That was close! In the final of the Louisdor Prize 2023, the form of the day decided. In the end, nine-year-old Princess Bea under Beata Stremler came out on top with 73.460 percent. The two youngsters from the final field took second and third place: the eight-year-old Frizzantino under Borja Carrascosa with 73.280 percent and the eight-year-old Fortunity S under Nuno Palma e Santos with 73.120 percent. “This is really our baby, our giant baby. We love her very much,” enthused winner Beata Stremler. Her partner Karsten Aberth, owner of the winning mare, had the foresight to name the mare after her – Princess Bea. “I fell in love with her as soon as I saw her and it only grows more every day. I just love her and it’s an honor for me to ride her.” At the beginning of four years, the Fürstenball daughter came to Beata Stremler, who trained her up to Grand Prix maturity. Expert commentator Dr. Dietrich Plewa was just as enthusiastic about the couple as the spectators and judges: “The striking thing about this test was the image of real harmony. It all looked completely casual. The horse had a very good muzzle, a calmly swinging tail and an uncanny relaxedness in the back. The mare completed everything with a naturalness that now only needs to gain expression and then the grades will certainly be much higher than they are today.” Borja Carrascosa and Alexander Brenninkmeijer bought Frizzantino when he was six weeks old. He has already competed successfully at the Federal Championships four times at the age of four, five, six and seven, and came second in the Louisdor final at the age of eight. “Frizzi is a really special horse for us,” explains the Spaniard, who has been at home in Coesfeld for three years. "I had a great feeling today, the mistake in the two-man exchanges was a shame, but that can always happen." The stallion is such a sensitive, 'electric' horse, so as a rider you have to use very fine aids, but that's exactly what you do to ride this wonderful horse. “The stallion shows incredibly high basic quality, especially for the Grand Prix lessons,” emphasized Plewa. “The passages today were already very carried, great load-bearing, incredibly accentuated heeling and Frizzantino is one of the few horses in a junior Grand Prix that really knows how to present the piaffe on the spot.”
The third-placed Fortunity S had definite highlights in the Piaff Passage Tour. “Piaffes, passages and transitions had championship quality in some places in this presentation,” emphasized Plewa. “In the classic sense, the horse shows a very, very good passage with a lowered croup and an incredibly energetic movement of the hindquarters.” Palma e Santos has been sitting in the saddle of Francis' son for three years and has seen him a few times with overflowing energy. “I’m bursting with pride,” beamed the professional trainer, who runs his own stable in the north of Germany. “The way he concentrated in this big stadium – that was great.”
Francis left his mark on this final test: three out of ten finalists were descended from the World Cup participant - no stallion has ever achieved this before. Also special about this 17th Louisdor final: three women had qualified two horses each for the final – chapeau! Ingrid Klimke, who presented two of the three Franziskus offspring with SAP Freudentanzer and Equitanas Firlefranz, Yara Reichert, who was one of the finalists with Valverde NRW and Springbank, and Helen Langehanenberg, who presented with her Burg-Pokal mares Schöne Scarlett and Straight Horse Ascenzione was at the start.
The Louisdor Prize has been supported by the Liselott and Klaus Rheinberger Foundation since 2012. Dr. Evi Eisenhardt, who was part of the group of judges in Frankfurt and also a member of the foundation's board, explained: “We had a great finale. The thing about judging is not that easy. The first three were very close to each other and everyone had their very strong and not so strong points - it was great!”
The stages of the Louisdor Prize 2024:
• 24th-28th April Hagen
• 20-23. June Kronberg
• 1st-4th August Donzdorf
• 30.8.-1. September Pinneberg
• 10th-13th October Guxhagen
FINAL: 12th-15th December Frankfurt
Freestyle victory for Sir Hubert
This tournament Sunday could hardly have gone better for Borja Carrascosa. Shortly after his success in the Louisdor Prize, the championship rider also celebrated victory in Frankfurt's five-star freestyle, the Almased Wellness GmbH prize, with ten-year-old Sir Hubert. For Sir Hubert NRW it was only the second freestyle performance of his life, which was awarded 77.525 percent by the international judges. Laura Strobel and twelve-year-old Valparaiso followed in second place with 75.875 percent. The Portuguese Maria Pais do Amaral came third in the saddle of Hot Hit OLD Campline, who had been brought into Grand Prix racing by squad rider Frederic Wandres.
“A huge compliment”
A first conclusion from the organizer about the 50th edition of the International Festhallen Equestrian Tournament Frankfurt: “For us as organizers, it was of course two dream dressage mornings, both yesterday with the NUREMBERGER Burg-Pokal and today with the Louisdor Prize. On these stages we can simply present the best young horses in Germany.” The tournament will stick to the five-star dressage program as well as jumping at the four-star level. The program has proven itself over the years and is being increasingly well received by the audience. “We had just over 54,000 spectators in the hall this year – and the tickets from the box office on Sunday are on top of that. This means we are significantly above the number of spectators in 2023. This is of course a huge compliment to the entire event and we are very pleased!”
(KiK/pe&pa)
