There was a huge atmosphere at the riding horse arena of the HKM Bundeschampionate. At the award ceremony of the four-year-old stallions, the audience did not even sit down again after the national anthem, but celebrated the newly crowned Bundeschampion, the Hanoverian dark chestnut stallion San to Alati, with standing ovations. Overall, the result read like that of the Riding Horse Championships in Verden. Second place went to Segantini, another son of Secret, third was My Milano.
San to Alati, who is stationed at the Krüsterhof, had already become a crowd favourite in the final qualifier and did not disappoint the fans in the final either. Whether for trot and canter (9.5 each) or for walk (9.0), the judges awarded San to Alati top marks after his performance. They also rewarded his rideability and "fulfilment of age-appropriate tasks" with a 9.5, which he demonstrated both under his own rider and under outside rider Marcus Hermes (9.5). The overall picture was rounded off by a very good (9.0) conformation with many positive riding horse points.
San to Alati is a son of Secret and was bred by Lena-Marie and Kerstin Klose out of a dam by Belissimo M and has recently been owned by Bernadette Brune. This Saturday in Warendorf will probably remain in the breeder's memory for a long time, because in addition to the title winner in the four-year-old stallions, she presented another Bundeschampionat finalist, the three-year-old pony stallion Chocoversum. San to Alati was ridden by Mareike Mimberg, who had already won the Riding Horse Championships in Verden. She stood in for the injured head rider of the Krüsterhof, Stefanie Wolf. "I am as proud as punch," she said. Of course she would have liked to have ridden herself. "But I think it's great that he went. My heart would have bled more if he had had to stay at home."
Even though San to Alati was already celebrated as a sure winner with an overall score of 9.3, Segantini (by Secret - Fidermark) made it exciting once again. Bred and owned by Dr. Christine Feichtinger, he also caused a lot of applause in the final. Four times the judges awarded a 9 and once even the highest score of 10 for the rideability and the willingness of the stallion to accept the rider's aids - total score 9.2. Segantini was presented by Jessica Lynn Thomas, who had already ridden his sire Secret at his first Bundeschampionat appearance in 2017 for the W.M. Stud. Like his son today, the then three-year-old finished second.
The Millenium son My Milano, bred by Johann von der Decken out of a dam by De Niro, was not quite as relaxed as in the qualification. He and his rider Lukas Fischer had won the first test by a narrow margin, but despite his very good canter and conformation, he finished in bronze with a final score of 8.5. He shared this with the Westphalian stallion Rocketeer (by Rock Forever I - Fransziskus), winner of the Optimun at the Tournament of Winners. He was not only awarded a 9 for his riding quality, his rider Melanie Geßmann was also happy about the Animal Welfare Award of the BMEL for the preparation of the stallion. Rocketeer is bred by Thomas Holling and, like his sire Rock Forever, is stabled at the Holkenbrink station.
