Stuttgart – She has received any number of prizes during the course of her unequalled career but the honour she received in the Hanns Martin Schleyer Halle on Sunday is one that’s something special for the five-time Olympic Champion, Isabell Werth (Germany): she has received the Otto Lörke Prize for the ninth time. The German Olympic Committee for Equestrianism (DOKR) awards it annually in memory of the outstanding rider and coach Otto Lörke to riders, trainers and owners of dressage horses up to the age of ten. It is given by the dressage sub-committee for particularly outstanding performances in Grand Prix competitions in Germany. The 26th International STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS Horse Show was the venue for the prize giving ceremony for the 26th time.
The Otto Lörke Prize 2010 has gone to the nine-year-old Rhineland bred gelding El Santo NRW and its rider Isabell Werth. It’s owner is Madeleine Winter-Schulze and the horse’s trainer is Wolfram Wittig. El Santo NRW had already had a top placing in the 2009 Grand-Prix. After this year’s win in the “Nürnberger Burgpokal”, he was a comfortable winner of the CPMedien Cup Final and he was also victorious at Grand Prix four-star events, as well as on the international stage. In the DOKR’s words, “El Santo NRW gives one hope for the future.”
Isabell Werth has received the award for a record ninth time as a rider - Gigolo FRH, Antony FRH, Amaretto, Giorgio, Aleppo, Agnelli, Satchmo und Warum Nicht FRH were the others. As for Wolfram Wittig, the trainer, it is the third time that has received the Otto Lörke Prize. The same goes for the owner Madeleine Winter-Schulze.
