Nicola Pohl and Arlo de Blondel won Friday's CSI5* 1.45m Prize of Fundis Reitsport in Riesenbeck. Photo © Equitaris.
Edited press release from Riesenbeck International
The 11th leg of the 2024-season of the Longines Global Champions Tour has kicked off in Riesenbeck, Germany, where Nicola Pohl (GER) took Friday's biggest win when taking the top honours in the CSI5* 1.45m Prize of Fundis Reitsport – a class counting for the Longines Ranking Group D.
With her successful French-bred Arlo de Blondel (Tlaloc M x Kassidi), Pohl shaved off almost two seconds on Pius Schwizer (SUI) and Chelsea Z's (Chellano Alpha Z x Cicero Z) time of 66.72 – taking the win in 64.96 seconds.
"I'm super happy about this win and to start the weekend like this," Pohl said. "Arlo and I both have a lot of experience and I know him inside out. 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."
With a time of 67.25 seconds, Jérôme Guery (BEL) and Great Britain V (Nabab de Reve x Carolus H) placed third just ahead of compatriot Abdel Saïd on Etincelle d'Ellipse (Apache d'Adriers x Galoubet A) in fourth in 67.68. Maikel van der Vleuten (NED) completed the top five aboard Dywis HH (Toulon x Corofino II) with a time of 67.97.
Laura Kraut and Bisquetta won the CSI5* 1.45m Ludgers Welcome Class in Riesenbeck. Photo © Equitaris.
Ludger's Welcome Class, a CSI5* two-phase 1.45m, welcomed 41 pairs from 14 nations to the perfect Riesenbeck grass arena early on Friday morning as Olympic team champion Laura Kraut (USA) took a brilliant win with the 10-year-old mare Bisquetta (Bisquet Balou C x Takashi van Berkenbroek).
The best German was Hans-Dieter Dreher on his experienced Selle Francais-gelding Vestmalle des Cotis (Baloubet du Rouet x Landor S) that took the runner-up spot behind Kraut. Jérôme Guery and Careca LS Elite (Carusso LS La Silla x Rebozo la Silla) rounded off the top three, followed by Jörne Sprehe (GER) on Sprehe Hot Easy (Andiamo Z x Otangelo) in fourth and Giacomo Casadei (ITA) aboard Marbella du Chabli (Elvis Ter Putte x Nabab de Reve) in fifth.
"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."
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