Bailador in Winter Training with Sönke Rothenberger

Dressage

Germany

Bailador, the rising 5-year old Hanoverian licensed stallion which Gestut Birkhof co-owns with German Olympian Sönke Rothenberger, has gone into winter training with Rothenberger.

Bailador is by Benicio out of Flippizana (by Florencio x Santini) and bred by Susanne Geffke.

He was licensed at the 2018 Hanoverian Stallion Licensing in Verden, did his 14-day suitability test in Neustadt/Dosse in April 2019 and and completed his 50-day test in Schlieckau in November 2019 with an overall score of 8.61.

Gestut Birkhof

The colt stood at stud at Gestut Birkhof, where he received his first training for sport. He has been competed a few times so far by Nicola Haug, each time with good success.

He showed at the 2020 Baden Wurttemberg Regional Championships, where he won. He then went to the 2020 Hanoverian Young Horse Championships in Verden, where he placed fourth, and qualified for the Bundeschampionate. In Warendorf he finished 11th with 7.8 in the first round for the 4-year old stallions

Gestut Erlenhof

Nicola Haug and Bailador at a muddy 2020
Bundeschampionate

Bailador has now moved from Donzdorf to Bad Homberg to spend the winter in training with his co-owner Sönke Rothenberger.

Two weeks ago Sönke went to Birkhof to ride Bailador himself and get a feeling in the saddle.

"It went really well, but I wanted to feel it for myself," he explained. "He gave me a super feeling. And now with corona there aren't many shows so it's a good idea for him to come here, so I can ride him for a longer time. I think he has potential for more later on.

Sönke told Eurodressage that Bailador "will stay here for about 2 to three months and then will probably go back to breed some more."