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Efficiency and speed at five-star level — Laura Kraut und Nicola Pohl for the win
The international five-star tour of the Longines Global Champions Tour stage has kicked off: Ludger's Welcome Class, a two-phase jumping competition over 1.45m, welcomed 41 pairs from 14 nations to the perfect Riesenbeck grass arena early this morning. US show jumper and Olympic team champion Laura Kraut produced a brilliant comeback on the 10-year-old mare Bisquetta in their first CSI5* win together in over a year. Efficiency was the name of the game today, others were faster, but Kraut rode the shortest way around the course. The best German was Hans-Dieter Dreher on his experienced Selle Francais gelding Vestmalle des Cotis. Belgium's Jérôme Guery in the saddle on Careca LS Elite rounded off the top three and finished just ahead of Jörne Sprehe on Sprehe Hot Easy. "Absolutely fantastic," said Kraut, summarising her performance. "The place is beautiful, the ring is even better this year and my horse was in good form. I just wanted to prepare her a bit for tomorrow's big test, but she's a fast horse by nature. So I left her alone and she did her thing."
Fast, faster, Nicola Pohl
Nicola Pohl took the lead in the second CSI5* competition of the day for her home country Germany in the Prize of FUNDIS Reitsport. With her successful French-bred horse Arlo de Blondel, she took almost two seconds off second-placed Pius Schwizer (SUI) and Chelsea Z. Even a small fall in the warm-up did not unsettle the experienced pair, they entered the grass arena with the intention of winning and flew clear over the 1.45m course of the fault/time jumping competition in 64.96 seconds. "I'm super happy about this win and to start the weekend like this," enthused Pohl. "Arlo and I both have a lot of experience and I know him inside out. The fall was my mistake and after that we just kept doing our thing." The rider from Hessen also praised the organising team: "This is my second time here in Riesenbeck, the last time was six years ago. An incredible amount has changed, congratulations to Ludger and the team. All the small details make it incredible." Third place in 67.25 seconds once again went to Belgian rider Jérôme Guery, this time in the saddle on Great Britain V, just ahead of compatriot Abdel Saïd on Etincelle d'Ellipse.
Tomorrow, Saturday, the two rounds of the Global Champions League will take centre stage in Riesenbeck. Round one starts at 11.30am on the grass pitch. Tickets for Saturday and Sunday are still available. You can also follow the sporting highlights of the LGCT Riesenbeck live on TV:
All classes of the LGCT (5*): https://gctv.gcglobalchampions.com/ All classes of the CSI2* / CSI3* / DMU25 / CSIYH Tour: https://www.clipmyhorse.tv/de_DE/events/12807/longines-global-champions-tour-of-riesenbeck
WDR will be broadcasting the action on the weekend in the programme "Sport im Westen": from 3:45 pm on Saturday and from 3:15 pm on Sunday.
Tickets at: https://tickets.riesenbeck-international.com/de/ Program: https://download.riesenbeck-international.com/Zeiteinteilung.pdf Competitors: https://checkin.riesenbeck-international.com/master-list.html?show_id=62
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