Richard Vogel and Con Quality top in Wellington

If you want to achieve something, you have to take a risk and you can also lose – Richard Vogel experienced this in Wellington both yesterday in the Rolex Grand Prix and today in the jump-off for the national Grand Prix.

Richard Vogel had saddled up the ten-year-old Holstein gelding Con Quality by Chin Champ, who until last summer was still ridden by his Swiss owner Adrian Schmid, who in turn had acquired him from Vogel & Will Equestrian GmbH in April 2023. However, Richard Vogel presented him at shows for the first time last fall, exclusively in the USA, where the pair placed highly on various occasions. Just like today.

A number of riders had their names removed from the starting list for the national Grand Prix, including young talent Tony Stormanns. In the end, 26 pairs took on the task, three of which reached the jump-off. Here Vogel and Con Quality clearly delivered the fastest round with 39.372 seconds, but a pole fell en route. Luckily for Belgian rider Louis Le Grelle, who rode the 13-year-old Elvis ter Putte son New Life van het Hellehof to safety and took the win thanks to the only double clear round.

Mark Bluman for Colombia on Flying McQueen came third with eight penalty points in the jump-off.

The only other German starter pair, Söhnke Theymann with Caprichosa, came out of the first round with four faults.

You can find more results from the last day in Wellington here.