Totilas and Rath Make Their Long-Awaited Competition Debut

Source: Various

Matthias Alexander Rath rode Totilas in Grand Prix competition for the first time on Thursday at CDI3* Munich. Rath displayed some nerves as 8,000 people jammed the stadium to witness their debut, but the pair earned a very respectable score of 76.787% for their first victory together.

Totilas, an approved Dutch Warmblood stallion, broke all dressage scoring records under his former rider, Edward Gal. Along with earning the first ever scores awarded above 90%, Totilas and Gal swept all the gold medals at the World Equestrian Games (WEG) in 2010.

Following the WEG, Totilas was purchased by top German sport-horse breeder Paul Schockemöhle, in partnership with Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff, a former top international dressage competitor herself and step-mother of Matthias Rath.

Rath, who is 26 years old, has been competing at the international level for some years now, and already has an impressive resume. He rode in the young riders European Championships (gold) as recently as 2005, and moved into the national limelight soon thereafter culminating in team bronze medals at the European Championships in 2009 and World Equestrian Games in 2010.

On Friday, Rath and Totilas won the Grand Prix Special with a 79.838%.