Harnisch and Sheldon Cooper Win 2024 Louisdor Cup Finals

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2024 CDI Frankfurt

German Carina Harnisch and Sheldon Cooper became the winners of the 2024 Louisdor cup finals for Developing Grand Prix horses at the CDI Frankfurt on Sunday 22 December 2024.

The Louisdor Cup Finals are the German Championships for developing Grand Prix horses. Riders of all nations, but with a German FN licence, can compete on the show circuit and qualify for the Finals.

Five Qualifiers for the Finals

Five qualifiers took place this 2024 season (Hagen, Kronberg, Donzdorf, Pinneberg) and the last one was in Guxhagen on 11 - 13 October 2024. The two highest placed pairs of each qualifier are eligible to compete in the Finals.

The 2024 Louisdor Cup Finals were the 18th edition of this highly celebrated show circuit for 8 to 10-year old horses. The circuit started in 2007 as a pilot project under the name "Medien Cup". This year the top three places all went to foreign riders, albeit living in Germany. Four times the title had gone to a non-German pair (Patrik Kittel (Floresco), Daniel Bachmann (Blue Hors Veneziano), Isabel Freese (Total Hope), Beata Stremler (Furstin Bea)).

Sheldon Cooper

The 40-year old Carina Harnisch and the 9-year old Thuringian bred and DSP registered gelding Sheldon Cooperreigned supreme in the Louisdor Cup Finals, winning the warm-up round as well as the Finals class, which was the classic Grand Prix test instead of the short Grand Prix which is ridden at the qualifiers.

Harnisch and Sheldon Cooper scored a winning 74.787% in the warm-up round and judges Katrina Wüst, Dr. Evi Eisenhardt, Elke Ebert, Christof Umbach, and Henning Lehrmann unanimously placed her first in the finals with 74.060%. She stayed miles ahead of second placed pair, Olympian Frederic Wandres on Joy Game.

"I can't find the words to express how happy I am," Harnisch took to Instagram. "Thank you Shelly, you are my king."

Harnisch is a well known name in South Germany as the Baden-Wurttemberg regional champion, but this professional rider has no international show record to her name. As a junior/young rider and under her maiden name Lehanka she competed FBW Donnerknall in one CDI, Babenhausen, as a young rider. The more extraordinary her feat is winning against seasoned international team riders in Frankfurt. Carina's grandfather Dieter Dorsch owned a stable, where her coach to this date, Nadine Plaster, was based.

Sheldon Cooper is by Sezuan out of Alina (by Rosenstein x Rittersport x Tauchsport xx) and bred by Enrico Schöbel. He was named after the main protagonist in the television series "The Big Bang Theory." Carina is an amateur rider who works as business administrator for Würth and she bought Sheldon Cooper as a 3-year old. He was first shown by Susanne Schulte-Beckhausen and Linda Casper. The gelding grew into a 1.91m standing giant. Their first major success was winning silver at the 2021 Bundeschampionate. Last year they were seventh in the Nurnberger Burgpokal Finals. Carina produced the horse to Grand Prix level herself.

Joy Game

Second place went to German Olympic team rider Frederic Wandres aboard Elisabeth Morell's 10-year old KWPN gelding Joy Game (by Davino VOD x Gribaldi). The pair was second in the warm-up round with 73.447% and stayed in second place in the final with 70.700%. A bobble in the left pirouette and one-tempi changes pushed the score down.

Wandres has been riding Joy Game since the summer of 2023. Originally named Jovanni B, the dark bay was first trained and competed by Margriet Hingstman in The Netherlands. They were 17th in the 2019 Pavo Cup Finals. Jovanni sold to Germany in August 2020 and moved to Hof Kasselmann. Elizabeth Morell bought him at the 2020 PSI auction for 500,000 euro. He was renamed Joy Game and shown by Nicole Wego-Engelmeyer in 2021 before the owner took on the ride herself and moved the horse to Holga Finken's yard. He returned to Hof Kasselmann in the summer of 2023. Wandres and Joy Game have been building a partnership ever since.

Shiva

Carina Harnisch's trainer Nadine Plaster placed third aboard the 9-year old Westfalian mare Shiva (by Sir Heinrich x Furst Grandios), bred by August-Wilhelm Schmale and owned by Elmar Fischer. She has been competed under the names Shiva S, Shiva 145, and Shiva NRW.

Shiva was first competed by Ann-Christin Wienkamp in 2018 before Plaster took her over in 2019 and produced her to Grand Prix level. At the 2020 Bundeschampionate they were 7th in the 5-year old consolation final and at the 2021 Bundeschampionate they were 27th in the 6-year old qualifier round. They did not ride the consolation class. They represented Germany at the 2022 World Young Horse Championships in Ermelo, finishing 10th in the 7-year old consolation finals. They moved to medium tour level in May 2023 and did their first Grand Prix test in August that year in Donzdorf.

The pair qualified for the 2024 Louisdor Cup finals on familiar turf in Donzdorf. At the finals in Frankfurt Plaster and Shiva moved from a 9th place in the warm-up round (

68.383%) to the bronze medal position in the Final with

69.720%.

Finals with Less High Scores

As far as the scores are concerned, the Louisdor Cup Finals have seen "crops of horses" that scored consistently higher and were immediately marked as the next German team horses. This year those scores did not happen.

Judge Dr. Evi Eisenhardt explained that, "the test was not easy to judge today. We had good rides at the top, but there were simply too many mistakes, we don't need to sugarcoat that. And there can't be ten super horses every year."