"I have been back here in Stuttgart for the first time in 15 years and the GERMAN MASTERS are a great show," beamed 38-year-old Matthias Alexander Rath. On Saturday morning he won the Dressage Grand Prix of the Classical Tour for the Prize of the Stihl Company. Riding Destacado FRH, his nine-year-old Hanoverian stallion, the rider from Frankfurt secured the qualification for the Grand Prix Special on Sunday morning (9.30 a.m.) at the 36th STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS international equestrian tournament in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle. "Stuttgart is a great tournament and it was great fun to ride here. Now I'm already looking forward to tomorrow's Special."
With a score of 74.174 percentage points, Rath relegated Carina Scholz from Sassenberg, who had saddled her 13-year-old Oldenburg mare Soiree d'Amour OLD, to second place today (72.413). Third place went to Jasmin Schaudt (Albstadt), wife of team Olympic gold medallist (1996 and 2004) Martin Schaudt, whose 12-year-old Hanoverian-bred gelding, Fano, scored 72.130 percent. The favourite, Isabell Werth (Rheinberg), had bad luck shortly before her start: The most successful rider of all times had to withdraw at short notice because her 16-year-old Westphalian gelding, Emilio, had slightly sprained his ankle in the warm-up arena.
