From a sporting perspective, there was plenty going on last weekend. On competition grounds all over the world, horses from the country between the seas once again made their mark. Leading the way was once more Monaco, the son of Cassini II out of a Contender dam (Ralf Lütje, Haseldorf), who was in the spotlight. At the Global Champions Tour leg in St Tropez, France, Monaco secured second place for Harrie Smolders (NED) in the 1.60-metre Grand Prix. This increased the Holsteiner’s career prize money by 60,000 euros.
The participants heading to Holger Wulschner’s show in Groß Viegeln did not have to travel quite as far. The CSI4* show is popular with active riders and proved a lucky venue for numerous Holsteiners. In the 1.60-metre Grand Prix, Crispo R (Dr Michael Rüping, Breitenburg), a son of Casall Corrado, line 7126, took silver with Alexa Stais (RSA) in the saddle. Also born in Breitenburg, at Breido Graf zu Rantzau’s stud, was the fourth-placed rider in this show jumping class. Markus Brinkmann was in the saddle on Callas, the name of the Cardenio-Chicago Z daughter from line 5860. Hannes Ahlmann had also brought the proverbial right pair of trousers with him to Groß Viegeln: having won the main show jumping competition (1.50 metres) on Saturday with his successful horse Nerrado by Nekton-Acorado I (Uwe Krohn, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog), line 104A, he also took the lead in the Youngster Tour whilst riding Tokyo by Toulon-Cassini I (Jürgen Böge, Bunsoh), line 7492. In Saturday’s main show jumping competition, Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann also took fourth place on Cornela by Cornet Obolensky-Caretino – a horse bred by her father and a half-sister to the reigning Holsteiner Champion Stallion Esmeraldo.
Germany’s best young riders competed at the ‘Preis der Besten’ in Warendorf. Hannah-Michelle Wilken and Cutest Tabou by Clinton I-Quintero (Klaus Wilhelm Gehrts, Zennhusen-Hemme), line 2383, secured the bronze medal in the young riders’ show jumping class. And the silver medal in the Young Eventing Riders category went to Konstantin Hartig and Caspara by Eurocommerce Berlin-Caretino (Brit Meier, Klein Warin).
You can find further successes by Holsteiners from around the world here:
Photo: Alexa Stais and Crispo R. (c)Stefan Lafrentz
