(acm/mps) As courtesy determines, the guests were given precedence at show jumping’s opener at the 22nd International STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS Horse Show: the foreign riders contested the first of two opening jumping classes for the Prize of the Bardusch GmbH & Co. KG Textilmietdienste on Thursday afternoon.
And the international riders showed themselves to be in good form right from the word go. Above all, the Swede Royne Zetterman, who finished clear in 61.70 seconds on the 10-year-old gelding Coram. It duly gave him the win and 1,200 euros in prize money. The battle for the second and third places was an all Swiss affair between the team silver medal winners at the Sydney Olympic Games Beat Mändli and Markus Fuchs. Going clear on Ideo du Thot in 66.50 seconds, the world ranked No 16 Mändli got the better of his compatriot Fuchs, who is placed eight spots higher in the FEI World Rankings. Though the latter also went clear on Nirmette, his time of 68,43 was far slower than his countryman’s.
The German saddle aces appeared to be totally unimpressed by the display of their international rivals immediately afterwards during competition for the Prize of the Bardusch GmbH & Co. KG Textilmietdienste for German Riders. The double European Champion in 2003, Christian Ahlmann easily bettered Zetterman’s time when going clear on his nine-year-old gelding in 58.48 seconds. He secured the victory ahead of Holger Wulschner on Cool-Man (0/61.48) and Tjark Nagel on Latino (0/63.01). Real suspense is therefore guaranteed when, having competed indirectly, show jumping’s elite riders face each other for their first direct confrontation in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle this evening in the Prize of the Ingenieurbüro Hauser.
