Victory for Frank Ostholt in the DHL Prize eventing competition
Frank Ostholt managed to hold onto the lead: Cheering, the rider from Warendorf raced towards the finish line to claim victory in the DHL Prize eventing competition at the World Equestrian Games, CHIO Aachen 2007. “It was fantastic! We, the eventers, have been longing to be able to compete at the event in Aachen for ages. We are all delighted that we are finally part of it now. For us it is the ultimate event, on a par with the Championships,” commented the 32-year-old eventer. He had saddled his gold medallist horse from the WEG in Aachen, Air Jordan. The 12-year-old halfblood Amerigo Vespucci xx son, which is owned by the German Olympic Equestrian Committee, already took the lead after the dressage, rode clear in the jumping and only picked up 3.6 time faults in the cross-country: With an overall score of 39.40 points, he beat his Swedish fellow competitor, Linda Algotsson (35), who completed three excellent competitions with the already 17-year-old Standford son, Stand By Me.
“It was very exciting, very fast, simply fantastic,” said the elated two-time Vice European Champion. Her score: 40.40 points. Third place went to the French rider, Nicolas Touzaint, with his French bred horse, Hidalgo de l’Ile (12). The 27-year-old’s final score was 45.60.
The German National Eventing Coach, Hans Melzer, was satisfied: “We are very happy that we are able to compete at the CHIO and hope that this will remain so in the future too.”
The team classification also saw a German victory (140.3 points). Great Britain secured second place with 159.70 points, ahead of Sweden with 160.50 points. The British team comprised of Zara Phillips/Toytown, Sharon Hunt/Tankers Town, Francis Whittington/Sir Percival II and Emily Baldwin/Drivetime. Competing for Sweden were Linda Algotsson/Stand By Me, Sara Algotsson/Robin des Bois, Viktoria Carlerbäck/Bally’s Geronimo and Anna Hilton/Mr. Dalby.
The spectators showed enormous interest along the approx. four kilomentre long cross-country track comprising of 24 obstacles. The visitors at the Soers enthusiastically applauded each rider as he/she entered the main stadium to take the last obstacles. The World Champion of Aachen, Zara Phillips, finished fifth with her gold-medallist horse, Toytown. “It was a fantastic course and simply great that the finish line was in the main stadium. The course was quite different to last year at the WEG. And my horse was pretty eager at the start box already and very ambitious on route too,” reported the 26-year-old, who crossed the finish line with a score of 48.10 points. Andreas Dibowski was the second best German, claiming sixth place on a score of 48.20 points with FRH Little Lemon (16), with whom he took fourth place at the Olympic Games. He was followed closely by an elated 2006 World Champion team member: Ingrid Klimke steered her aspiring young horse, Seacookie TSF, into seventh place with a score of 51.60 points: “I am totally proud and happy that my only eight-year-old horse mastered this task so well,” explained the 39-year-old.
Check the results.