Grand Prix at the DSP Championship in Darmstadt-Kranichstein goes to Dorothee Schneider and First Romance

The DSP Championships are taking place this weekend in Darmstadt-Kranichstein. Among the competitors is a horse that has long carried the “DSP” designation in its name: Dorothee Schneider’s First Romance. The fact that this 16-year-old son of Fürst Romancier—bred in Baden-Württemberg and once the winner of the Nuremberg Burg Cup—has now triumphed at the national level despite all his international successes is particularly special because it’s been quite a while since he competed in his last tournament. To be precise, a good year.

At the 2025 Pentecost Tournament in Wiesbaden, he placed second in both the Grand Prix and the Special. After that, he took a break for several months. He was actually supposed to compete at the World Cup tournament in Lyon. But because he felt different than usual during the warm-up, Schneider withdrew him from the competition. Today, “Roman” showed that he’s still a force to be reckoned with. The pair won the Grand Prix in Darmstadt-Kranichstein with a score of 74.433 percent—giving them a lead of just over three percent over the rest of the field.

Second place went to the 11-year-old Rhineland-based Louisdor Prize finalist Escolar’s Emil, ridden by Thomas Wagner. The pair most recently competed at the German Championships in Balve, where they had significant coordination issues in the freestyle. Things went better today: 71.233 percent, second place. Behind them was Astrid Neumayr, the Austrian head of the Pramwaldhof Stud, riding the Oldenburg horse Bamboo by Beradini (68.20).

Golden Ribbon for Bonds in Gold

Speaking of Pramwaldhof Stud—their champion stallion from the 2025 DSP licensing in Munich-Riem, Bonds in Gold, made his competition debut today in Darmstadt. Sina Aringer presented the dark chestnut by Bonds-Goldberg, bred by Hendrik Niehe, in the DSP Championship for four-year-old stallions. Today marked the start of the competition with a riding horse class. The final decision will be made on Sunday, in accordance with the new format for four-year-olds as part of the National Championships, in a Class A dressage test. In today’s riding horse test, Bonds in Gold certainly made a strong impression on the judges.

With a score of 8.78, the representative from the Brandenburg-Anhalt breeding region prevailed over four other competitors. His trot was rated 9.3, his canter 9.5, and his walk 7.7. Combined with an 8.4 for rideability and a 9 for conformation and quality of build, he was unbeatable today.

Second place went to Sarottini by Segantini-Don Gregory, also bred in Brandenburg-Anhalt, from the farm of Julia Voigtländer. Ines Fleischmann scored him an 8.62 (trot 8.5, canter 8.8, walk 8, rideability 9, conformation 8.8).

Third place went to Vino Veritas, who carries on the legacy of his father, Vangelis, who passed away at a young age, at the Birkhof Stud (dam by Lord Loxley-Markus Deak xx). Thomas Casper is the breeder and owner; Anna Casper presented him, awarding him a score of 8.3 (trot 9, canter 8.3, walk 7.5, rideability 8.2, conformation 8.5).

You can find all the results from Darmstadt-Kranichstein here.