Also competing in the so-called “Hallenduo” in the NeckarPark complex are numerous medal winners at Olympic Games and World and European Championships. The dressage classes will include Germans Lisa Müller and Jessica von Bredow-Werndl. Contesting the driving competitions will be a world class field with seven carriages. In action on Thursday’s highly popular “Day of the Baden Württemberger” will be the region’s equestrian elite contesting the finals of the iWEST Dressage Cup and the BW-Bank Indoor Horse Jumping Championship. “Over 45,000 tickets have been sold,” says Andreas Kroll, the CEO of the organisers, the in.Stuttgart-Veranstaltungsgesellschaft. “There are still tickets available for Wednesday, the opening evening, Thursday and Sunday whilst Friday evening and Saturday are virtually sold-out,” added Kroll before continuing, “We’re expecting way over 50,000 equestrian enthusiasts again on the five days of the event.”
Attractive start on Wednesday: show evening and Indoor Derby
Local hero Michael Jung will feature right away on the first evening. The STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS ambassador, honorary citizen of the nearby town of Horb and four-time eventing Olympic Champion will be aiming to finally notch up his tenth win in the Indoor Derby for the Prize of Walter solar (from 21.30 hrs). He will however have his work cut out as his fellow team members in Blenheim will all be in action. Stiff opposition will come in particular from the two-time Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle victor Ingrid Klimke whose list of achievements also includes two Olympic gold medals, two team World Equestrian Games gold medals and six at European Championships. Last year’s winner Jennifer Kuehnle (Ireland) and her countryman Cathal Daniels, who claimed the success in 2019, will also be eying a top finish in Stuttgart.
The entertaining show evening on Wednesday starting at 19.00 hrs will once again serve up a programme full of variety. Consisting of a course absolved on horseback, five shots with a laser pistol and a concluding slalom in a buggy, the highly popular equestrian triathlon has been generating a great atmosphere in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle since 2022. After going clear in all three disciplines in 2024 when winning by six seconds, the local rider Mario Walter will be aiming to successfully defend his title.
In the LILA LOVES IT dog agility, all eyes will be on the big and small four-legged athletes who, together with their two-legged partners, will display their skills and dynamism. There will be no lack of action and entertainment when the dog/human combos are competing for the 2025 GERMAN MASTERS Agility Champion title. Closing the evening’s show section will be the “Mirage Español” group that will travel to the city on the River Neckar from Portugal. The stallions will be manoeuvred around the arena by Gerlinde Bartelheimer and Ruth Herzog. Saddled on their greys, they will circle the French artiste Liska Llorca dancing barefoot in the sand passionately expressing her thoughts by splashing colour onto an enormous screen.
BW-Bank Indoor Championship: the envy of other federal states
To reach the finals of the iWEST Dressage Cup and the BW-Bank Indoor Jumping Championship, riders from the state of Baden-Württemberg had to qualify via several horse shows in summer. Ten dressage riders and 25 jumpers have duly earned the right to compete in Stuttgart on Thursday. Topping the qualifying rankings ahead of the finals in the capital of the federal state is Alexander Schill who managed to win the BW-Bank Indoor Championship i- the unofficial state indoor championship - in 2006. Ranked first on 64 points, he is followed by Elisabeth Meyer (54) and last year’s winner Hans-Dieter Dreher (49). European champion Richard Vogel is lying sixth with 43 points. Other former winners in the line-up are Markus Kölz (39), who won in 2013, 2015 and 2023, Timo Beck (38), the six-time victor (2000, 2002, 2008-2010, 2016) and Armin Schäfer (38) who was victorious in 1999.
“The BW-Bank Cup is the most important series in the state, and something the whole of Germany is envious of,” once said the two-time winner (2017, 2018) Andy Witzemann. In the same breath, he went on to express his and his fellow riders’ gratitude: “We’re very grateful to the sponsors, the Baden-Württemberg Bank, for supporting us so fantastically right from the start.” The BW-Bank has been a partner of the horse show ever since the premiere back in 1985. It also supports the four qualifying events in summer.
The odds-on favourite in the iWEST Dressage Cup is the 22-year-old Jana Lang. The six-time junior European champion won all four qualifying classes she contested and amassed 64 points in the process. At the last horse show in Gut Ising she scored 81.96 per cent – a performance unmatched in the history of the iWEST Dressage Cup. Moritz Treffinger, the 2022 winner, and Stefanie Lempart, who was victorious in 1995, 1996 and 2002 are other former winners that have qualified for the final.
18 international classes: competitors from 20 nations
Heading the jumping entry list is Germany’s Richard Vogel. The European champion claimed the Grand Prix of Stuttgart with BW-Bank and Walter solar both in 2024 and in 2022, and in doing so gained valuable points in the Longines FEI Jumping World CupTM. He also won the 2022 BW-Bank Indoor Championship. In the world ranking, he is currently lying fourth. Other Top 10 riders in the line-up are Olympic champion Christian Kukuk (GER/Number 3), the European Championships team and individual runner-up Scott Brash (GBR/5) and Dutchman Harrie Smolders (10). They will be joined by other prominent names like Max Kühner (Austria), the Brazilian Yuri Mansour, the Frenchmen Roger-Yves Bost, Julien Épaillard (Olympic team bronze in 2024) and Kevin Staut, team Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and individual European champion in 2009. The Swede Peder Fredricson, team Olympic champion (Tokyo) and individual European champion in 2017, his countryman Jens Fredricson, 2023 team European champion will also be in the saddle. Briton Donald Whitaker, the team silver medal winner at the 2025 European Championship will also be in the running for titles as will Germans Christian Ahlmann, Daniel Deusser, Hans-Dieter Dreher and Philipp Weishaupt.
Heading the entry list in the dressage classes will be Germany’s four-time Olympic champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (2019 freestyle winner) and Lisa Müller, the wife of the football World Cup winner Thomas Müller who is currently playing in Canada. She won her first ever international class in Stuttgart in 2019 (the Grand Prix). Fellow Germans in the saddle will be Raphael Netz, who together with his girlfriend Selina Söder, the daughter of the Bavaria Minister President, started running their own stables in 2024. The 2014 team World champion and 2013 team European champion Fabienne Müller-Lütkemeier won the freestyle in Stuttgart in 2014. Due to her performances this year, Carina Harnisch has been rewarded with a starting place for the four-star classical tour Grand Prix in Stuttgart by the national dressage trainer Monica Theodorescu. Also competing is the Swede Patrik Kittel. Currently the world No. 10, he has already won three bronze medals.
Seven carriages speeding around the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle ring
All seven four-in-hand driving contestants are already certainties for the event. There is the Belgian Glenn Gerts, the Swede Frederik Persson, last year’s runner-up Jérôme Voutaz from Switzerland, the ten-time German champion Christoph Sandmann and Anna Mareike Meier, nee Harms, the 2010 team World champion, four-time team European Championship silver medal winner and 2010 German champion – both have been given a wild card by the organisers –,the seven-time World champion and ten-time Stuttgart winner Boyd Exell (Australia) and Anna Sandmann (Germany).
Good mixture: top stars from all over the world and local ace riders
“The enormous allure of the Stuttgart horse show continues to be down to the proven mixture of top equestrianism, show numbers and the accompanying booths offering everything to do with horses,” explained Andreas Kroll. “The German Masters’ audiences are therefore very loyal, something shown by the first event after the two-year corona break in 2022 in which the overall attendance was immediately back at 50,000. It exceeded all our expectations. The equestrian fans simply appreciate the fact that the STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS is a world class event with a family atmosphere.” Competition-wise, the schedule includes a total of 18 international classes in jumping, dressage, driving – where there are again valuable World Cup points at stake – plus in eventing and the Pony Trophy.
Friday’s STUTTGART GERMAN MASTER will now be presented by DVAG
Andreas Kroll is also delighted that a further partner has been attracted to the 39th edition of the horse show as the “Deutschen Vermögensberatung” (DVAG) is now on bord. “The STUTTGART GERMAN MASTER on Friday at 22.00 hrs will, as of immediately, be presented by DVAG. It shows that our event is attractive enough to continue to form new partnerships.”
Tickets include travel to and from the venue with the VVS public transport system
Advance ticket sales have been possible since May, tickets for the nine sessions of the 39th International STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS Horse Show cost between nine and 65 euro, all-day tickets between 35 and 89 euro. Tickets for the whole event are priced at 189, 243 and 265 euro. Tickets can be purchased at Easy Ticket Service (Tel: +49 711 25555-55), all recognised advance ticket offices as well as online at www.easyticket.de. The print@home tickets can be booked via Internet and can be printed out or saved on one’s smartphone. There is also a variety of discounts for single tickets as well as special offers for groups. Children up to the age of six will be admitted free of charge. Youngsters aged seven and over require a ticket for their own seat.
All tickets are so-called “combi tickets” entitling holders to use busses and trains belonging to the regional VVS public transport system free of charge to and from the venue.
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