Start of the Nuremberg Burg Cup in Hagen to J'Adore Dior H with Patrik Kittel

You could say that J’Adore Dior is a frequent flyer. The Oldenburg mare is seven years young. Those who follow the World Breeding Dressage Championships for Young Horses may remember the Jovian daughter from her appearance in Ermelo in 2024, back then under the saddle of the Spaniard Alvaro Conesa de Oliveira, who rode her to sixth place in the final of the five-year-old dressage horses virtually out of nowhere. The owner at the time was the US rider Steven Villar, who showed the mare in the USA before and again afterwards. In 2025, she spent the entire season in the States. This year, she began her season in Ankum in mid-March, where Patrik Kittel rode her to victory in her first advanced (S) level dressage test for seven to nine-year-olds. Her owner then rode her again in Florida and now the mare is back in Germany to shake up the field in Hagen today for the final qualifier for the 2026 Nürnberger Burg-Pokal.

The mare’s movement in trot and canter is very reminiscent of her sire Jovian – highly elastic, lots of power and impulsion, only more light-footed and elegant. The walk, on the other hand, is rather short in the pace, but still regulated in the collection. The walk pirouettes were successful. Although she kept looking at the action beyond the arena during the task, she remained focused on the task at hand.

In the pirouettes, J’Adore Dior H showed her willingness to take the load, the second was a little rocky. The series changes were not yet completely safe on the line. The halt on the centerline before the backwards, the great trick of the Prix St. Georges Special, was successful. The mare was clearly tight in the backwards itself.

The pair received 74.171 percent and apart from Dr. Evi Eisenhardt at H, who saw the pair in third place, all the judges had them at the top.

The Swede from Dülmen near Münster commented on J’Adore Dior as well as on the Zoom son Zanetti, who is also very successful as a sire and who Kittel rode to fifth place (71.049) after a successful round with small hitches as the first horse in the test:

“Both horses are incredibly sure-footed for their age, are great to ride and have a lot of quality. J’Adore Dior H had a moment in collected walk when someone jumped zero somewhere in the jumping arena and suddenly it got loud. Apart from that, there were little things here and there – but overall I’m very happy. To be able to ride both horses again tomorrow in such a strong starting field is simply cool.”

Fänomen de Malleret in second place

If J’Adore Dior H is the more elegant version of his sire, it has to be said that the eight-year-old Oldenburg stallion Fänomen de Malleret is in many ways the spitting image of his sire Foundation – his stature and movements are very reminiscent of Matthias Rath’s former Grand Prix stallion, who is now based at the Schockemöhle stallion station. In fact, Fänomen de Malleret was also born at Schockemöhle Gestüt Lewitz. He is a former PSI horse, stood with Helen Langehanenberg as a five-year-old, was then ridden by Belgian Grand Prix rider Larissa Pauluis in the meantime and has been ridden by Frederic Wandres since the winter. The two are a good match.

Fänomen de Malleret has spectacular movement possibilities. The extensions were productive over a lot of ground and with power. The walk pirouettes, for example, were also remarkably good. Overall, Wandres had the stallion quite well in front of the driving yards, except in the series changes, where there were prompt mistakes. Wandres was able to use the strong canter afterwards to get the stallion in front of him again before the last line. This worked quite well, as did the difficult center line. The pair received 72.463 percent.

Wandres has a clear goal for this season: “The final in Frankfurt should already be on the agenda this year. We’ll see when, where and how that turns out. We’ll be surprised tomorrow. But I think he’s definitely a candidate for it over the course of the season. And when you have a horse like that under you, you think: He can and should go to Frankfurt. He has a good temperament and can be a bit stubborn towards his colleagues in the stable. When he walks through the stable aisle, he likes to be a little macho. But the moment you sit on him, everything is really uncomplicated.”

Hemmer’s Etro brother third

Katharina Hemmer and the Westphalian Escanciador by Escolar-Lanciano, full brother to her stable colleague Anush Agarwalla’s Grand Prix horse Etro and in her possession since he was three years old, are an all-round likeable pair. Escanciador is visually a typical son of his sire and you can tell that he and his rider are a well-rehearsed team. The two of them managed a well-rounded test without any faults, in which the real training of the bay became clear. He has good elasticity and you get the impression that he enjoys working with you. In the long run, we would have liked to see a little more unity and more active impulsion. The judges awarded him 72.042 percent.

Katharina Hemmer was highly satisfied with her gelding: “To be honest, I didn’t expect this at all. Emil is my own horse – I bought him when he was just three years old – and the fact that he presented himself like this today, at his first overnight show and in front of this backdrop, really thrilled me. He’s been with me since Tuesday and was in good company with Denoix and Special Gold – he obviously thought to himself: I can do what they can do.

Of course I know that he has the quality. But I was really pleased that he showed it so confidently here today in these conditions. Tomorrow I might be able to take a few more risks here and there. Particularly in the reinforcements, I was still relying more on safety today, although he actually wanted to move forward well. I might try to get a bit more out of that tomorrow. But I’m happy all round in any case.”

Style award winner

Another pair to look forward to on Sunday is Franziska Haase and the eight-year-old Alissimo by Asgard’s Ibiza-Belissimo M, who finished seventh with 70.098 percent. The chestnut showed a very closed and active hind leg, with a very steady and secure contact. Highlights were the pair’s pirouettes in walk and canter, where the chestnut balanced himself beautifully on his inside hind leg. Unfortunately, he did not want to be backed up today.

Embolo & Co.

The appearance of Benjamin Werndl’s Embolo, who was the top-priced three-year-old at the Westphalian Elite Auction and came to Aubenhausen, was eagerly awaited. This is the first season in the advanced class for the seven-year-old Westphalian Escamillo son. He won four of the six competitions in Stadl Paura and came second twice. He also took third place at a show in Munich. That was a lot of advance praise. In fact, the pair started with wow trot extensions with real frame extension and beautiful traversals. But the gelding is limited in walk. Nevertheless, he was clearly in time in the strong walk and also stretched into the hand. However, Werndl rode the collected walk almost in slow motion. Problems in the walk are known to be twice as expensive. This also applies to mistakes in the pirouettes, for Werndl and Embolo today in the one to the left, where the gelding jumped over. In addition, there were also balance problems in the series changes and too few steps when backing up on the last centerline. The pair finished 14th with 67.805 percent. The best twelve pairs from today will compete in the final qualifier on Sunday.

The prevented Bundeschampion San to Alati by Secret, who was stripped of his title as a four-year-old due to banned medication, is now ridden by his owner Bernadette Brune herself. She had the misfortune today that not only does she have a stallion under saddle, but that a stallion had also been in the arena before her. When one left the arena and the other came in, the two of them exchanged loud neighs. Whether that was the reason, San to Alati was under a lot of pressure today, which affected the whole task. The result was 66.683 percent, 20th place.

One horse that, like San to Alati, has already had a taste of the World Championships and even placed highly here as a five-year-old, finishing fourth, is the eight-year-old son of St. Schufro, Skyline to B. At that time, the tall, narrow black stallion still represented the Swedish Breeding Association and also had a Swedish rider in Carl Hedin. Yara Reichert then fell in love with the stallion with the great scope for movement and took him on as a six-year-old. He has now reached advanced (S) level. He did not arrive in Hagen’s arena today. The whole performance suffered from the stallion’s tension and environmental orientation. He was very high and tight, had lesson mistakes and then Reichert also forgot the pirouettes. It was not their day. After deductions, they scored 65.146 percent and came 20th.

You can find all the results here.