(acm/mps) At the Closing Press Conference at midday Horse Show Director Gotthilf Riexinger anticipated what was to come: “Lady power has been a feature of the 22nd International STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS.“ A few hours later Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (Germany) delivered irrefutable proof that Riexinger’s statement hit the nail right on the head. Riding the 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding Shutterfly, the two-time bronze medal winner at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen won the FEI World Cup JumpingTM, the Grand Prix of Stuttgart – presented by MERCEDES-BENZ, ALLIANZ and BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERGISCHE BANK.
43.71 seconds was the time needed by the World No 6 to clear the seven jump off fences. In front of 8,200 equestrian fans in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, the 36-year-old put in a faultless performance that gave her not only 20 valuable points and 4th place in the FEI World Cup JumpingTM overall standings but also a brand new Mercedes-Benz ML 280 CDI worth almost 63,300 Euro. After the successes in the 2002 and 2004 LADIES GERMAN MASTER, Michaels-Beerbaum now had her name inscribed in the STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS roll call for the first time. Going second, Daniel Deusser (Germany) led for a long time in the jump off on Upsilon d’Ocquier. A penalty free round in 44.92 seconds set the target that was eventually only beaten by the winner. The reward for his second place: the proud sum of 32,000 euro in prize money. Third place and a not insignificant 24,000 euro was secured by Rene Tebbel (Germany), who was the third fastest – on Team Harmony Coupe de Coeur – of the four riders that went clear in the jump off in 45.36 seconds.
“I’m so pleased to have won today,” said an overjoyed Michaels-Beerbaum: “There were many reasons. My husband Markus, for example, was the first German to win the Grand Prix here. We often still speak of it today. I’ve also been coming here for many years now and was second or third on a number of occasions. And over the past few weeks I’ve often been second or third. It’s fantastic everything went right today.” The radiant winner totally agreed with Riexinger’s appraisal: “That was a super women’s weekend.”
