Stuttgart – He is the uncrowned eventing king also in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle: German Michael Jung (35) from nearby Horb. Riding the only seven-year old Hanoverian mare Corazon in front of an excited sell-out 8,000 crowd late on Wednesday evening, the three-time Olympic champion won the Indoor Derby for the Prize of WALTER solar for the eighth time. He duly provided the first major highlight of the 33rd International STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS Horse Show.
Coming after the show evening presented by the Baden-Württembergische Bank, the eventing class carried a purse of 15,000 Euro and was this year organised as a three-phase jumping class. The course designed by Gerd Haiber wound its way through the owl hole, water complex, the fixed natural obstacles and fences that could be knocked down. After going round in 40.03, Michael Jung was only three-hundredth of a second slower than the pre-determined ideal time of 40 seconds. “The horses, including Corazon, were able to quickly get used to the indoor arena. We appear to be on the right track with the new format,” said the delighted victor.
Back down the field were, amongst others, the European Champion Ingrid Klimke (Germany) in fifth, last year’s winner Nicolas Wettstein (ECU), who placed sixth, and the team Olympic champion in Rio Karim Florent Laghouag (FRA) further back in ninth.
