Prix St Georges
- 1. Fabienne Lutkemeier - D'Agostino - 67.456
- 2. Isabell Werth - Don Johnson - 67.017
- 3. Helen Langehanenberg - Moncassado - 65.087
- 4. Carolin Nowag - Etienne La Petite - 63.508
- 5. Jessica Süss - Zorro - 62.894
- 6. Nadine Maiwurm - Figo - 62.807
- 7. Manuela Gorski - Henny Hennessy - 61.403
- 8. Pia Piotrowski - Roberto Cavalli - 59.298
- 9. Claudius Becher - Ronja - 58.772
- 10. Maike Ksoll - Pantani - 58.333
- 11. Sorreen Rita Wemhöner Budde - Ravel Logo - 56.666
Fabienne Lutkemeier and her delightful chestnut gelding D'Agostino (by De Niro x Shogun xx x Wenzel) were the clear winners of the Prix St Georges at the CDI Dortmund. Experience, elegance and lightness were shown by this combination in each movement of the test. The conservative score of 67.456% was not really a testimony to the gap she created between herself and the competitors. Isabell Werth rode Madeleine Winter-Schulze's 9-year old talented but green Don Johnson (by Don Frederico) to a second place. Her dark bay has so much potential, especially in trot but the contact with the bit was very inconsistent as the gelding was pushing himself high on many occasions. Also the flying changes to the right lacked smoothness and the horse came against the bit in the tempi's. In trot, however, he showed great promise especially in the lateral movements and he was very ground covering in the extensions.
Prix St Georges
- 1. Fabienne Lutkemeier - D'Agostino - 73.947
- 2. Nadine Maiwurm - Figo - 68.157
- 3. Carolin Nowag - Etienne La Petite - 65.175
- 4. Helen Langehanenberg - Moncassado - 65.087
- 5. Jessica Süss - Zorro - 63.070
- 6. Isabell Werth - Don Johnson - 59.298
- 7. Manuela Gorski - Henny Hennessy - 58.859
Grand Prix for Kur - CDN
- 1. Anky van Grunsven - Painted Black - 72.510 (Holland)
- 2. Isabell Werth - El Santo - 71.319 (Germany)
- 3. Ulla Salzgeber - Herzruf's Erbe - 70.042 (Germany)
- 4. Matthias Alexander Rath - Triviant - 69.063 (Germany)
- 5. Hubertus Schmidt - Hinnerk TSF - 69.021 (Germany)
- 6. Hans Peter Minderhoud - Tango - 68.255 (Holland)
- 7. Jill Jessica Mieleszko - Winston - 59.744 (Germany)
Anky van Grunsven and Painted Black won the national Grand Prix for Kur at the CDI Dortmund. The Dutch duo showed wonderful trot extensions and a very good half pass to the right which must have earned them high points. A loss of rhythm in the first piaffe and passage was a first sign that the black stallion by Gribaldi x Ferro had the slight tendency today to stick to Anky's leg aid and lose impulsion. It also happened in the pirouette right and slightly in the two tempi's, which were faultfree. The extended walk was very good. In the zig zag Painted stumbled and lost the momentum for the flying change to the right. The mistake in the rhythm in the final trot extension did not prevent the combination to show off an outstanding final piaffe and passage on the centerline. 72.510% seemed a fair score for this rightfully winning pair.
Absolute eye-candy to watch was El Santo NRW, who made the transition to Grand Prix this year. The 9-year old Westfalian gelding by Ehrentusch x Rhythmus has a lovely silhouette in the piaffe and passage. Both the trot and walk extensions were excellent, but many tiny mistakes crept into this ride. El Santo dragged his feet in the reinback, there was loss of impulsion in the first passage, and in the canter tour there was a mistake in the zig zag and one in the two tempi's. In the pirouette right he turned too quickly on the haunches. Furthermore, El Santo's piaffe was never on the spot and despite the fact that he sits really well and has great rhythm, he took more than 10 meters to do the final piaffe at X on the centerline. El Santo was always light in the hand and nicely at the vertical.
Ulla Salzgeber and Herzruf's Erbe finished third with 70.042%. The trot extensions were conservative, lacking overstep and there was some loss of rhythm in the first piaffe. During the entire ride one got the impression that all the qualities were there to score big, but it just didn't come totally together today. The tempi changes were all good, but in the two's the hindquarters swung to the right. He was also crooked to the right on the center line leading up the pirouette right. The piaffe and passage were good in its basic quality but the transitions appeared a tiny bit hesitant. We're sure that all pieces will fall in place for this come-back pair later this season.
Grand Prix Kur - CDN
- 1. Anky van Grunsven - Painted Black - 80.800 (Golland)
- 2. Isabell Werth - El Santo NRW - 78.000 (Germany)
- 3. Hans Peter Minderhoud - Tango - 74.450 (Holland)
- 4. Matthias Alexander Rath - Triviant - 74.250 (Germany)
- 5. Ulla Salzgeber - Herzruf's Erbe - 72.900 (Germany)
- 6. Hubertus Schmidt - Hinnerk - 72.600 (Germany)
- 7. Jill Jessica Mieleszko - Winston - 61.450 (Germany)
Grand Prix for Special - CDI
- 1. Anky van Grunsven - Salinero - 76.638 (Holland)
- 2. Matthias Alexander Rath - Sterntaler Unicef - 74.340 (Germany)
- 3. Isabell Werth - Satchmo - 73.234 (Germany)
- 4. Monica Theodorescu - Whisper - 72.553 (Germany)
- 5. Hubertus Schmidt - Donnelly - 71.532 (Germany)
- 6. Hans Peter Minderhoud - Nadine - 71.106 (Holland)
- 7. Ellen Schulten Baumer - Donatha S - 70.893 (Germany)
- 8. Ulla Salzgeber - Wakana - 70.425 (Germany)
- 9. Laura Bechtolsheimer - Andretti - 70.255 (England)
- 10. Helen Langehanenberg - Responsible - 69.872 (Germany)
- 11. Christoph Koschel - Donnperignon - 69.319 (Germany)
- 12. Nathalie Zu Saeyn Wittgenstein - Rigoletto - 67.872 (Denmark)
- 13. Anja Plonzke - Le Mont d'Or - 67.319 (Germany)
- 14. Carola Koppelmann - Rom - 66.127 (Germany)
- 15. Dieter Laugks - Meggle's Weltall - 65.65 (Germany)
- 16. Catherine Haddad - Maximus JSS - 63.106 (USA)
Anky van Grunsven is doing big business at the CDI Dortmund, claiming her second victory in two days time. Aboard her 16-year old Hanoverian gelding Salinero (by Salieri x Lungau) she topped the leader board in the Meggle Finals Grand Prix for Special with a 76.638% score. Anky's test had lots of energy and Salinero's 8-year experience as a Grand Prix horse showed off with lots of maturity in all the movements. "I'm super happy," Anky commented. "Salinero was very focused and on my aids. I left the arena with a satisfied feeling and the scores confirmed my feeling."
The German Matthias Alexander Rath settled for second place aboard his stepmom's Sterntaler (by Sion x Figaro). Rath always has very nice bending in the corners and half passes and the extended trots should have earned him 10s. The passage was well off the ground but the piaffe remains to be an issue. In the first there was a loss of rhythm and the horse went wide behind. The second was much bettr though he picked up his right hind leg much higher, the final piaffe lacked steps and the horse kicked to the leg with the left hind. Despite the difficult piaffe, there was many highlights in Rath's test: the extraordinary two tempi's, the ground covering 1 tempi's and the very nicely controlled zig zag. They scored 74.340%
Isabell Werth and Satchmo (by Sao Paulo x Legat) slotted in third with 73.234%. Werth returned to the show ring with Satchmo last month at the World Dressage Masters in Florida after a doping suspension and baby and one clearly notices the lack of show routine. Unfortunately today there was a lot of tension in the ride. Satchmo was very stressed in the three piaffes, swooshing his tail and never really taking the weight on the hindquarters. Each time the piaffe looked like a dangerous affair as the bay gelding tends to tread on his own hind hooves. The passage was uneven with more right hindleg activity, though on the centerline the rhythm got clearer but at the cost of collection. The one-tempi's went completely wrong as Satchmo anticipated the changes and started with two tempi's. Werth kept her cool and corrected it but the major had been done and her scores dropped considerably.The combination's strong points, though, are still the same as a year before: very good trot extensions ridden to the full and till the end of the diagonal (something most riders don't do), superb trot half passes, super extended and collected walk and very nice two-tempi changes.
Definitely worth mentioning today was the very consistent judging of this class. The panel consisted of Hans Peter Schmitz (GER), Dietrich Plewa (GER), Ghislain Fouarge (NED), Enzo Truppa (ITA) and Gustaf Svalling (SWE). The five were very much tuned into one another, agreeing in assessment, and none of the riders had scores differing more than 3% between the judges individually. Well done!
Grand Prix Special - Meggle Cup Finals
- 1. Matthias Alexander Rath - Sterntaler Unicef - 75.541 (Germany)
- 2. Isabell Werth - Satchmo - 74.583 (Germany)
- 3. Anky van Grunsven - Salinero - 74.083 (Holland)
- 4. Christoph Koschel - Donnperignon - 71.625 (Germany)
- 5. Hubertus Schmidt - Donnelly - 71.458 (Germany)
- 6. Monica Theodorescu - Whisper - 70.958 (Germany)
- 7. Hans Peter Minderhoud - Nadine - 70.208 (Holland)
- 8. Laura Bechtolsheimer - Andretti - 69.875 (England)
- 9. Helen Langehanenberg - Responsible - 69.833 (Germany)
- 10. Ellen Schulten-Baumer - Donatha S - 69.500 (Germany)
- 11. Nathalie Zu Saeyn Wittgenstein - Rigoletto - 68.291 (Denmark)
- 12. Ulla Salzgeber - Wakana - 67.875 (Germany)
The 25-year old Matthias Alexander Rath dethroned the Olympic Dressage Champions of the 1990s and 2000s, Isabell Werth and Anky an Grunsven, by winning the 2010 Meggle Cup Finals Grand Prix Special at the CDI Dortmund. Aboard Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff's 15-year old Oldenburg gelding Sterntaler (by Sion x Figaro), Rath scored 75.541% and stayed almost a full percent ahead of IsabellWerth on Satchmo. Werth had mistakes in the tempi changes but her horse was more relaxed than in the Grand Prix. Anky van Grunsven's Salinero twice broke into canter in the trot half passes which made her score drop to a 74.083%. Hagen based Christoph Koschel rose to the occasion and finished fourth on the Finnish bred Donnperignon (by Donnerhall x Matador II).
