Aachen, Germany, June 23, 2003 - 40 riders, two rounds and one jump-off: In the end it was Ludger Beerbaum (Riesenbeck), who was the only one without any faults with his stallion Goldfever 3 and who - like last year - notched up the victory in the Prize of Aachener und Münchener Versicherungen "The Grand Prix of Aachen".

Second was World Cup Champion Marcus Ehning on For Pleasure (4.00/50.00), French Michel Robert with Galat d'Auzay was third, he was 1,31 seconds slower than Marcus Ehning and had 4.00 penalty points.

The jump-off of the five riders without any penalty points was fast and thrilling. After the first three had completed their rounds, Marcus Ehning and For Pleasure were in the lead - with one fault. Ludger Beerbaum, who was the fourth to enter the stadium for the jump-off, knew that he had to complete the course faultless to maintain the possibility of holding the title.

From the first to the last obstacle the man from Riesenbeck directed his stallion through the filigree show jumping course. Only after the demanding final oxer with a depth of 1,80 metres, the first faultless round was completed. After that, the decision about victory or defeat was in Chris Kappler's (USA) hands. After an early fault of Kappler and his horse Royal Kaliber it was clear: Ludger Beerbaum is once again the winner of the Grand Prix of Aachen.

"I first have to stomach now that I was finally able to crown my week here. I had a good feeling.", said Beerbaum joyfully. On Friday he still had to contend himself, together with the German equipe, with the third place in the Mercedes-Benz-Prize - "Nations' Cup. With his victory in the Grand Prix, the last as well as the first competition of the final tournament day was won by the current European Champion. Ludger Beerbaum had already won the competition "Last Chance" early in the morning. He and his stallion Champion du Lys needed only 38,96 seconds in the winning round. Clear rounds had also Christian Ahlmann on Comtessa and Marcus Ehning on Anka, but they needed 39.07 respectively 40.06 seconds.

Markus Beerbaum, the European Champion's brother, won the competition for young horses, the Sparkassen Youngsters Cup on his horse Contendra. He completed a clear round in 43.49 seconds in front of Markus Merschformann on Acajou (0.00/44.13) and Marcus Ehning with For Fun (0.00/44.35).

Also German Ulla Salzgeber, who had until Sunday been the dominating rider in the World Equestrian Festival's dressage competitions, did not let the opportunity go past her and her 15 year-old gelding Rusty 47 in the Prize of Deutsche Bank AG "Grand Prix Dressage of Aachen". She succeeded with 83.61 percent points in front of the U.S.-Americans Lisa Wilcox on Relevant (82.39%) and Debbie McDonald with Bretina (82.39%).

Just like in dressage, also the individual classification of combined driving events for team drivers, the Prize of Family Richard Talbot, last year's titleholder was replaced. Boyd Exell (AUS) succeeded in the overall standings in front of the Dutch Ijsbrand Chardon and Christoph Sandmann from Germany.

Previous to the Farewell of Nations, dressage rider Nadine Capellmann was awarded the 33rd "Golden Ring" of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein e.V. The decoration has been given since 1953 to outstanding celebrities from equestrian sports. Nadine Capellmann had won the team- as well as the single gold medal in dressage at the World Equestrian Games 2002 in the Spanish Jerez de la Frontera.

The first laureates 50 years ago had been Fritz Thiedemann and the Italian Piero d'Inzeo. Also Nadine's father Kurt Capellmann, who passed away in 1995 and who was both a former international jumping and dressage rider and President of the ALRV, had received the Golden Ring in 1988.

The World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen 2003 was traditionally ended with the Farewell of Nations. Again this year, the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein is pleased with the stunning response of the audience. Including the 36,500 visitors on the Soers Sunday, the 44,000 team driving fans at the Wohnwelt Pallen Marathon on Saturday, and the 45,000 spectators on the final Sunday, 313,500 horse sport friends experienced this year's tournament.