Source:  Various

 

CHIO Aachen concluded this last Sunday with some surprises and some not-so-surprising results:

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum won the Warsteiner prize on Wednesday on her long-time, spectacular partner, Shutterfly who is now eighteen years old.  The surprise came on Sunday when a retirement ceremony was held for him during the Rolex Grand Prix.  Michaels-Beerbaum made the decision to hold a retirement ceremony rather than ride him in the class after a long deliberation with husband, Markus, following the Warsteiner prize victory.  She was quoted on the Aachen website saying,

“The victory in the Warsteiner Prize on Wednesday, was simply sensational, I was overwhelmed. ... This is my thank you to Shutterfly. He is the best horse in the world and he simply deserves a farewell ceremony in front of the best crowd in the world,” 

In the dressage stadium, Matthias Alexander Rath and Totilas swept all the CDIO classes, which was not a surprise. However, in the Freestyle competition, American Steffen Peters and Ravel moved up in the placings to achieve the second place award. In both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special, Peters was slotted into fifth place. For the Grand Prix, Rath and Totilas scored 82.149, Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mistral Hojris were in second (80.596); Isabelle Werth and El Santo NRW in third (77.830); and Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival took fourth (77.340).    In the Grand Prix Special, following Rath's score of 83.083, Cornelissen moved into second with 79.771, Werth was third with 78.292, and Bechtolsheimer was fourth with 77.229. Peters and Ravel scored 77.191 for fifth in the Grand Prix and 76.708 for fifth in the Grand Prix Special.  (Grand Prix Results, and Grand Prix Special results)

However, in the Freestyle, Peters and Ravel performed a flawless and difficult choreography to dramatic new music. Their score of 82.00 vaulted them up the rankings, and the crowd signaled their opinion that the score should have been higher to challenge Rath and Totilas who scored 82.825. (Freestyle results).

Also in dressage, Peters swept the small tour classes riding Weltino's Magic. They won the Prix St. George with 72. 579 over Andreas Helgstrand and Edward Gal. They bettered their score in the Intermediare I with a 74.947. Again, Helgstrand placed second. Weltino's Magic is a nine-year-old by Weltino.

In show jumping, the Rolex Grand Prix was won by Janne-Frederika Meyer (GER) riding Cellegon Lambrasco. The pair put in the only two clear rounds over the challenging course. Kevin Staut of France riding Silvana de Hus took second place with a four-fault score.

In eventing, Michael Jung (GER) finished on 34.70 penalties riding La Biosthetique-Sam FBW. His dressage score of 32.30 was the best of the field and combined with a couple of time penalties cross-country and no faults in the stadium jumping he was the clear winner.
Stefano Brecciaroli of Italy was second (Apollo van de Wendi Kur Hoeve) and William Fox-Pitt (GBR) place third on Neuf des Coeurs. (Individual results.) Great Britain took the top spot in the team competition, followed by New Zealand and Sweden. (Team Results.)

Many other competitions and prizes were awarded: for vaulting, young show jumping horses, CDI**** dressage, and driving. All the Aachen results can be found on the news page or for all the disciplines.