand prix horse.” Years later, Wandres first rode Bluetooth and was immediately impressed. “From the first ride on him I was like ‘Oh yeah’ – I feel that’s very good. So I was very happy. The first feeling was way better than I expected.”

And so their journey continues with the chance to improve on some areas in today’s test. “I didn’t have any technical errors. I had a little canter problem in transition, which of course shows up in the marks,” Frederic said. “The judges have to take this into account, that’s clear … I think this was a mini wake up for Saturday. But that’s easy for me to stop. And everything else was good. He had a nice piaffe, I was able to transition well to the walk, he walked calmly and I had a nice feeling at the trot, he was supple and light on his feet, I’m very happy with him.”