Rassolini, 2010 Nürnberger Burgpokal Champion, Bought for Jan Ebeling to Compete for USA
12 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Rassolini, 2010 Nürnberger Burgpokal Champion, Bought for Jan Ebeling to Compete for USA
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
Rassolini, the 2010 champion of Germany’s most prestigious small tour event, Nürnberger Burgpokal, has been bought by a group led by the owners of the Olympic celebrity horse Rafalca as a prospect for Jan Ebeling for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The 10-year-old Hanoverian stallion that was started at Grand Prix in mid-2012 by German trainer Kathrin Meyer zu Strohen was bought by a group of 10 put together by Ann Romney, Beth Meyer and Amy Ebeling, nicknamed the “Three Amigos,” as an investment in efforts to return American dressage to world championship medal-winning performances.
“I’m so thrilled and honored to have this opportunity with one of the best horses in the world,” Jan told dressage-news.com.
“This is so exciting not only for us but for dressage in America to have a horse of this quality.”
The transaction was completed this weekend but requested the news not be published until a day after Steffen Peters, a fellow Californian, competed Legolas for the first time outside the United States so as not to minimize the impact of their success at Horses & Dreams CDI4* in Hagen, Germany.
“The news of Rassolini and Jan is fantastic for the future of American dressage,” Steffen said
The ownership group was enlarged to 10 from the original “Three Amigos” to share the cost and expand involvement by Americans in dressage.
The liver chestnut horse that is branded Hessian (Rubioso N x Sweetheart x Silvano) will remain at Kathrin Meyer zu Strohen’s farm at Hoya in the Hamburg area while Jan develops a relationship with the horse that is universally described as “gorgeous.” Kathrin’s husband, Hans-Heinrich, is the German Junior and Young Rider coach.
Jan, of Moorpark, California and Rafalca were in the spotlight of the global media in their successful campaign to win a place on the United States dressage team at the Olympics in London last summer. The German-born but long an American citizen won widespread praise for cool under the unrelenting media attention and remaining focused on producing the best performance possible.
The Olympic venture occurred in the midst of the U.S. presidential election campaign in which Mitt Romney, Ann’s husband, was the candidate of the Republican Party. Her part-ownership of Rafalca was a hot topic but sniping ended when she explained that she started riding dressage as therapy after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis more than a decade earlier.
Kathrin Meyer zu Strohen won the the 2010 Burgpokal Champion title at Frankfurt with a score of 74.850 per cent in the Prix St Georges Special Finals. She won a place in the starting lineup by winning the qualifier in Neustadt/Dosse.
Rassolini participated as a six-year-old in the 2009 World Young Horse Championships in Verden, placing third and fourth and finishing in sixth place at the Bundeschampionate Finals in Warendorf in 2008.
Kathrin and FRH Rassolini won their their very first start in the Intermediate II in Isernhagen.
To see a video clip of Rassolini competing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLJCDLZ_d5M
