Kosterina Scores Pleasant Surprise Victory in 2017 Hamburg Grand Prix

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2017 CDI Hamburg

German based Russian Tatiana Kosterina claimed a surprising victory in the Grand Prix at the 2017 CDI Hamburg Dressage Derby on Thursday 25 May 2017. Aboard the Hanoverian mare Diavolessa vA, Kosterina scored a winning 72.300%, ahead of British Olympian Emile Faurie and multiple German professional dressage champion Bianca Kasselmann.

A group of 25 riders contested the Hamburg Grand Prix, which is the first round of the legendary Hamburg Dressage Derby in which the top three riders compete in a finals with horse change to determine the overall winner.

Kosterina and Josef Scheele-von Alven 9-year old Hanoverian mare Diavolessa vA (by Don Frederico x Londonderry) scored 72.300% for the victory, ahead of Emile Faurie on his newest ride, Elena Knyaginicheva's 13-year old Hanoverian Lollipop (by Lord Sinclair x Welt Hit I). Faurie earned 71.660%, while Bianca Kasselmann and Knyaginicheva's 13-year old Hanoverian stallion Delatio (by De Niro x Rubinstein) were third with 70.720%.

The 39-year old Tatiana Kosterina made her international show debut only two months ago at the CDI Lier in Belgium. She finished 14th in the Grand Prix (66.960%) and 7th in the Kur (67.750%). She followed up on that performance at the CDI Hagen at Hof Kasselmann with a 66.440% in the Grand Prix ans 66. 320% in the consolation Grand Prix.

"Diavolessa has the potential for more," Tatiana said after the CDI Hagen. "She misses coolness at the moment. She can solidly score 66% in the Grand Prix but always with big mistakes. With more security, self confidence and power from behind it will be more."

Her staggering rise to the top of the board in the Hamburg Grand Prix with 72.300% marks an incredibly swift and surprising rise, one in which Kosterina of course rejoices. In 2010 Tatiana began training with George Theodorescu. She now regularly gets coached by Monica Theodorescu.

Originally from Nizhni Novgorod in Russia, Kosterina came to Germany in 2007 and is based at the Hollmann-Raabe's equestrian centre in Bielefeld, where she rents boxes. She rides Diavolessa vA for her owner and breeder Josef Scheele-von Alven. The long-legged, refined black mare made her show debut in Germany as a 5-year old in 2012. The mare moved to S-level in 2015 and to national Grand Prix level in June 2016.

The second phase of the 2017 Hamburg Dressage Derby entails that the top three pairs of the Grand Prix have to either ride the Special or the Kur on Saturday, before the Derby Horse Change Finals on Sunday.