Bundeschampionate: Cascoblanco and Dinathia taking gold

The competition for the five-year-old cross-country horses was exciting right to the end. As the last pair of starters, Cascoblanco under the saddle of Pia Münker caught the big favourite Sturmpfeil under Jerome Robine and secured the victory sash. Dinathia continued the winning streak of the grey horses in the bush at the HKM Bundeschampionats and won the final of the six-year-old eventing horses under the saddle of Sarah Algotsson-Ostholt. She beat last year's winner Lillet ridden by Andreas Dibowski and Duplexx under Jan Matthias.

Five-year-old cross-country horses: Exciting final

The last will be the first - this saying came true at the HKM Federal Championships for five-year-old eventing horses with the victory of Cascoblanco and Pia Münker. Starting from third place after dressage and jumping into the final cross, the Holstein-bred grey stallion secured the title among the Busch talents thanks to a brilliant cross-country round - rated with the highest score of the day, 9.7. Ultimately, it was the jumping ability, rated an optimal 10 by the judges, that lifted the Cascadello I son out of a Sir Shostakovich xx dam right to the top of the field. "That was extraordinary," enthused juror Hans Melzer and also praised the elastic uphill canter and the always positive forward pull with which the stallion, bred by Manfred Johannsen and owned by Fohlenhof Stud, galloped straight to gold.

Favourite narrowly beaten

Sturmpfeil (by Under Fire - Sixtus) and Jerome Robine were narrowly beaten, scoring a 9.2 for their cross-country round. The licensed Trakehner stallion, who had won the first section of the Final Qualifier, had started the Sunday elementary class cross-country course with the best preliminary scores from dressage and jumping. Here, the third placed rider at the Trakehner Bundesturnier convinced the judges with, among other things, a closed and light-footed canter, a very secure jumping ability and high rideability scores. In the end, it was nuances that relegated the modern styled black stallion, bred by the Blömer family and owned by Sportpferde Kurbel, to second place.
Isselhooks Outstanding and Sophie Leube had started the decided cross-country course in second place with a wafer-thin gap to the favourite Sturmpfeil. Leube rode the bay horse (by Adorator - Latimer), bred by Frank and Inge Weißkirchen from Gestüt Isselhook, who also owns the horse, safely and skilfully through the course and was convincing in all evaluation criteria with a very good 9.0! The judges certified the fourth place of this year's Trakehner Bundesturnier, among other things, for the rich and powerful canter and the beautifully bascule jumping. In the end, this meant the bronze medal in this year's Championships.
The two fourth and fifth placed horses also received a 9.2 in the final cross: The Hanoverian gelding Porto Christo B (by Perigueux - Latimer, breeder: Andreas Habben, owner: Andrea Baumgarten), who competed under the Irish flag with Stephan Dubsky, and the Hanoverian gelding Dream Walker (by Diacantinus - Contend). Diacantinus - Contendro I, breeder/owner: Carsten Nancken), who had won one section of the final qualification under his Indian rider Fouaad Mirza - together with Best Buddy under Anna Lena Schaaf. However, the two were very unlucky to be eliminated in the jumping competition after a fall at jump one.
There were 52 five-year-old eventing horses competing for a place in the final. A total of 18 of them made it into the final, an elementary class cross-country test. For the first time, the judges awarded individual marks for the criteria cantering ability, jumping ability, rideability as well as overall impression and perspective as an eventing horse, thus creating more transparency.

Six-year-old cross-country horses: Dinathia wins

The Hanoverian mare Dinathia (by Diacontinus - Natiello xx), presented by the Swedish Olympic silver medallist Sara Algotsson-Ostholt won the Bundeschmpionate for six-year-old event horses. After dressage and jumping, the grey mare, bred by Werner Kaser and owned by Chevau AB, started the final cross-country round in second place and caused quite a stir - not only with the judges, but also in the spectators' voting, which clearly saw Dinathia in first place. Described as a "great, extremely high-quality horse" by Thies Kaspareit, the winner of the final qualification scored particularly well with her skilful jumping technique and high rideability scores, both with a 9.5. At first glance, it was not possible to assume that the time had been exceeded in this really energetic and highly motivated performance. Therefore, 0.2 points had to be deducted from the highest score of the day, 9.3, which the judges awarded to Dinathia. Annoying - but in retrospect not as "expensive" as feared. The 9.1 was enough for the highly deserved victory sash after exciting competition until the end!

Vice-Champion for defending champion

Lillet, last year's Bundeschampioness of the five-year-old cross-country horses, competed this year in the six-year-old class under the saddle of Andreas Dibowski. The bay Holstein mare (by Livello - Calido I), bred by Morena Petersen and owned by Gestüt Irenenhof, Döhle, convinced with her ground-covering and rational canter and her very generous jumping ability and only had to accept slight reductions in rideability. With a score of 9.1 she achieved the same final result as the winner Dinathia, but had to give way to Dinathia due to her slightly weaker performance in dressage and jumping.
It was almost a déjà vu for the third-placed Duplexx under his rider Jan Matthias. The Holstein stallion had started the final cross-country course as the clear leader after great performances in dressage (8.6) and jumping (8.8) and actually had a small cushion on his pursuers. But: As in the previous year, the son of Diarado, whose dam's sire is the thoroughbred Heraldik xx, could not quite fulfil the high expectations there: The black-brown stallion, bred by Hans-Peter Petersen and owned by Michael Christiansen, was physically at his limit and had to settle for a 7.5 in the cross-country after time faults. However, the stallion had already shown what he is capable of in the cross-country in the final qualification, where he was one of the front placed horses with a score of 8.6.

Among the front runners

Livya EA (Clinton II - Lissabon), a mare that, according to the judges, "stood out positively due to her particularly good thinking", just missed out on the podium. The representative of the Oldenburg breeding area, (breeder: Elisabeth Ahn) was ridden by her rider Valerie Kampe in a sympathetic manner and achieved fourth place in the final standings with a score of 8.2. Sophie Leube took fifth place with the Hirtentanz son Isselhook's Asaro, who is out of a Heraldik dam. The black-brown Trakehner gelding (breeder: Philipp Gbr., bred by Gestüt Isselhook, Frank and Inge Weißkirchen) showed a harmonious cross-country round based on a lot of trust and scored 8.5.
23 talented young horses competed in the qualifier of this year's HKM National Championships for six-year-old eventing horses. Eleven of them qualified for the three-part final.