Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein and Rigoletto collected the gold rosette again.
The pair won the Lindt Prize, the Grand Prix Spéciale, at the World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen 2009.
“Rigoletto was already totally nervous on the warm-up arena, so I had to tire him out a bit, which I noticed a little towards the end of the test, but he performed well, although he did make two silly mistakes in the one-tempi and two-tempi flying changes,” explained the Danish rider, who achieved a score of 71.91 percent.
Many of the horses were rather spooky in the floodlit arena, including Hiroshi Hoketsu's charismatic Hanoverian mare, Whisper. She broke into a canter before the extended trot, but nevertheless managed to convince because of her impressive piaffe/passage tour. “Whisper was very nervous, but she still mastered the test very well. Coming second here is a great success for us,” commented the 68-year-old Japanese rider, who trains in Aachen. The judges awarded the pair a score of 71.208. Third place went to the Swedish rider Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfen on the Rhineland-bred Fidermark son, Favourit. The chestnut horse bolted into the ring as the audience applauded, but managed to pick up courage again and then gave a convincing performance, which was rewarded with 69.542 percent.
Carola Koppelmann finished fourth on her 16-year-old Hanoverian, Le Bo, with a score of 69.417, ahead of the winner of the Hamburg Derby, Christoph Koschel on Donnperignon.