The first decision has been made in the Championship arena in Verden: The KWPN-gelding Asterix won the qualifier for the Final of five-year-old dressage horses. The black Obelisk-Olivi-offspring earned the highest score of 8.84, and he was shown by the Dutch rider Emmelie Scholtens. She was not far ahead, closely followed by two other candidates on the World Championship title on the second place: Damon Jerome H, a son by Damon Hill who won the World Breeding Dressage Championships for Young Horses in Verden in 2005 and 2006, and the extraordinary Lissaro van de Helle by Lissabon – Matcho AA. The stallion already won the Federal Riding Horse Championships at the age of three and four. Both horses share the second place with a final score of 8.82. The first three placed horses are indeed close together. Asterix scored 9 for his walk and suppleness, the judges even assigned a 9.2 for Lissaro van de Helle’s walk. Damon Jerome H impressed with a 9 for walk and suppleness.
Damon Jerome H was presented by Uta Gräf (Kirchheimbolanden), Claudia Rüscher (Greven) rode Lissaro van de Helle. A funny side note: The Hanoverian Lissaro already won novice level jumper riding horse classes in this show season. With this result, horses from the KWPN-breed, from Rhineland and the Hanoverian breeding area occupy the first three places.
The dressage arena in the Championship stadium was surrounded by spectators. The first important decision attracted some thousands of visitors from various different countries. The twelve best horses of this qualification qualify directly for the World Championship Final on Friday. The tests in the Championship arena will be broadcasted live on www.verden-turnier.tv.
Results International Dressage Test for Young Horses
World Championship – Qualifier five-year-old horses:
1. Asterix by Obelisk-Olivi, KWPN (Emmelie Scholtens), 8,84
2. Lissaro van de Helle by Lissabon-Matcho AA, Hanov.,(Claudia Rüscher), 8,82
2. Damon Jerome H by Damon Hill-Guy Laroche, Rhineland (Uta Gräf), 8,82
3. Schumacher by Stedinger-Weltmeyer, Westph. (Claudia Rüscher), 8,64
4. Sarkozy 3 by Sandro Hit-Weltmeyer, Hanov. (Eva Möller), 8,46
5. Isaac by HipHop-Master Schwed. Swedish Warmblood (Minna Telde), 8,26
6. Weihegold by Don Schufro-Sandro Hit Oldenb. (Kira Wulferding), 8,26