Henri Ruoste and Quentano in Command of Kur Field at 2024 CDI Aachen Festival 4 Dressage

- Text © Eurodressage (this article expresses Eurodressage's' eye-witness account and opinion about the competition)

On the second day of competition at the 2024 CDI Aachen Festival 4 Dressage, Thursday 28 March 2024, Finnish Olympian Henri Ruoste was in command of the Grand Prix for Kur, dominating a field of no less than 31 riders. 

Bright Lights

Beautifully organized by Belgian Josy Everars and his team at the world famous CHIO Aachen show grounds, the Festival 4 Dressage attracted a monster group of 196 starters from pony level to Grand Prix. No less than 65 Grand Prix combinations passed the vet check and competed in this Western European outdoor season kick-off event of 2024. The strongest group of riders decided for the Special tour. A big article on that division is coming up tomorrow. 

Thirty-one riders opted for the freestyle tour. With many new combinations making their CDI debut in this test, the group was certainly not less interesting even though the glowing celebrity names rode the Special as a practise for the Paris Olympics (the team competition depends on the GP Special). 

Olympic Fever

The Olympics are on everyone's lips and it was proven by the large delegation from France, Spain, and Belgian as well as riders from Finland - all candidates for their country's Olympic team selection later this early summer 

Henri Ruoste is seeking to ride at his second Olympics after his debut in Tokyo on the now semi-retired Belgian warmblood Kontestro DB. He agreed with Finnish GP rider Niina Nilosaari to put the 15-year old Hanoverian Quentano (by Quaterback x Dartagnan) to his name and is campaigning him as his Paris hope. The pair got their feet wet in  Le Mans and Doha and won their first Grand Prix in Aachen today. 

The judging at Aachen has been quite eye-brow raising and it was no different in the class today, although the judges were quite in unison on the top five. Jacques van Daele, Isobel Wessels, Lars Andersson, Olivier Smeets, and Bernard Maurel saw the winner in Ruoste with 72.413%. His Quentano has been trained and competed by a string of riders, including Emile Faurie, Rien van der Schaft, Manuel Dominguez and now Ruoste. The bay gelding is a very impressive flashy mover with a lot of elegance in his silhouette but at times quite mechanic going. The trot extensions appear big but don't have the most overtrack. The half pass to the right was not as regular as the one to the right and in collected walk the rhythm got edgy.. but then there was very fine riding in the zig zag and the second piaffe. The tempi changes were all clear, the pirouettes small but a bit tense. Ruoste did his best to present the electric Quentano in a light contact.

Spaniard Juan Antonio Jimenez and the Mexican owned 15-year old Lusitano Euclides MOR (by Riopele) are routiniers on the scene and the grey stallion has a staggering amount of miles down his belt: they represented Spain at the 2019, 2021, and 2023 European Championships and the 64-year old Jimenez is seeking to compete at his third Olympics in his career after Sydney and Athens. Under the watchful eyes of Spanish team trainer - Dutch 5* judge Francis Verbeek - Jimenez showed he's one to reckon with as he finished second with 71.587%.

Belgian Flore de Winne and her 10-year old Hanoverian stallion Flynn (by Fahrenheit x Sir Oldenburg) have been going full throttle this winter, competing at the CDI Kronenberg indoor before tackling the World Cup qualifiers in London, Mechelen, Amsterdam, and 's Hertogenbosch. Aachen is their sixth show in almost four months time, two weeks before their World Cup Finals debut in Riyadh.  The black stallion is one of Belgium's best Grand Prix horses of the moment and aside from the piaffe, in which he crosses behind, he shows so much class in all the movements. De Winne is only in her third season riding at Grand Prix level but on Flynn she shows great routine and ease. The horse is consistent in the frame, wows in the passage and tempi changes and produced all-out solid riders that deserve every point. Today she scored 71.392%.

Spanish Olympian Severo Jurado Lopez brought his newest addition to his barn to Aachen: Katrin Burger's 11-year old Lusitano Incrivel (by Pioneiro x Oasis). He rode the pocket size grey stallion with a much better contact that what he normally has on warmbloods and patiently waited for his Iberian athlete to settle into the piaffe. The walk had good relaxation. In passage Incrivel could engage the hindlegs more under the body than pulling the hocks up and in the two tempi changes he swayed much behind, but overall it was a pleasing ride to watch and he got a 71.131% score for it.

Australian Lyndal Oatley completed the top five aboard her youngest Grand Prix horse, the 10-year old Hanoverian mare Dante's Herzchen (by Dante Weltino x Hochadel). The drop dead gorgeous black mare is a true beauty in her looks and way of moving: a real princess with great lightfootedness and ground cover. In their CDI debut in rather challenging, windy conditions, Oatley rode the sensitive and green mare with the handbrake on which showed in the contact. Nonetheless they produced big half passes, good pirouettes, a well ridden walk tour in the extended and collected walk. Unfortunately there was a big hiccup in the one tempi changes, but the judge at E didn't see that. Oatley scored 70.304%. The judge at E at her first with 74.457%, the judge at C gave 67.717%.

- Text and Photos © Eurodressage - NO REPRODUCTION ALLOWED / NO SCREEN SHOTS 

Eurodressage's Astrid Appels was on the scene and took photos of most riders competing in Aachen. if you are interested in ordering photos, send us an email with the name of the rider/horse you are interested in. NO use of photos without paying.

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