2003 CSIO Aachen

Ludger Beerbaum and Goldfever, Second Aachen Grand Prix Title in a Row

German Ludger Beerbaum and Madeleine Winter-Schulze's Hanoverian stallion Goldfever (by Grosso Z) won the Aachen 2003 Grand Prix Show Jumping. It was their second title in a row. Supported by a crowd of 70,000 people, Beerbaum and Goldfever were cheered into three clear rounds in the Grand Prix of Aachen. Beerbaum was the only rider to stay faultless in the jump off, clocking a time of 51.43 seconds.

Ludger Beerbaum beat the current World Cup Champion Marcus Ehning on the 17-year old Hanoverian stallion For Pleasure. The chestnut sire jumped with great ease through the first two rounds, but knocked down a rail in the second last jump of the jump off. Their time stopped at a fast 50.00 seconds.

The French rider Michel Robert and his Selle Francais gelding Galet d'Auzey finished third with one rail down in the jump off and a time of 51.31 seconds. Galet d'Auzey is an incredible chestnut gelding with a remarkable show jumping potential. The horse tucks his feet away above each jump and keep several inches of space above each top rail.

American Chris Kappler and his delightful Dutch warmblood Royal Kaliber ranked fourth. Kappler was probably the only rider who was feasible to vie for the Aachen Grand Prix title. Kappler's Royal Kaliber turned out to be one of the best jumping horses at the entire Aachen tournament scoring one clear round after the other. In the jump off, Kappler totally went for it by racing his horse to each jump and taking him back immediately in order to guide him safely over the 1,80 meter jumps.

Kappler cut off the breath of the each spectator, as tension built up when he was approaching the final jumps. Unfortunately, a rail got knocked down in the fifth jump before the last one, taking them out of their concentration. This resulted in another 4.00 penalty on the third last jump. Kappler was seemingly disappointed, as he hoped to claim his fourth "grand" Grand Prix victory of the year after his Triple Crown success in the United States.

German Soeren von Roenne was the fifth placed rider of the jump off, which counted five riders in total out of 40 entries. Charlottenhof's Chandra gave a tired impression. The bay mare, as all other Grand Prix contestants, had already jumped the Nations' Cup on Friday and two previous rounds in the Grand Prix class. Chandra knocked down three rails and finished in 56.66 seconds time.

Laura Kraut and Anthem made it into the second round of the Grand Prix, but they had one rail in round two. Peter Wylde and Fein Cera had one rail in the first round, while Lauren Hough and Windy City retired after getting 12.00 rail penalties on their round one course.

by Astrid Appels

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