t was nearly midnight when Dutch rider Imke Schellekens-Bartels rode into the arena as the final starter in the Grand Prix freestyle, held in front of the illuminated Biebrich Castle in Wiesbaden, Germany.

In spite of the late hour, thousands of fans stayed for her performance and greeted her at the end of her ride with a surge of applause.

Schellekens-Bartels, who finished 11th in the Athens Olympics, rode the mare Sunrise to a very pleasing, demanding and emotional performance, for which she received 75.57 percent at the CDI, May 13-16.

For the 11-year-old, dark brown Hano-verian mare, this was the first international show after two national Grand Prix shows. The pair took third in the Wiesbaden Grand Prix.

After her Athens Olympics mount, Lancet, was sold to British rider Emma Hindle, who resides in Germany, Schellekens-Bartels took over Sunrise from her mother, Tieneke Bartels-de Vries. Bartels-de Vries had been riding the mare in Intermediaire I classes.

Ann Kathrin Linsen-hoff and her Grand Prix prospect Sterntaler Unicef, who has beautiful movement, finished second in the freestyle and won the Grand Prix of the freestyle tour. They scored 75.40 percent to best Wiesbaden’s local hero Anja Pl?e aboard the Trakehner stallion Solero TSF (75.00%).

Finland’s Kyra Kyrklund, who finished second in the 1990 World Championships, took fourth place (74.20%) aboard the bay gelding Max. With this 10-year-old, Kyrklund has obviously found a horse with the potential to bring her back to the top. They performed an especially nice piaffe-passage tour.

Hindle, who finished second in the Grand Prix aboard Wie Weltmeyer, had no chance in the freestyle. After a long break due to some injuries, the chestnut stallion had too much enthusiasm for his first show back. He showed more interest in his surroundings than in his work. So Hindle, a team bronze medalist from the 2003 European Championships, only placed 12th.

Nine of the 12 competitors in the freestyle achieved scores above 70 percent, which shows the high standard of this class.

In the Grand Prix Special, Denmark’s Andreas Helgstrand, who won this class last year in a surprise victory over Anky van Grunsven and Krack C, defended his title. This year his mount was his Olympic reserve, Blue Hors Don Schufro, a son of the legendary Donnerhall, who was on the World Championship gold-medal team with Karin Rehbein.

With the world-class score of 75.16 percent, he won over Ellen Schulten-Baumer and her Grand Prix prospect Donatha S (73.28%). The day before, Schulten-Baumer had won the Grand Prix of the Special tour with the mare, who is also a daughter of Donnerhall.

With harmonic and expressive rides–and her victory in the Grand Prix (73.41%)–the former European Young Rider Champion, who earned a spot on the German Olympic squad last year with Lesotho, proved that Donatha S will be a real alternative to her top mount.

Third place in the Special also went to Denmark, for Lone Jorgensen, who resides in Germany, and Ludwig G, the 11th-placed finishers from this year’s FEI Offield Farms World Cup Final.

Isabell Werth’s 9-year-old Grand Prix prospect Warum Nicht performed only his second Grand Prix Special at Wiesbaden. In the quality of his movements, the Hanoverian gelding is very similar to Werth’s top mount Gigolo, with whom she won the Olympics and World Championships. Although he was a bit more relaxed than in the Grand Prix, the chestnut gelding showed in the Special that he is still not mature enough in some movements to earn a top rank.

Especially in the second canter pirouette, he lost points going into walk before continuing cantering. They placed 11th.

The CDI did not draw as many top riders as had been advertised. Some last-minute cancellations the week of the show included German 2004 Olympic team champions Hubertus Schmidt and Martin Schaudt and the 2002 World Champion Nadine Capellmann, despite the fact that the Grand Prix Special offered $37,805.


Birgit Popp