Hamburg: Kathleen Kröncke wins 62nd dressage derby
Hamburg (fn-press). Kathleen Kröncke – better known to many by her surname Keller – has again secured the Derby winner's blue ribbon after 2011. In the final with changing horses, she started with her own partner, the Hanoverian Hampton Court. The 32-year-old knew how to stage both him and her competitors' horses. The beaming winner of the German Pony Dressage Derby is Viktoria von Braunmühl. In the U25 age group, local hero Alina Schrader prevailed.
Kathleen Kröncke has been living in Great Britain with her husband since 2020 and has now returned to her northern German homeland for Derby week. She won the dressage derby in 2011 when she was only 21 years old. "I really didn't expect it," Kathleen Kröncke beamed after her renewed triumph. “Freddy and Hendrik are such good riders. It was incredible, both of their horses were great to ride and made it very easy for me.”
This time she relegated Frederic Wandres, who works as a rider at Hof Kasselmann in Hagen am Teutoburg Forest, to second place. In 2019 he won the last dressage derby before the Corona break. Third-placed Hendrik Lochthowe (Butzbach) started in the derby final for the first time. "Not at all disappointed," he said, Lochthowe said, he was rather pleased that his competitors got along so well with his horse. Because his horse, the Hanoverian Bricco Brione (by Bertoli W - Blue Hors Cavan) delivered results of more than 70 percent with all three riders: "He showed with the two how good he is to ride and he was really motivated this weekend and prepared to the point,” enthused Lochthowe about his long-standing sports partner. "I'm really happy that the two got along so well with him."
U25 and pony derby with forward-looking finals
In the German Pony Dressage Derby, Viktoria von Braunmühl (Bonn) took the lead in front of Sophie Luisa Duen (Bad Oeynhausen) and Coralie Zumbansen (Coesfeld). "It was a great challenge," said Viktoria von Braunmühl. "It's actually hard to believe, it hasn't really arrived that I won." With their ponies NK Cyrill, Cosmopolitan NRW and Amicelli, the three U16 riders delivered a great finale with pony changes, with NK Cyrill, der 2017 double European champion with Jana Lang, as the best pony emerged.
Three other young riders met in the final of the U25 dressage derby. Victory went to local hero Alina Schrader (Hamburg) ahead of Lilli Richter (Hanstedt) and Vivien Koecher (Westerhorn). “I was actually calmer today than in qualifying. In the worst case, I could only finish third,” laughed Schrader. "I had nothing to lose, I could only try to get involved with the horses and feel what was going on."
The best horse of the final was Vivien Koechers Reine Freude. "I'm bursting with pride. We have the horse from the foal and have worked our way up from the A dressage level to the junior squad. I didn't know how she would deal with the other riders, but she shook hands with them just like she does with me,” said the rider. jbc/EquiWords
