Isabell Werth and Quantaz Take Victory in the Grand Prix at the Tournament of Champions

It has been about a year and a half since Isabell Werth’s Quantaz last set foot on a competition arena. That was the arena at the World Cup Final in Basel, where the pair placed second. Today in Münster, the 16-year-old DSP gelding looked well-fed and full of energy—which meant that Isabell Werth had to rein in his enthusiasm quite significantly, especially during the extensions, and the Quaterback son increasingly fell back on his forehand as the test progressed. They didn’t make any real mistakes in the dressage and won the class with a score of 73.880 percent.

Second place went to another member of the Sweet Sixteen club, Dorothee Schneider’s First Romance. The Württemberg-bred DSP gelding by Fürst Romancier had also taken a lengthy break from competition and returned to the tournament circuit in Darmstadt at the end of July. Münster is his third competition since then and his first in front of a large crowd. Anyone who thinks males (okay, he’s a gelding) aren’t capable of multitasking—First Romance certainly managed to keep his eyes on everything, stay fully focused, and still listen to his rider at the same time. They had standout moments in the trot sequence and, for example, during the halt and backing up. In the canter sequence, however, a few mistakes crept in due to nerves, but these should be quickly corrected as they get back into the competition routine.

Rising Stars

Yesterday, it was announced that Frederic Wandres and Lars Ligus had purchased the Kasselmann estate leave. But Hagen may already have a new championship pair ready to go. Third place today in the Grand Prix at the Tournament of Champions went to [name] with 72.560 percent Evelyn Eger and the Oldenburg gelding Global Power OLD. The black horse is only nine years old; last year, he was one of the youngest horses in the Louisdor Prize Finals Not only does he have all the talent in the world, but he also has a rider who has put him on the right track in terms of training, and an owner who would love to keep the black horse. All they need now is time to build strength, find their balance, and develop a more consistent lead.

The same applies to Lena Haßmann’s Chere Celine OLD as to Global Power OLD. She, too, is only nine years old and shows a great deal of talent—talent that is just waiting for the Governor daughter’s strength to develop enough so that she can maintain her natural posture throughout the entire test and rely less on her rider’s support. The pair scored 72.10 percent today.

Behind them, the rankings continued with the Louisdor alumni club. Juliane Brunkhorst and Diamante Negro, a son of DeLorean and also a DSP horse, secured fifth place. The elegant dark bay and his finely controlled rider always present such a beautiful picture and demonstrated a trot test so polished that they could easily have finished much higher up in the rankings. However, costly mistakes crept into the canter sequence—such as the pair that had started off so well, until the gelding apparently got spooked during the last one; in any case, he tensed up briefly, reared up, and took a leap forward. It’s a shame, especially since the rest of the test went quite well again. The “purity of the gaits” category is doubly costly in the National Grand Prix, as the gelding’s walk is always slightly out of phase, and the deductions count fourfold—twice during the test and twice in the final score. Nevertheless, they still scored 71.980 percent.

As the newly crowned team world champion and Individual bronze medalist rode from Aachen Katharina Hemmer with her Special Gold PCH aka “Spezi,” entered the Münster racecourse. The San Amour son, one of the many talented offspring of Weihegold OLD, was also among last year’s Louisdor Prize finalists, but has seen little competition in recent months because the focus in Borchen-Etteln has been on Denoix and the World Championships. Similar to Global Power and Chere Celine, he still lacks strength and experience, but he also had some truly great moments, such as a few strides in the first piaffe, the zigzag traversals, and the final line. With a score of 71.940 percent, they were narrowly defeated by Brunkhorst and Diamante Negro.

It wasn’t his first Grand Prix, but it was his first appearance in front of a large crowd for Beatrice Hoffrogge’s11-year-old Hanoverian Dancelli, a son of Dante Weltino. He would certainly have been a contender for the Louisdor Prize had he not been forced to take a break for several months due to injury. The pair put on a very impressive performance, and the gelding could develop a real strength in the piaffes in particular. With a score of 70.620 percent, they finished tenth today.

Stars of Tomorrow

Following the Grand Prix, it was the turn of the young dressage horses and riders to compete in the qualifying class for the “DERBY Stars of Tomorrow.” Here, Bianca Nova-Aulenbrock’s horse—last year’s runner-up in the Burg Cup—had a truly stellar performance, riding what was certainly the best S***-level test of her life with a positive, forward flow, beautiful self-carriage, and fantastic moments—for example, in the passages, the right-hand pirouette, and the flying changes. There is still room for improvement in the piaffes. 72.105 percent is the best score the pair has achieved so far. It was easily enough for the win ahead of Helen Langehanenberg on her homebred Dimaggio son Dreikäsehoch (71.50) and ahead of Nowag-Aulenbrock’s own student Elisabeth von Wulffen on Triple A (70.658).

You can find all the results here.