It was a German duo on top in Thursday's 1.45m Amadeus Opening at CSI4* Neuro Socks Amadeus Horse Indoors in Salzburg, Austria.
No less than 115 horse-and-rider combinations had lined up, with twenty of the riders from the Top 100 on the world ranking included – all with the main goal of eventually qualifying for the 100.000 Euro Equitron-pro Grand Prix that takes place on Sunday.
A total of 27 pairs delivered clear rounds and another 20 recorded time-faults only. Aboard the 14-year-old Balance (Balou du Rouet x Landadel), Felix Haßmann (GER) galloped to the victory in a time of 65.43 seconds. Hans-Dieter Dreher (GER) finished second with Vestmalle des Cotis (Baloubet du Rouet x Landor S) after stopping the clock in 65.87. Third place went to Kim Emmen (NED) on Artist vh Marienshof Z (Arezzo VDL x Namelus R) in 66.70 seconds, while Simon Delestre (FRA) ended fourth with Varennes du Breuil (Jarnac x Fetiche du Pas) and Ken Balsiger (SUI) fifth with Hyan Toltien F (Baltic VDL x Ekstein).