Hughes and Don Carissimo Win Grand Prix Kur Tour at 2018 CDI Aachen

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2018 CDI Aachen

British 2014 WEG team rider Gareth Hughes has returned from the 2018 CDI Aachen in Germany (29 – 31 May 2018) with an emphatic double victory to his name in the Grand Prix Kur tour. Partnering Anne Keen’s Don Carissimo he won both the Grand Prix for Freestyle and the Freestyle with scores of 72.69% and 76.25% respectively.

In Monday’s 30-strong Grand Prix, Gareth and ‘Darcy’ presented a solid Grand Prix test to take the class ahead of Maria Caetano with the Lusitano, Coroado (by Rubi AR), for Portugal. The Portuguese partnership was awarded 70.50%.

The following night under floodlights in the iconic Deutsche Bank Stadium, the British pair delivered a freestyle performance to music from the soundtrack of the 2017 box office hit The Greatest Showman to win with a score of 76.20%.

Their technically demanding floorplan showed off some lovely highlights from the gelding. The performance was fluent and confident with super passage half passes smoothly switching to half pass the opposite way and, in canter, extensions to lovely, controlled one-and-a-half pirouettes. Darcy looked focused and assured however an expensive mistake in the one-time changes, which have a coefficient of two, kept their score in check. Despite the error, the quality of their work was such that they secured the class with an exciting score of 76.25%.

Warwickshire-based Gareth (47) has formed a formidable partnership with the Don Crusador x World Cup III 13-year-old during their two years together. Early on in their partnership they won the Grand Prix Special at the 2016 Roosendaal CDI3* and last year they earned top Grand Prix results at Bolesworth CDI, a competition Gareth heads to later this month with his other top ride, Classic Briolinca.