Escolar and Hubertus Schmidt "lost" the title
Clearly not satisfied audience in Frankfurter arena - they all saw Hubertus Schmidt with the 8 year old stallion Escolar by Estobar / Fürst Piccolo in front of Isabell Werth with QC Flamboyant OLD by Fidertanz / De Niro.
Just 12 points between QC Flamboyant OLD and Escolar, and from the sideline Escolar just showing more natural top basic qualities, especially for the canter tour with clearly more balance and power.
Werth delivered as usual and with her top experience she also managed an error free test. Eventhough Hubertus Schmidt and Escolar show an small imbalance going into the canter half passes, and an error after the extended canter where Escolar is ahead of the aides, the still looked like winners. The judging panel saw them with placements as 1 - 3 - 2 - 2 - 1.
Matthias Bouten still with the best international hands
It is not just a pleasure watching Matthias Bouten with his horses, every time his beautiful soft and quiet hands are catching H2R attention.
Today his is well deserved placed as both no 3 with Quantum Vis MV by Quaterback / Gloster. Smooth trot tour with lovely power always with the nose lovely in front of the verticle. Good walk tour. Nice canter tour, but with a bit of tensions for the series. After the 4 times series it´s with a clear pat on the neck.
Bouten also took 4th spot with Bodyguard. Smooth error freetest in a nice balance, and again here Bouten also clearly rewarded Bodyguard after well performed 3 times.
Two of the other top stars Soiree d´Amour OLD and Foundation
Soiree d´Amour and Kira Wulferding showing superb picture, bit big eyes at begin of the walk tour and then also at the end of the 4 times - costly issues for today´s final. In general the canter has been very well developed since we saw Soiree d´Amour last time.
Foundation and Matthias Rath showing superb supple trot tour, bit of tensions for the walk tour and the extended walk could be bit more over the back with more over track. Nice canter tour except an error at the end of the 4 times.
See the entire results here.
