Aachen, Germany—July 22
Ingrid Klimke with Horse Ware Hale Bob OLD, Michael Jung with La Biosthetique-Sam FBW, Sandra Auffarth with Opgun Louvo—the dream team took the victory in the CICO*** Nations Cup eventing again.
Watch Klimke’s faultless cross-country ride:
And this year, they added a new member to the family. Josefa Sommer and her homebred and trained Hamilton fulfilled all expectations on their first appearance at the Soers. “It is incredible to be here with these three heroes!”, was her concise and eloquent summary on the podium at the press conference, after jumping clear in the cross-country, apart from picking up a few time faults. “Josefa was our pathfinder today and she did a super job!” said the national coach, Hans Melzer, praising the newcomer.
The U.S. fielded only two individuals, not a team, but Hannah Sue Burnett finished in the top 10 with RF Demeter, placing seventh after a cross-country round that picked up just 3.2 time penalties. Lauren Kieffer and Veronica were eliminated on cross-country after a fall at a combination of angled brush jumps, but were both reported to be uninjured.
Hannah Sue Burnett on RF Demeter. Photo by Shannon Brinkman
With an overall score of 107, the German team headed the field with a significant lead ahead of last year’s winners from Australia, who finished on a total score of 152.6. Shane Rose who came third in the individual classification with the Holstein-bred CP Qualified, said on behalf of his team: “It is no defeat, coming second behind the German team. This team has been almost unbeatable for years. I am delighted and grateful that we are able to ride here in Aachen. The conditions, how we are looked after—I wish there were more shows like this in the world.” His fellow team members were Christopher Burton with Nobilis (sixth place/40.60), Katja Weimann with BP Cosmopolitan (22nd /74.50) and Emma McNab with Fernhill Tabasco (28th/85.40).
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Klimke has won the DHL Prize twice in her career. After retiring her World Champion horse SAP Escada FRH, her partner in success at Aachen in 2015, from active sport a few months ago—she is now taking on her new tasks as a broodmare—Bobby (official name Horseware Hale Bob OLD) is her No. 1.
And he really does do everything in his power to do justice to this status. After a good dressage (34.5) Bobby made sure that no faults were added to the score in the jumping or cross-country and thus secured his rider the victory.
Only 2/10 of a point separated the three-time Olympic gold-medalist Michael Jung with La Biosthetique-Sam FBW and the winning pair.
Klimke, who rode last and thus had to wait in the warm-up alone before riding off, said: “Bobby wanted to take off straight after Sam and set off at such a pace at the beginning, that we were much faster than I’d planned at first. But we did a lot of canter training at home in preparation, so we had plenty of energy towards the end and succeeded in reaching the finish safely,” she said.
See full individual results of the Aachen CICO***.
IMPORTANT LINKS: What You Need To Know | Schedule | Live Results | Direct link to Aachen stream on ClipMyHorse.tv | Aachen’s main site
