Louisdor Preis: Total Hope wins in Kronberg

Kronberg (fn-press).
The Kronberg Schafhof was the venue for the third stage of qualifying for the 2021 Louisdor Prize Final, the young rider Grand Prix series of the German Equestrian Federation (FN). Two more tickets for the series final in Frankfurt were awarded: The first was secured by the Oldenburg stallion Total Hope OLD with his rider Isabel Freese (NOR). Second place went to another Oldenburg, the gelding Hot Hit with Frederic Wandres (Hagen a.T.W.).

In December 2019, Total Hope OLD and Isabell Freese confidently won the final of the Nuremberg Burg Cup, the young horse series for seven- to nine-year-old horses. Now, a year and a half later, the black stallion has also successfully arrived in Grand Prix sport and qualified for the final in the Louisdor Prize, which is for eight- to ten-year-old horses, to be held in the Frankfurt Festhalle in December. The now nine-year-old stallion with the prominent parents, Totilas and Weihegold OLD, won the short Grand Prix with 72.256 percent. Total Hope was particularly convincing in the reinforcements, which commentator Dr. Dietrich Plewa rated as "the way we want to see them." The canter was always uphill with generous space gain, and there was also self-carriage throughout, Plewa said. The pair still lacked harmony at the beginning of the test, so that the first two piaffes were unsuccessful. However, the pair made up for this on the last center line. "We had a few big mistakes in there, but the horse is on the right track. On the last lines he did super," said a happy Isabel Freese after her ride.

Frederic Wandres, a member of the German perspective squad and rider at Hof Kasselmann, was equally satisfied with his result. He took second place with the ten-year-old Hot Hit (by Blue Hors Hotline - Diamond Hit) and a score of 72.116 percent. "Hot Hit left a lot of energy here, but he still did well until the end. We've had a taste of the Louisdor Prize a few times in the last few years, so he was still lacking a bit of power. He needed the time, now we are getting to where we want to be. I am happy that it worked out with the qualification," said Wandres. The pair is particularly convincing with their flying canter changes, which Plewa even described as "sensational".

Three more qualifiers are on the Louisdor Prize schedule this year: