Evelyn Eger and Global Power OLD Win the Grand Prix Special at the Tournament of Champions in Münster

Global Power OLD, a son of the Oldenburg stallion Grey Flanell, continues to show increasing stability and confidence under Evelyn Eger. Their Grand Prix Special performance today in Münster was full of highlights, such as the powerful and truly classical passages, the fluid flying changes, the half-passes, the first pirouette, and—at times—even the piaffes, although the gelding still needs to find more power and balance in this area. But this pair is on exactly the right track.

It’s no wonder that the nine-year-old black horse and Eger are such a well-coordinated team. After all, the trainer at the Kasselmann stable has been training this impressive gelding ever since he was first broken in. She says, “To me, he’s an exceptional horse. It’s a joy and an honor to be able to ride a horse like him. I believe he has the potential to excel at everything. He has incredible determination, is ambitious, and is smart.”

He’s now set to continue building strength over the winter. Balve could be a goal for the 2027 season, according to Eger. And it sounds entirely realistic when she says, “Eventually, I’d like to be able to ride for the German team again.” The pair had already made their Nations Cup debut this spring in Fontainebleau. With a score of 72.882 percent, Gobal Power won today’s Grand Prix Special in Münster, finishing ahead of Dorothee Schneider and her veteran horse First Romance (72.686), among others.

World Team Champion and individual bronze medalist Katharina Hemmer was delighted to take third place with Special Gold OLD, last year’s Louisdor Prize finalist. The San Amour son, out of Weihegold, was firmly planted on his hind legs during today’s trot sequence, resulting in a more elegant contact than had been seen from him recently. He worked enthusiastically throughout; only when Hemmer attempted to execute the second piaffe precisely on the spot did he falter. The pair did not make any real mistakes in the dressage elements. Only the double changes could have been a bit more extended, and when they moved to the center line for the pirouettes, he initially fell behind the driving aids, so that Hemmer had to draw on all her riding skill to keep him from breaking out of the left pirouette. But it worked out, just like the rest. The passage wasn’t quite as even as before, but the piaffe was the best of the test. The pair received 71.921 percent from the judges.

Katharina Hemmer starts to gush when she talks about Special Gold, aka “Spezi”: “Spezi is a very special horse. He has so much potential, but he doesn’t always show it yet—we’re working on that.” In Thursday’s Grand Prix, the ten-year-old stallion was still a bit shy, but in the Spécial he already showed more confidence. “I thought his progress from the Grand Prix to the Spécial was good. Today was even better, and I’m very happy with him and his performance.”

Spotlight Freestyle at Diamante Negro

Juliane Brunkhorst also looked exceptionally happy after Saturday evening’s floodlit free skate, the premiere of her Diamante Negro program set to music—a performance that can certainly be described as a great success. Rihanna’s “Diamonds” was the perfect musical accompaniment, and not just because of the title.

The ten-year-old DSP gelding by DeLorean—a finalist in the 2025 Louisdor Prize alongside Global Power and Special Gold—danced through his program, appearing very confident throughout; he was always responsive to the finely tuned aids and exceptionally beautiful in his contact. In addition, the pair included several highly difficult technical elements in their program, all of which went off without a hitch. The piaffe pirouettes, fan-shaped movements, and transitions were executed flawlessly, as was the seamless transition from double changes on a curved line to single changes.

As Brunkhorst turned onto the finish line, she was already beaming from ear to ear, and the packed stands cheered her on. The pair received an impressive 78.1 percent for their free skate debut. Chief judge Dr. Sven-Günter Rothenberger raved: “Absolutely fantastic riding! Hats off to Juliane for what she’s done with this horse.” He also addressed what is always a bit of a downer with this gelding—who otherwise truly has everything one could want in a Grand Prix horse—namely, his rhythm in the walk. If his walk were more clearly in four-beat rhythm, the pair would certainly have earned significantly more points.

The rest of the placers trailed by a significant margin: Amelie Aasted Aalbaek, competing for Denmark on the Westphalian Vitalis son Vorreiter (73.150), finished very, very closely ahead of Andrea Timpe on Don Carismo FRH (73.10) as well as Nadine Plaster and Shiva NRW (72.075).

DERBY: Tomorrow’s Stars

While the southern half of Germany competed in Schäftlarn in the qualifiers for the DERBY Stars of Tomorrow, the young riders and horses from the northern half had gathered in Münster.

The victory went to one of the pairs with the shortest commute: Bianca Nowag-Aulenbrock of the RFV Ostbevern, riding Vaida Girl, her Oldenburg horse that placed second in last year’s Burg-Pokal. The Vitalis daughter had already shown in the warm-up class that she is increasingly coming into her own in the S***-level tests and confirmed that impression today with a 72.474 percent round. All five judges ranked the pair at the top.

It is not Vitalis, but rather his son Veneno—who died at a young age—who is the sire of the 10-year-old Hanoverian in second place, Dr. Annabell Frenzen’s Vabali, who scored 70.526 percent.

The top U25 rider took third place: Elisabeth von Wulffen, a student of the winner, who rode her Westphalian Totilas son Triple A around the arena in front of Münster Castle, scoring 68.447 percent and finishing ahead of Helen Langehanenberg and her homebred Dreikäsehoch by Dimaggio—who owes his name to his birth weight—(68.395).

You can find all the results from Münster here.