O'Connor for the second time in Wiesbaden
And again: Cian O'Connor's second victory at the LONGINES PfingstTurnier Wiesbaden. Yesterday, the 42-year-old Irishman dominated the Lotto-Hessen Prize with C Four, today he won the Hessian Prime Minister's Prize. In the playoff of the top nine, O'Connor shot clean in 47.52 seconds with the nine-year-old Taj Mahal. Second place went to the Brazilian Bernardo Alves on the twelve-year-old El Torreo de Muze ahead of O'Conn or-pupil Max Wachman with Quintini.
"Taj Mahal is still young, but a very good horse and very careful," says O'Connor, describing his winning partner today. “He has already jumped three clear rounds here. And today in the jump-off I knew: There are only two riders left after me, one of them was Max. At that moment I was happy because it was clear that one of us would be first or second.” He wasn't full speed like that ' ridden and happy, he explained with a laugh that the others 'let him win'.
The trainer and his student: Yesterday, Max Wachmann jumped to the top with Quintini in the 1.40 meter class and relegated his trainer to second place with Taj Mahal. Today it would almost have been a swap – if the Brazilian Alves hadn't intervened.
The two-time Olympian and his Belgian partner have known each other for six years and he is a fan of this horse: “He won his first start in a three-star show jumping test, won his first three-star Grand Prix, his first He won a four-star Grand Prix and in his first five-star show jumping test he only had one down.” No, he is not actually a fast horse, “but today we managed the turns very well on the floor. I am very happy with this second place.”
"My horse jumps incredibly consistently and very, very well," said the 18-year-old happily. “My brother jumped a few tournaments with him, but then we swapped horses and I've been riding him for about a year and a half now. We fit together very well.” The next goal for Wachman is the European Championships for Young Riders and one goal for the coming year has already been set: “Wiesbaden is a great tournament. I hope I can come back next year.”
“Cian is not easy to beat. Congratulations to the other two for getting so close to him,” emphasized the person responsible for the jumping tests, Michael Krieger, and had a plausible explanation for the concentrated Irish jumping power in Wiesbaden: “We have practically Irish weather – sometimes sun, sometimes clouds , a bit of rain, the Irish know best about this mix.”
When honoring the winners, Wiesbaden's Minister of Education, Prof. Dr. Alexander Lorz congratulations on behalf of the Prime Minister. "If you grew up in Wiesbaden, the Whitsun tournament is a fixed part of the calendar and one of the most beautiful events that our beautiful state capital has to offer. We saw great sportsmen here today, the Irish dominance is particularly pronounced this year, maybe it will be different again next year”, and after a short break he was still hanging on. "Or maybe tomorrow." Tomorrow, on Whit Monday, the LONGINES Grand Prix, the Grand Prix of the state capital Wiesbaden, is on the program for the international show jumpers. Lorz will also follow this competition live on site.
The Vice President of the Wiesbaden Riding and Driving Club, Dr. Hanns-Dietrich Rahn had reason to be very happy: "On the third day of the tournament we are almost approaching the number of spectators from the years before the pandemic - that's not what we expected. This is a result we were hoping for. We are happy that our tournament is obviously missed by the spectators and will be fully accepted again this year.” (KiK/pe&pa)
