Stuttgart – The Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa secured the victory in the opening jumping class for foreign riders at the 25th International STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS Horse Show on Thursday. Riding the gelding Hermes St. Louis in the Hanns Martin Schleyer Halle, the 36-year-old Olympic champion (2004 in Athens) and former world champion (1998 in Rome) jumped clear in 55.68 seconds. He was just able to hold off the Dutchman Jur Vrieling on the 10-year-old gelding Alwin Z (0/55.95) who in turn finished in front of Patrice Delaveau (FRA), a member of the French Nations Cup winning team. The 44-year-old Frenchman also went round the course fault free on his stallion Jaguar Mail but his time of 56.70 seconds left him trailing in third. Further down the field was the European champion Kevin Staut (FRA) and his European Championship winning horse Kraque Boom Bois Margot. They were back in 10th having incurred one time fault after clocking 69.86 seconds.
The following opening jumping competition for German riders was won by Markus Renzel (RFV Alt Marl) who relegated Markus Renzel and club mate Christian Ahlmann to the placings. In what was quasi a wire to wire win, the 37-year-old won the 1,300 euro purse on Christoph Columbus, a 9-year-old stallion. Going first they produced the quickest clear round in 55.53 seconds. After saddling his second horse, the 13-year-old gelding Conally, Renzel again went clear but his time of 57.75 was only good enough for second spot and the 1,050 euro that went with it. In what turned out to be a RFV Alt Marl club championship, Christian Ahlmann placed third on Tindorette, a 9-year-old grey mare, in 59.19 seconds (0 faults). The best “non Alt Marl” rider was Mylene Diederichsmeier on Quartz (0/60.02).
