Carola Koppelmann of Germany and her 17-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Le Bo, won the Grand Prix at Hamburg today with a score of 69.830, thereby qualifying for the Hamburg Dressage Derby.  Twenty-seven pairs started in the class and only the top three scoring riders will participate in the Derby class.  

The other top two competitors were Oliver Luze, Germany, riding Helenenhof's Carabas with a score of 69.319% and Vicky Smits-Vanderhasselt, Belgium, riding Dalanira van de helle scoring 67.872%.   Luze and Carabas won the Median Cup for young dressage horses in 2008.   Carabas was then sold to Denmark for Andreas Helgstrand to ride, but that partnership never jelled and in February this year, the horse was purchased by the Helenenhof stable and the ride came back to Luze.  The pair is still in the process of re-establishing their partnership which seems to be headed in the right direction judging by  their result in the Grand Prix today.  

For the twenty-seven riders from the Thursday Grand Prix, their order of finish will determine eligibility to ride in the Grand Prix Special or the Freestyle to Music.  The riders had to specify which class they wanted to qualify for prior to the Grand Prix class on Thursday, so the top twelve who opted for the Grand Prix Special will ride in that class, and the top twelve who chose the Freestyle will start in the latter class.  

The starting order for the Freestyle includes Koppelmann as well as Catherine Haddad of the United States who finished in 15th position in the Grand Prix.  She  will be riding her 10 year old Hanoverian gelding Winyamaro.   Another American rider, Susan Dutta, finished in 10th place riding Currency DC (66.043%) while Cheryl Meisner of Canada had a good showing with Paganini in 12th place with a score of 65.342%. The starting order for the Grand Prix Special has not yet be posted.

Koppelman, Luze and Smits-Vanderhasselt will participate in the Dressage Derby which is an interesting format consisting of a test ridden by each rider on his/her own horse, followed by  a switch of horses.

The Grand Prix Special and Freestyle classes will be held on Saturday while the Dressage Derby takes place on Sunday.   CPM-24.tv will broadcast all classes live on the internet and in Europe there will be television coverage as well.