San to Alati Stripped of Bundeschampion Title after Positive Medication Test

Breeding

Germany

San to Alati, the horse which won the 4-year old riding horse stallion class at the 2022 Bundeschampionate, has been stripped of his title following a positive medication test.

San to Alati is a 5-year old Hanoverian stallion by Secret out of Bella Florencia (by Belissimo M x Florencio x Michelangelo). He is bred by Lena-Marie and Kerstin Klose.

Hanoverian Young Horse Champion and Bundeschampion

The gorgeous liver chestnut stallion was a premium stallion and reserve champion at the 2020 DSP Stallion Licensing. He sold at auction for 75,000 euro and was later recorded as co-owned by the breeder in partnership with Philipp Hess.

San to Alati moved to Johann Hinnemann's Krusterhof in Voerde, Germany, where he went into training with Stefanie Wolf. He scored the third highest mark at the 2021 Adelheidsdorf Autumn Stallion Suitability Test and was the high scorer at the 2022 Stallion sport test in Munster with 9.12 points.

Wolf competed him in the young horses classes in the spring of 2022, but when she fractured her leg, Philipp Hess' wife Mareike Mimberg took over the ride. They won the 2022 Hanoverian Young Horse Championships in Verden on a score of 9.2.

Right after Verden the stallion sold to Bernadette Brune but remained stationed at Krusterhof and in training with Mimberg.

In September 2022 the pair headed to the Bundeschampionate, where the won the finals for 4-year old stallions with a 9.3 total score. The stallion earned 9 for walk and conformation and 9.5 for trot, canter, and training.

Disqualified

Brune, Mimberg, Hess, Klose and Wolf at
the 2022 Bundeschampionate

Seventy-four doping tests were carried out at the Bundeschampionate and unfortunately the results for San to Alati came back positive.

"During a medication check on the Hanoverian stallion, the prohibited substance decyclopropylmethylfirocoxib, a metabolite of the substance firocoxib, a prohibited substance according to Annex II ADMR, was found," the German equestrian federation stated. Firocoxib is an NSAID.

FN legal advisor Dr. Constanze Winters added, “the disqualification has now been pronounced because it was initially disputed whether the requirements for it were even met. However, those affected did not succeed in refuting the result of the medication control. We are now certain that no further doubts can be raised and have therefore pronounced the disqualification."

The disciplinary procedure, in which it should be clarified whether the rider is at fault as the "responsible person" according to the regulations and whether a disciplinary measure is therefore imposed against her, is still ongoing.

Mental Low Point

Breeder and former co-owner Kerstin Klose took to Facebook and stated, "For me personally, this is not only very sad, but also an absolutely mental low point in my breeding career so far. Every breeder dreams of having a Bundeschampion once in their life."

In a lengthy Facebook post she discloses her surprise to the positive medication test. "There was never any reason to administer medication. The horse that I was in the care of Krüsterhof for the whole of 2022 was always healthy, he was never lame nor had any pain whatsoever. As the owner, Philipp Hess and I did not have the horse in our personal care. We have not given the order to administer medication, either directly or indirectly in consultation with Krüsterhof. We also did not hire a vet to treat the horse. We do not know how, when or under what circumstances the drug firocoxib got into the horse. (..) It was well known that after the Hanoverian Championships there were purchase negotiations in which Bernadette Brune became the happy owner of this dream stallion on August 23rd, 2022. It corresponds to the logic and the consequence of common sense that nobody from the environment had any reason to do anything to the horse, who was already considered a favourite and due for blood tests as part of comprehensive purchase examinations."

Looking Forward to the Future

Bernadette Brune, the owner of San to Alati, told Eurodressage that she is very sad about what happened, but decided to turn this dark page and look forward to the future. She acquired this horse as a future Grand Prix prospect and breeding stallion.

In October 2022 owner Bernadette Brune moved
San to Alati home to Gestut Brune and taken over the
ride with Grand Prix as dream goal

"I couldn’t find a reason why it happened. We didn’t have the stallion in our stable at that time," she told Eurodressage. "I couldn’t believe the positive test as we just had done a full vet check. There was no reason why."

Bernadette added, "we took over the care of the stallion in October and since then has been in my barn for three months now and has been totally fine, showing the same quality as he did at the Bundeschampionate. We will concentrate on the future of the horse and are convinced he will have other successes. We are against manipulations on competitions and for fair sport. Unfortunately we just had bought the horse and he was standing at Hinnemanns. Now we concentrate on the stallion test and future competitions."

San to Alati will be standing at stud at station Holkenbrink for the 2023 breeding season.