John Whitaker wins Deutsche Kreditbank AG Grand Prix
He's the man who can: Two years after his last victory with Peppermill in the Grand Prix in Munich, 58 year-old Brit John Whitaker has won the Deutsche Kreditbank AG Grand Prix at the Munich Indoors. This time he won with Argento and, as so often seems to be the case, Whitaker made it look easy.
As the last competitor to cross the starting line in the second circuit, he jumped to victory with the eleven-year-old stallion in a faultless 33.32 seconds– generating rapturous celebration from the spectators, and pocketing himself a very satisfying 20,000 Euros.
And as if that weren't enough, the win also catapulted the British show-jumping legend into second place in the DKB Riders Tour, whose final stage of the 2013 season was taking place in Munich. Second place in the Grand Prix went to young American Audrey Coulter, who achieved an impressive 33.64 seconds with mare Acorte, who was acquired a few months ago by Rolf Moormann. Also looking pretty chuffed was Denis Nielsen from Löningen in Lower Saxony. The young pro came third with Come Undone.
“Sometimes things just go to plan”, said Whitaker modestly. “It was an advantage going last in the second round and the arena suited Argento well.” Whitaker also paid tribute to his young colleague, who was “extremely fast”. 20 year-old Audrey Coulter was simply thrilled: “The mare suits me brilliantly, this was our first real Grand Prix.”
“Fantastic sport and a wonderful atmosphere”, enthused organiser Volker Wulff, who launched the Munich Indoors event 16 years ago. Wulff also announced that the 2014 international indoor tournament will take place from 6th to 9th November in the Munich Olympiahalle.
A successful première – world champions win world cup opener
Corinna Knauf from Cologne, Czech Lukas Klouda, and world champions Jasmin Lindner and Lukas Wacha from Austria are the winners of the first leg of the FEI World Cup Vaulting. Knauf, who was competing in the World Cup for the very first time, vaulted into third place in the first round, and then climbed further in the second freestyle round with Fabiola and lunger Alexandra Knauf, the young vaulter's sister. “I didn't change anything, but just really focussed on trying to get rid of any little uncertainties, ” admitted the winner. The favourite, world cup winner Anna Cavallaro from Italy, was seriously unlucky. In the middle of her freestyle, her horse Harley practically ran away from underneath her, landing the current world cup title holder in the sand. She ended in fifth place.
Lukas Klouda secured first place, just ahead of Torben Jacobs from Düsseldorf, and was delighted with his result. He has for some time now been training with Patric Looser, the first ever world cup winner in vaulting.
The world cup première of the Pas de Deux was an impressive affair: World and European champions Jasmin Lindner and Lukas Wacha from Austria performed a phenomenally challenging programme with great aplomb and on their second circuit they even achieved five 10s, the top score, for the technical aspect. “We've never managed that before”, gasped the pair, proud and delighted. This dream team from the Alps have been vaulting together for seven years…
Gold rush for…
…Dutchman Wout Jan van der Schans. The 52 year old Olympic and World Championship competitor opened brilliantly on Saturday evening in the Munich Olympiahalle, and won the Sprehe Gold Cup with Sacramento in 31.07 seconds. The super-speedy Dutch rider accepted the easy-to-handle gold bars, with a value of 10,000 Euros, with sparkling eyes. A total of 66 candidates took part in the cult show-jumping event in the Olympiahalle. The top-placing German amongst them was Jan Sprehe from Lönningen with La Cucaracha in fourth place, just ahead of Carsten-Otto Nagel (Wedel) with Holiday by Solitour.
If the German riders in the Sprehe Gold Cup played the good hosts, politely holding back, this was a distant memory when it came to the German riders in the ISC Financial Group speed comeptition. Johannes Ehning (Borken) claimed the victory with ten-year-old Cayenne, just as he did in the opening jumping on Friday.