Pre-race inspection at the "Stars of Tomorrow" event in Görlitz for Dorothee Schneider and Barcelo OLD

The favorite pair in the “Stars of Tomorrow” qualifier at the Görlitz Summer Weeks are Dorothee Schneider and her 10-year-old 2024 Burg Cup winner, the Oldenburg stallion Barcelo OLD. They certainly lived up to expectations today in the warm-up test, scoring 73.640 percent. The piaffe and passage still need time to mature, but the foundations are there—including the transitions. The pirouettes went very well. During the flying changes, the stallion showed some expressive flying changes in the pairs, but there were also moments of tension. In the single changes, Barcelo was unable to find his release today, which cost him a few points.

Today marked the pair’s fourth victory in five S***-level classes. After a year away from competition, the Bon Coeur son not only competed in his first class since December 2024 in Ankum in January, but also in his first Intermédiaire II. He won that one—as well as the classes he competed in afterward. Except for the qualifying class for the Louisdor Prize Final in Hamburg. But the weather there was so cold and windy that you couldn’t blame Barcelo for thinking more about making a run for it than about piaffing on the spot. But in the actual qualifier for Frankfurt—the Louisdor Grand Prix—Barcelo was once again in the lead, thereby securing his spot in the final of Germany’s most important series for up-and-coming Grand Prix horses.

Matthias Bouten and his 11-year-old DSP mare Aimée de la Vie by Amazing Spirit (70.921) secured second place. Third place was shared by two pairs, each with 70.263 percent: Carina Scholz and the also 11-year-old Hanoverian Fideleo by Finest, who were the first pair to compete in the class, and Bernadette Brune with Vaderland OLD.

You can find all the results from Görlitz here.