A number of top-class competitions took place this weekend, particularly in Europe, and numerous horses with Holsteiner pedigrees made a name for themselves:
Monaco and Harrie Smolders secured silver in the Rolex Grand Prix at ‘s Hertogenbusch in front of a home crowd: The Dutch rider and his Cassini II-Contender son (Ralf Lütje, Haseldorf), line 429, finished second in the Rolex Grand Prix, which is not only one of the most demanding but also one of the highest-prized competitions: The bay, owned by Smolders’ boss Jennifer Gates (USA), added 140,000 euros to his career earnings with this second place over 1.60 metres. “Monaco has done it again,” beamed Smolders after the class. “It’s an incredible feeling that we’ve managed to achieve this in front of a home crowd and my family.”
At the CSI3* in Denmark, two horses with Holsteiner pedigrees dominated the 1.40-metre show jumping: Cristov. Cellestial-Quantum (Christian Schröder, Elmenhorst), line 4151, and Conor Drain (IRL) emerged as the winners of the class. In addition, the association stallion Catch by Colman-Calido I (Hans-Peter Löding-Hasenkamp, Quarnstedt), line 890, took silver with Rolf-Göran Bengtsson (SWE) – just as he had done in Wednesday’s warm-up class.
Rolf-Göran Bengtsson had another association stallion competing in Herning, who also attracted attention with top placings: Zuccero by Zirocco Blue-Caretino (Hanno Köhncke, Badendorf), line 4539, finished fifth in a 1.50-metre class and the grey went on to take an excellent third place in the Grand Prix – directly behind the runner-up, the Casall son Casallco (MV. Contender), bred by Frans Vrenken (NED), line 8798, and ridden by Philip Rüping. In one of the 1.50-metre jumps, the former Holsteiner auction horse Dacara E by Cancara-Caretino (Gerd Eggers, Stadum), line 5064, took second place. In the saddle was Cassandra Orschel, who competes for Poland but is based in Hamburg.
Under the Spanish sun, Laura Klaphake (GER) celebrated her Diamant de Semilly son Davenport VDL (MV. C-Indoctro) from the stud farm of Prof. Dr Hartwig Schmidt, Borsfleth, line 104. They triumphed in a 1.45-metre class. The association stallion Million Dollar, ridden by Sophie Hinners, also secured placings in Oliva, Spain: in two 1.45-metre classes, the Plot Blue son finished fifth and ninth.
Dressage
This pair is set to receive a special honour: As one of three rider-horse combinations, Annabelle by Conteur-Linaro (Günther Fielmann, Schierensee), Line 776, and Helen Langehanenberg will represent Germany at the Dressage World Cup Final. In Motesice, Slovakia, the European team champions secured the points needed to qualify for the final in Leipzig by winning both the Short Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle.
Further results for Holsteiners from around the world can be found here:
Photo by Stefan Lafrentz: Harrie Smolders and Monaco
