Once again a great triumph for the World Champion Jos Lansink at the Soers

Marcus Ehning showed exemplary horsemanship in the Prize of the Dubai Equestrian Club, Best of Champions: He retired after his nine-year-old stallion, For Germany RD, showed repeated disobedience under all of his fellow competitors in the competition with rotation of horses, with the result that they all collected the highest possible number of faults (24).

As Ehning was lying ahead with an overall score of only four faults, he broke off his final ride with Rodrigo Pessoa's stallion, Palouchin de Ligny, before the final fence. He thus also collected the maximum number of faults, namely 24. "I wanted to re-establish the balance between myself and the other riders," commented the rider from Marl. Ehning's reaction epitomised exemplary horsemanship. The 34-year-old also chose not to take part in the jump-off because he wanted to spare his nine-year-old stallion further stress.

Ludger Beerbaum had no explanation for the reaction of the Hannoverian that descends from Ehning's Olympic horse, For Pleasure. "To be honest, even I am speechless here. That was repeated disobedience on the part of the horse." The 46-year-old winner, Jos Lansink, who also secured his World Champion title in Aachen after the rotation of horses, explained: "They were all young horses today that haven't seen many show rings with such an overwhelming atmosphere before. Combined with a rotation of horses, these are very difficult conditions for a sensitive horse." After riding clear in 69.05 seconds in the jump-off Lansink claimed the victory with Al Kaheel Vainqueur.

The Prize of the Dubai Equestrian Club, Best of Champions is a 375 m long course and is contested by only four pre-qualified riders: Rodrigo Pessoa as the individual gold medallist at the Olympic Games 2004, Jos Lansink as the 2006 Aachen World Champion, Marco Kutscher as the 2005 European Champion and Marcus Ehning as winner of the Grand Prix of Aachen 2006.

Jos Lansink rode the Belgian stallion Al Kaheel Vainqueur, a nine-year-old Darco son. Palouchin de Ligny, an eight-year-old French stallion by Baloubet du Rouet, was Pessoa's sports partner, Marco Kutscher had opted for the eight-year-old Hannoverian Quidam de Revel son, Quincy, with whom he won the German Championships for six-year-old jumping horses in 2005.