Ahlmann, for the great third time!
Christian Ahlmann has won the LONGINES Grand Prix of Hamburg for the third time. In 2013 with Codex One, in 2022 with Dominator Z and now with Dourkhan Hero Z. And the 50-year-old enjoyed his success at the Al Shira'aa German Show Jumping & Dressage Derby - every gallop of the big lap of honour, the cheers of the tens of thousands of spectators and, above all, the feeling on this young up-and-coming star. Second place went to Olympic champion Christian Kukuk with his Olympic gold medallist partner Checker. The Swedish top rider Peder Fredricson on SV Vroom de la Pomme Z came third.
"I really enjoyed it," confirmed the winner. "I've been a bit midfield for the past year or two, but I also had an extremely good time with Baloubet, Codex and Dominator before that. But these are absolutely exceptional horses that you don't have every day." With Dourkhan Hero, he has high hopes that he can follow in these great footsteps. "He put in an absolutely brilliant performance here today." He did not make it easy for him in the round. "I looked at Christian (Kukuk) in the jump-off and thought the whole thing was 'done'. It looked perfect on the screen. I really didn't expect it to work out. So it was all the better that it did."
Kukuk himself explained: "To be honest, my round wasn't that perfect. I actually felt it was one of the jump-offs that went a bit against us." From jump one to two, he made it very difficult for Checker and interrupted the rhythm with one too many canter jumps. "That was very unfortunate." Checker then stumbled on the penultimate jump, which interrupted the pair's rhythm once again. "It wasn't perfect overall, which is why I'm honestly all the happier to have come second."
One leaves the door open, the other goes through it
In fact, he is incredibly happy for Christian (Ahlmann) that he won. "When I rode out of the course, I realised that Christian could do it with his riding genius. I left the door open and I'm delighted that he went through!"
The third-placed SV Vroom de la Pomme Z had already won the Badenia in Mannheim three weeks ago. "But everything was a bit smaller then," summarised Fredricson. "Today is his first five-star placing. I know that he is a very fast horse, but I still want to build him up, so I didn't risk everything in the jump-off."
Eight riders had qualified for the jump-off in the LONGINES Grand Prix, including five German pairs - much to the delight of national coach Otto Becker, who was on site in Hamburg. The best lady in the jump-off was Laura Klaphake with the nine-year-old Belgian Quizano VDL. "I'm speechless and overwhelmed by this success today," beamed the 31-year-old. "I've been struggling with a shoulder problem for three years and Quizano is only nine and doesn't even know this high level yet. I'm so proud of him, he did such a great job."
62,500 euros for the winner of the Grand Prix, 50,000 euros for the runner-up and a total of 250,000 euros in prize money for the LONGINES Grand Prix.
90.000 plus
Matthias Rath, the tournament director, summarised Saturday evening: "I think you could really see it visually. It was very crowded. During the show jumping and dressage, people are all sitting in the arena and watching sport. But then you walk through the show and it feels like all the aisles are still full. That was really nice and really fun. I think we'll have a crowd of 90,000 plus on Sunday evening - I'm really happy with that."
Swedish victory in the 5* freestyle
Sophie Lexner and the twelve-year-old Inoraline W won the Grand Prix Freestyle presented by Freiherr von Jenisch with 76.720 per cent. The Anrecht-Investment dressage arena was packed to the last seat and the crowd was thrilled by the five-star dressage sport. And former Hamburg rider Kathleen Kröncke particularly enjoyed her rounds in Hamburg's dressage arena. She travelled all the way from England with her 15-year-old United's Märchen to compete in her old home town and secured second place in the freestyle with 73.660 per cent. Third place went to Susan Pape on Harmony's V-Plus with 73.490 per cent.
(KiK/pe&pa)