10 September 2017
Mezőhegyes: Triple gold for Germany
The German drivers once again showed their knowledge in the training of young horses, winning the three gold medals on offer at the FEI World Driving Championships for Young Horses in Mezőhegyes, Hungary. The two German sport horses Da Vincy and Fortino and the Sachsen-Thuringen heavy warm blood horse Enfado P became the new World Champions by showing exceptional skills in combined dressage and cones and combined marathon during last week's competition at the State Stud in Mezőhegyes.
Enfado P and Jovanca Marie Kessler
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
A record number of 41 drivers travelled with their young horses to Hungary to compete at the FEI World Driving Championships for Young Horses which was held for the third time in Mezőhegyes.
On the first day the horses and the drivers had the first qualification competition, where they had to complete a combined dressage and cones test judged by four international judges from one position. On Saturday the drivers and horses who qualified themselves on the first two days, drove a dressage test that was again judged by the jury based on strict criteria. The President of the Ground Jury was Dr. Klaus Christ (GER), the members were Joaquín Medina (ESP), Anne-Marie Turbé (FRA) and Jan-Erik Palsson (SWE). The judges were looking at the basic paces of the horses according to their age, the education, the overall impression and future perspective of the horses.
For Enfado P and Jovanca Marie Kessler Mezőhegyes is not an unknown place, as they successfully became World Champions in 2015 in the 5-year-old category and took home silver in the 6-year-old category in 2016. Enfado P put on a dominant display throughout the competition winning his third medal in three years at a World Championship. With 7,64 in the first qualification round, 8,14 penalties in the dressage on Saturday and 9,3 in the combined marathon, it was clear that nobody can take away the gold medal from him this year. The silver medal went to the Lipizzaner Conversano Csaló driven by Vinzenz Dobretsberger (AUT), who showed consistently high performance this week. Eter, the Sieliesian grey stallion, driven by Weronika Kwiatek came third in this category.
Fortino and Marie Tischer
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
Marie Tischer (GER) competed with two horses in the 6-year-old category, the Trakehner Sky-Dweller and the German sport horse Fortino. Tischer and her two horses impressed the judges very much on each day and in the final they received the two highest points in the class. Fortino was the best in the class, while Sky-Dweller came second. Bartlomiej Kwiatek took home the bronze medal with Rebelia, the Silesian mare.
Da Vincy and Bettina Winkler
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
The German sport horse Da Vincy, driven by Bettina Winkler showed the best movements in his class during dressage and cones and combined marathon. Despite some small mistakes, the judges found in Da Vincy what they were looking for in a five-year old horse at a World Championship and awarded him with the best score on Sunday. The winner of the dressage, Tara, a Sachsen-Thuringen heavy warm blood driven by Karl-Heinz Finkler finished on the silver medal position, ahead of San Remo Royal, a Westphalian horse driven by the successful single driver, Franz Schiltz from Luxembourg.
