At the first international outdoor tournament of the year, 33 starters took part in the final of the Grand Tour, the Grand Prix of Riesenbeck. Course director Martin Otto had built in such a way that twelve pairs could qualify for the jump-off. He used the area of the new large sand arena in front of the Riesenbeck International event hall to accommodate turns and obstacles that could be ridden smoothly in the CSI** course, including a triple combination and water built over.
The weather cooperated, the riders and horses at the Surenburg found excellent conditions and did not break a sweat - as their colleagues did at the Longines Global Champions Tour leg in Mexico. There, home riders Ludger Beerbaum, Christian Kukuk or Katrin Eckermann, who otherwise competes so regularly in Riesenbeck, were able to keep an eye on the action via Clipmyhorse.tv before their own performances.
The jump-off course was demanding, requiring both tight turns and longer gallops from horse and rider.
Caramba - the name obviously says it all! The eleven-year-old gelding with the promising pedigree Comme il faut x Baloubet du Rouet - ridden by Richard Vogel - lived up to his name and won in unbeatable time (0/ 36.95).
Richard Vogel knows the Riesenbeck International equestrian center well. He was a rider in Ludger Beerbaum's team for two years and is now, at the age of 25, one of Germany's top young riders. Vogel, a success-hungry and hard-working ribbon collector, showed top results in all three jumping competitions of the Grand Tour: On Thursday he took second place with Churchill, then won with him on Friday. And on Saturday he secured victory in the Grand Prix with Caramba.
His former Riesenbeck stablemate, Irishman Eoin McMahon, finished second with his top horse, the 16-year-old Chacon (0/38.15). Third place went to Hans-Thorben Rüder with Singu (0/39.25).
Lorenzo Argentano already managed the hat trick in the morning with his seven-year-old gelding Barbarix (Baloutelli x Colbert) in the FUNDIS Youngster Cup for six and seven-year-old horses: The Italian won all three tests. In the final test on Saturday, he left Johannes Ehning on the Holsteiner mare Henriette (Quintero x Contender, 0/27.80) just behind in a clear two-phase jumping test (0/27.75). Third place went to Greta Reinacher on the gelding Le Louvre (Latour x Class de Luxe, 0 /27.98).
The final competition of the Small Tour was won by Lars Volmer on the eight-year-old Luna Lovegood (0/53.08) in a very fast time, followed by Andrea Hoppe on Conchita (0/61.53) and the Japanese rider Tadahiro Hayashi, who rides for Ludger Beerbaum's stable and had saddled Billy Iceburg (0/65.08).
In the Medium Tour, the British rider Jodie Hall Mcateer dominated on Catoki, a ten-year-old French-bred gelding (Kannan x Experio). In the second phase of the jumping, the Amazon, who could achieve very good results during the tournament, needed 28.95 seconds after a faultless ride and thus prevented another victory of Richard Vogel with Codex (0/31.14). The third place went to Irish Matt Garrigan on Click N'Chic Hdc (0/31.20).
Source: press release
