(pbb) On Thursday, the first day of the 59th Mannheim Maimarkt Riding Tournament, the German national anthem was played three times at the award ceremonies of the five Para-Equestrian tests – presented by Lotto Baden-Württemberg. Singapore's anthem and the United States' "Stars-Spangled Banner" were sung once each.
First of all, in Grade III, Melanie Wienand (Osnabrück) and the ten-year-old Hanoverian gelding Lemony's Loverboy won in Grade III for the prize of the Roeckl company and scored 71.222 percent. Here Steffen Zeibig (Arnsdorf) took third place in the saddle of Patamon, also a ten-year-old Trakehner gelding Patz (69,278). Heidemarie Dresing (Rheda-Wiedenbrück) and the eleven-year-old black Oldenburg gelding Horse24 Dooloop easily won the Grade II prize of the German Equestrian Foundation with 72.816 percent. Third was Julia Porzelt (Prein am Chiemsee) with Bruno, an eleven-year-old Oldenburg gelding (70,000). Regine Mispelkamp (Geldern) won the Ulrich Merkel Prize, Mannheim, in Grade V on her ten-year-old Hanoverian gelding Zenario and scored 69.402 percent. She also finished fifth with Highlander Delight's, an eleven-year-old KWPN gelding, with 65.b513 percent. Gemma Rose Jen Foo (Singapore) secured the Grade I prize of the German Equestrian Foundation and received 74.514 percent from the international judges with the Hanoverian Banestro. In this test, Martina Benzinger (Remda-Teichel) came third in the saddle on her 17-year-old mare Nautika (71.667). Finally, the American Kate Shoemaker triumphed in Grade IV in the prize of the Denkwerkstatt for Managers, Mannheim, who collected 75,556 percentage points on her mare Quiana, who was bred in the Rhineland, and was thus far ahead of the competition.
