27 September 2015

Mezőhegyes: Enfado P, Bazyli and Frodo gold medallists

After four days of sport, Enfado P, Bazyli and Frodo received the gold medal at the inaugural edition of the FEI World Driving Championships for young horses in Mezőhegyes, Hungary.
The competition took place at the Mezőhegyes State Stud, which is known for breeding the Nónius horse and the Mezőhegyes Sport Horse. The international Ground Jury was chaired by Dr. Klaus Christ (GER), and further consisted of Jan-Erik Pålsson (SWE), Joaquin Medina Garcia (ESP) and Klaus Peppersack (GER). The latter was officially thanked by the Chairman of the FEI Technical Committee Driving Károly Fugli (HUN) during the press conference as he will retire as an active Driving Judge because of the age limit.

The eleven competitors in the 6-years-old horse-class battled it out over four days. The first two days they drove a combined dressage and cones test after which the top seven competed in the Dressage Final. The last day consisted of a combined marathon and cones competition, which included two marathon obstacles, a water passage and several cones.
The Silesian horses, nicely driven by the very successful single driver Bartlomiej Kwiatek (POL), dominated this class. Kwiatek took home the gold medal with Bazyli, the stallion with which he won the CAI2* competition in Boguslawice last month. The son of his top horse Lokan finished on a total score of 15,16 penalty points. With his second horse, the black mare Frezja, Kwiatek won the silver medal. The daughter of Regiment finished on a score of 14,70 points, with which she just stayed ahead of bronze medallist Claus Quast (GER) with Partitur 7. The Hanoverian mare by Weltruhm scored 14,29 points.
Kwiatek: “Mezőhegyes is a very nice place and the organizers did a great job to make it a high quality competition. My horses are very good, and I am very happy that I finished on the first and second place. They are not easy horses but they did their best as well as my team. I was here with four horses in two categories and it was not an easy job to prepare everything and without them I would not have been able to do it. I have been driving Bazyli for a year now and I am really looking forward to compete with him and also with my other horses at the next FEI World Driving Championships for Young Horses. “

The seven horses in this category battled in out over three days in combined dressage and cones competitions. The horses were judged on the basic paces in dressage,
demonstration of the level of training appropriate to the age of the horse and overall impression to include character and education of the driving horse in the dressage and the cones. The most influential point was the character of the Horse and the Horse’s drivability.

The Sachsen-Thuringen heavy warm blood horse Enfado P, driven by Jovanca Marie Kessler (GER), set the highest scores in dressage. The gelding by Excellent P got 17 points for the walk, 9 points for the walking trot, 7 points for the medium trot and 18 points on education. In the cones, the combination had 0,3 penalty points deducted for exceeding the time allowed, which resulted in the total score of 8,27 points. The 19-year old Jovanca Marie is trained by the well-known German single driver and trainer Dieter Lauterbach. It is not the first time in her young career that Jovanca Marie wins an FEI medal, she won bronze at the European Youth Driving Championships 2014 before. Kessler was very pleased with her performance: “I have had this horse since last summer and I have been working with him since February. I have more horses at home. I felt that my experience from competing at previous Championships helped me a lot here. This was the last competition of the season for Enfado P, I am planning to go to the next World Championships in Conty 2016, but it all depends on the horse.”
Her compatriot William Slater drove the Sachsen-Thüringen heavy warm blood mare Anni 95 to silver. The daughter of Lord Brown I finished the competition with a total of 7,43 points. Slater was assisted on the carriage by his wife, the 2011 FEI World Pair Driving Champion Carola Slater-Diener.
The bronze medal went to one of the Nonius horses bred at Mezőhegyes, Mezőhegyes Nonius 8 Taksony, driven by Krisztián Németh (HUN). The horse truck builder by profession and the black stallion finished at a total score of 6,43.

Photo: Krisztina Horváth

With 19 competitors, the 7-year-old horses formed the biggest class. This class battled according to the same competition format as the 6-years-old.

Franz Schiltz (LUX) drove the Florestan I-son Frodo to gold, finishing on a score of 16,46. The Oldenburger gelding was successful earlier this season already, when Schiltz came second with him at the CAI3* in Nebanice (CZE), where they made their international debut: “I am very pleased with my horse Frodo, it was a pleasure to drive him today in the combined marathon. I felt like as I was suffering a bit in the second qualification round, but luckily that is not visible in the scores of the judges. My horse went very well in the combined dressage and marathon phase as well, he was easy to drive and I feel that he has good potential for the future. I have this horse and I have been training him for two years now.”
The silver medal went to Arie Dibbits (NED), driving the KWPN-gelding Dynamo (v. Sunny Boy). Dibbits and Dynamo are regular competitors at Dutch national events. They finished on the third place in the Young Horse Class at the CAI3* Dillenburg (GER) 2015 and Mezőhegyes was their first big international experience together.
Rudolf Pirhofer (AUT) took home the bronze medal, driving the Austrian Warm blood horse Bambucca to a score of 14,02. The combination already won the Young Horse Class at the CAI3* Altenfelden (AUT) 2015 proofed to be a successful pair for the future again in Mezőhegyes

Click here for the results

Click here for the photos

Photo: Krisztina Horváth


Photo: Krisztina Horváth