After his performance you could see the joy and relief all over his face: Matthias Alexander Rath won the Grand Prix CDIO with a score of 82.149 percent on the outstanding stallion, Totilas, and in doing so also secured the German victory in the team classification of the Lambertz Nations Cup. This was Germany’s 32nd victory in the Nations Cup (233.341 percent), and they relegated the Dutch team (218.957 percent), who had triumphed in 2009 and 2010, into third place, behind Great Britain (220.873 percent.) “Things got off to a bad start when Anabel Balkenhol had to withdraw after Dablino suddenly went lame while warming up, so we were all the more delighted with the victory,” commented the national coach, Holger Schmezer.
In the individual classification, the Prize of the TESCHINKASSO, the British dressage rider, Laura Bechtolzheimer, claimed second place with Mistral Hojris, ahead of Isabell Werth and El Santo NRW. “Of course after Dablino’s injury the pressure on the German team was immense,” said Schmezer. Christoph Koschel and Donnperignon, who ranked sixth with a score of 73.362 didn’t quite live up to expectations. “Pepe, as we call him, was almost too well-behaved on the warm-up arena. I should have perhaps geed him up a bit more before entering the ring. He was slightly introverted during the entire test, but it was my mistake. I simply wasn’t aggressive enough and I am annoyed myself,” reported Koschel. The member of the German team that won the bronze medal at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, also recently came second in the freestyle at the German Championships.
Isabell Werth achieved the second best result for the German team with the Rhineland-bred gelding, El Santo NRW, who is only ten years old. With an overall score of 77.83 percent she ranked third behind Totilas and Mistral Hojris. “Isabell gave her best performance with this horse here today. El Santo impressed with his exceptional balance and one can see that he has been allowed to mature gradually,” stated the national coach, Schmezer. “Ernie”, as the Ehrentusch son is called at home, has already achieved a considerable amount of victories in the dressage arena, in spite of his young age. He headed the field twice already this year, once in Lingen and once in Dortmund. In 2010 he finished first in Stuttgart, Munich and Mannheim. In 2009 Isabell Werth already won a Grand Prix for Young Horses with the large-framed brown gelding, who she has been riding since he was a youngster. The “German Dressage Queen”, who is ten-time German Champion, five-time European Champion and who has won gold once each at the individual World Championships and the Olympic Games, as well as securing an incredible amount of Championship medals for Germany, is quite justifiably hoping to earn herself a place on the European Championship team in Rotterdam with El Santo.