Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

AACHEN, Germany, July 16–Steffen Peters rode Weltino’s Magic,, a horse that was doubtful about coming to Germany, to victory in the Intermediaire I Saturday night to complete a sweep of the small tour at the world’s most prestigious horse show and two years after he became the first American to become Grand Prix Champion of Aachen.

Steffen, of San Diego, California, and the nine-year-old gelding owned by Jen Hlavacek, scored 73.947 per cent with Denmark’s Andreas Helgstrand on Famaso second on 71.895 per cent and Germany’s Hubertus Schmidt on Imperio 3 third on 71.368 per cent.

Steffen and Magic won the Prix St. Georges–there is no freestyle at small tour–in a field of the world’s top riders and the best up-and-coming horses.

“It feels pretty amazing,” Steffen said after the competition under lights which ended in heavy rain but did not deter spectators who filled the stands in the 5,000-seat Deutsche Bank stadium.

“Any time you place at Aachen is amazing. To win in this company is incredible.”

He credited his wife, Shannon, with finding the horse and never wavering in her belief Magic would become a top international competitor, reinforced by their becoming reserve U.S. six-year-old champion.

Jen Hlavacek, standing in the rain and enjoying the success as she had never before come to Aachen, said she found it hard to believe now that she wondered about the trip and expense of sending the horse here a few weeks before the Pan American Games selection trials to be held in Gladstone, New Jersey.

“I’m glad that Jen and her husband decided to bring Weltino’s Magic here,” Steffen said.

“I’m also glad that Shannon had faith in the horse. I was not jumping up and down because I was concerned about his canter. I’m glad I listened to her. Shannon has always believed in the horse. She was right. Now I certainly believe.”

Steffen said that although he had initially not planned to ask to be excused from the selection trials for the Pan Ams to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, in October, he now felt Weltino’s Magic had proved himself in the toughest international competition in the world and he would talk with U.S. Technical Advisor Anne Gribbons and Chef d’Equipe Eva Salomon on options available to him.

Complete Intermediaire I results:

Judge H : Mariette Withages-Dieltjens (BEL)
Judge C : Hans Christian Matthiesen (DEN)
Judge M : Mary Seefried (AUS)
Judge B : Evi Eisenhardt (GER)

Rk		HORSE – Breeding sex\colour\born\sire x siredam\		EUR	E	H	C	M	B	%
		RIDER owner			Rank	Rank	Rank	Rank	Rank
1		Weltino´s Magic – WESTF G \ Bay \ 2002 \ Weltino x Diamond Boy		1700	76.579	72.368	74.211	73.158	73.421	73.947
		Steffen  Peters (USA) Jen Hlavacek			( 1 )	( 1 )	( 1 )	( 2 )	( 2 )
2		Famaso – OLDBG G \ Bay \ 2002 \ Fuerst Heinrich x Aletto		1200	70.789	69.211	73.026	72.763	73.684	71.895
		Andreas  Helgstrand (DEN) Darkhorse			( 5 )	( 6 )	( 2 )	( 3 )	( 1 )
3		Imperio 3 – TRAK S \ Bay \ 2003 \ Connery x Balfour XX		800	76.447	70.395	69.474	71.842	68.684	71.368
		Hubertus  Schmidt (GER) BG HLG Sc hwaiganger und Hubertus Poll			( 2 )	( 4 )	( 7 )	( 7 )	( 7 )
4		Exquis Vivaldi – KWPN S \ Chestnut \ 2002 \ Krack C x Jazz		600	71.184	68.947	72.632	73.684	69.474	71.184
		Hans Peter  Minderhoud (NED) Team Exquis, J.M. van / Valk, A. Uytert			( 4 )	( 8 )	( 3 )	( 1 )	( 4 )
5		Balmoral W – WESTF G \ Bay \ 2003 \ Breitling W x Diego xx		400	69.868	70.000	72.500	72.632	69.605	70.921
		Brigitte  Wittig (GER) Wolfram Wittig, Kishiko & Kuranoja Saito			( 6 )	( 5 )	( 4 )	( 4 )	( 3 )
6		Der Stern – OLDBG G \ DarkBay \ 2001 \ Dormello x Sion		200	71.579	71.842	70.000	72.105	68.947	70.895
		Isabell  Werth (GER) Madeleine Winter-Schulze			( 3 )	( 2 )	( 5 )	( 6 )	( 6 )
7		Voice – KWPN S \ Black \ 2002 \ de Niro x Rohdiamant		150	69.605	70.921	69.605	72.237	68.553	70.184
		Edward  Gal (NED) Ivan Gisbergen & W.van Gisbergen			( 7 )	( 3 )	( 6 )	( 5 )	( 9 )
8		Blue Hors Rush Hour – OS S \ Bay \ 2002 \ Rubin Royal x Strohmann XX		150	68.684	69.211	69.079	65.921	69.474	68.474
		Sune  Hansen (DEN) Blue Hors Aps			( 8 )	( 6 )	( 8 )	( 13 )	( 4 )
9		Belissimo NRW – RHEIN S \ Chestnut \ 1999 \ Beltain x Romadour II		150	68.684	67.763	65.000	70.789	66.842	67.816
		Hayley  Beresford (AUS) Zucht-u Sportpferde Schmidt GmbH			( 8 )	( 10 )	( 13 )	( 8 )	( 12 )
10		Dandelion 14 – OLDBG G \ Bay \ 2002 \ De Niro x Figaro		150	68.684	68.684	65.132	67.368	68.684	67.711
		Uta  Gräf (GER) Michael Lindsten			( 8 )	( 9 )	( 12 )	( 11 )	( 7 )
11		Zorro 184 – FRIES S \ Black \ 1999 \ Brandus x Pike			67.632	67.237	67.368	68.421	67.500	67.632
		Jessica  Süss (GER) Jessica Suess			( 11 )	( 11 )	( 9 )	( 10 )	( 10 )
12		Fürst Khevenhüller – RHEIN G \ DarkChestnut \ 2002 \ Florestan I x Rohdiamant			66.447	66.184	65.526	70.000	67.105	67.053
		Helen  Langehanenberg (GER) Sissy Max-Theurer			( 13 )	( 12 )	( 11 )	( 9 )	( 11 )
13		Wellington 209 – HANN G \ Bay \ 1995 \ Wanderer x Garibaldi II			67.105	65.921	66.842	64.079	66.316	66.053
		Jill  de Ridder (GER) Gestut Moosbend Gemo AG			( 12 )	( 13 )	( 10 )	( 15 )	( 13 )
14		Fabienne – DWB M \ Black \ 2002 \ Blue Hors Future Cup x Rubinstein			62.500	65.526	63.553	66.842	64.868	64.658
		Nathalie zu  Sayn-Wittgenstein (DEN) Zu Sayn Wittgenstein			( 14 )	( 14 )	( 14 )	( 12 )	( 14 )
15		Diamond Girl 11 – WESTF M \ Chestnut \ 2003 \ Diamond Hit x Liberty M			62.500	64.605	58.289	64.474	60.921	62.158
		Nadine  Capellmann (GER) Nadine Capellmann			( 14 )	( 15 )	( 16 )	( 14 )	( 15 )
16		Sole Mio 5 – WESTF M \ DarkBay \ 2004 \ Show Star x Lamoureux II			59.605	59.737	59.737	62.105	59.342	60.105
		Fabienne  Lütkemeier (GER) Gina Capellmann-Lütkemeier			( 16 )	( 16 )	( 15 )	( 16 )	( 16 )
17		E.H. Wild Wadi – HANN M \ Bay \ 2001 \ Weltruhm x Aderlass			23.026	19.737	20.921	19.474	20.526	ELIMINATED
		Valentina  Truppa (ITA) Angelo Gino Zambaiti			( 17 )	( 17 )	( 17 )	( 17 )	( 17 )