German double victory at Aachen
One has rarely seen Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum so emotional. During the prize-giving ceremony of the WARSTEINER Prize, the Prize of Europe, the show jumper could hardly hold the tears back. “It was a really emotional moment for me. I would never have thought that I would win another major competition at the CHIO Aachen with Shutterfly. After all he is already 18 years old,” said Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (Thedinghausen), who was all the more overjoyed about her victory. With a clear round in a time of 46.27 seconds she beat her brother-in-law, Ludger Beerbaum (Riesenbeck) on Chaman, who took 47.18 seconds to finish the course and the US-American Laura Kraut on Teirra (0/49.92). In total seven of the 47 competitors had reached the jump-off.
Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum risked everything on the way to the fence over water. “I lost a bit of time between obstacles 2 and 3, so I had to risk it. Shutterfly trusts me completely and he did exactly what I asked of him,” the 42-year-old beamed. “We are a well-rehearsed team, like an old married couple. I will know if he doesn’t want to compete anymore. But at the moment he is still top fit and is still fighting for me.”
Aachen’s Show Director, Frank Kemperman, who was pleased to announce an overall attendance figure of 32, 500 in spite of the rainy weather, had already done some quick maths: “That was the tenth time Shutterfly has competed at the CHIO in Aachen. Not to mention the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2006, when Meredith won the bronze medal in Aachen.” Kemperman took his hat off to the duo: “I don’t think any other 18-year-old horse can compete with these statistics.”
Ludger Beerbaum was also totally satisfied. “Chaman jumped brilliantly, it was excellent,” said the 47-year-old delighted at coming second. “In the first round Chaman jumped as if it were a young horse competition, totally easy. And it was the same in the jump-off, simply fantastic – the horse has now reached top level sport, 100 percent.”
Her third competition and she came third for the third time in a row: “I am happy, as far as I am concerned the whole week can carry on like this. If I come third on Sunday in the Rolex Grand Prix, the “Grand Prix of Aachen”, I will be overjoyed,” said Laura Kraut happily. The American rider has only been jumping the 11-year-old Dutch-bred mare, Teirra, since May. “It is amazing the progress she has made and how quickly we have got used to each other. There might be some trouble between her and Cedric if she starts trying to take over his position as my top horse,” joked Kraut, who will be saddling Cedric for the Nations Cup on Thursday.