Ben Leuwers' Zuccini MN is in fourth place after the first day of dressage at the CCI4*-S in Blenheim for young horses
A perfect start for Team Leuwer in Blenheim!
from Dominique Wehrmann 
Ben Leuwer and Zuccini, pictured here in Marbach this spring.
Photo: Eventing Marbach With a score of 30.2 penalty points in the dressage test at the CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-old horses in Blenheim, Ben Leuwer and the nine-year-old Road2LA candidate Zuccini MN by Zuccero are currently in fourth place. It is the pair’s second-best result at the four-star level. Their only better performance came in April in Strzegom, where they delivered a dressage performance with 28.6 penalty points. Just how good a fourth-place finish in Blenheim is can be gauged by the riders placed ahead of and behind them.
In first place is Olympic and World Team Champion Tom McEwen riding the 2025 World Eventing Champion, Brookfield Danny de Muze (27.2), a son of I’m Special de Muze. They are followed by a Swedish duo: 2021 Olympic rider Therese Viklund on Sella (29.1), who placed fourth at the 2023 World Championships for Young Eventing Horses. Currently in third place is New Zealand’s World Championship rider Samantha Lissington, riding Cooley Corpello (29.4).
The names behind Leuwer and Zuccini: Isabel English, who placed fifth at the 2023 World Championships; Cil Dara Bombay S; Sarah Bullimore; Yasmin Ingham; and others.
The competition is therefore full of prominent names, many of whom are riding horses that demonstrated their talent at an early age.
Tomorrow, things will get serious for the better half of the eventing couple from Rodderberg. The start time is 10:25 a.m. for Pia Leuwer and Hanami, who already had a great start to their tour of England last weekend.
