July 16, 2022
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper won the Schafhof CDI4* Grand Prix Freestyle Saturday for a double victory at Kronberg, Germany with fellow American Sarah Tubman on First Apple in third for highest score in Europe. Isabell Werth on DSP Quantaz bounced back for runner-up.
Steffen and the 14-year-old KWPN gelding scored 82.525% for the musical performance, less than a point from the personal best of 83.495% posted at Wellington, Florida in February 2020.
“Great day today. One of the best freestyles, not only one of the best with Mopsie but one of the best ever,” Steffen told dressage-news.com.
“I was clearly more to the music today than I was in Aachen,” he said, referring to the Nations Cup performance two weeks ago. “Again a freestyle without a mistake, but possible even more powerful today.
“The judges loved it, the crowd loved it.”
In the awards he expressed gratitude to Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff, Klaus Rath and Marie and Matthias Alexander Rath for the family’s incredible open hearted hospitality in stabling Suppenkasper during this European circuit.
“In my 35 years of being in the sport, the memories of the Schafhof will live on in a very special place forever,” he said.
This is the last competition for the pair ahead of the selection of four riders and horses for the American team for the world championships in Herning, Denmark in three weeks.
Steffen and Suppenkasper and Adrienne Lyle and Salvino, team mates on the historic silver medal squads at the 2018 Tryon World Equestrian Games and the Tokyo Olympics are almost certain to be selected.
Isabell Werth and Quantaz, a 12-year-old German Sport Horse stallion, were second on 79.600% after placing sixth in the Grand Prix Friday in an uncharacteristic result for the most successful equestrian in Olympic history.
Sarah Tubman and First Apple, individual gold medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games were third on 77.775%, the highest score in six starts on their first European circuit. The result for Sarah and the 12-year-old KWPN stallion was just 0.43% shy of their previous best of 78.205% at Wellington four months ago.
Spectators ranked the top three in the same order as the judges.
Results:
CDI4* Grand Prix Freestyle
| Judges: | Andrew Gardner | Christof Umbach | Ulrike Nivelle | Hans-Christian Matthiesen | Maarten Van der Heijden | ||||||||
| Place | Score | Nation | Athlete | Horse | E | H | C | M | B | Spectators | |||
| 1. | 82.525 | USA | Steffen Peters | Suppenkasper | 84.625 | 81.750 | 80.000 | 83.000 | 83.250 | 82.941 (1) | |||
| 2. | 79.600 | GER | Isabell Werth | DSP Quantaz | 81.750 | 79.500 | 77.875 | 79.375 | 79.500 | 79.125 (2) | |||
| 3. | 77.775 | USA | Sarah Tubman | First Apple | 78.500 | 78.250 | 75.000 | 77.875 | 79.250 | 78.235 (3) | |||
| 4. | 76.850 | BEL | Laurence Vanommeslaghe | Edison | 75.750 | 76.250 | 76.125 | 78.000 | 78.125 | 75.653 (4) | |||
| 5. | 75.670 | GER | Christoph Koschel | Dünensee | 75.500 | 76.125 | 74.000 | 76.750 | 75.975 | 75.258 (5) | |||
| 6. | 73.075 | POR | Maria Caetano | Hit Plus | 73.125 | 71.250 | 72.750 | 74.375 | 73.875 | 72.235 (6) | |||
| 7. | 72.135 | JPN | Shingo Hayashi | Scolari 4 | 72.500 | 70.625 | 72.375 | 72.250 | 72.925 | 67.875 (9) | |||
| 8. | 70.865 | GER | Hendrik Lochthowe | Bricco Barone | 70.575 | 72.125 | 71.125 | 70.500 | 70.000 | 71.219 (7) | |||
| 9. | 69.010 | RSA | Gretha Ferreira | Zidane | 67.750 | 64.875 | 70.000 | 72.000 | 70.425 | 69.625 (8) | |||
| SCR | GER | Hubertus Schmidt | Beryll 28 | ||||||||||
