Pure excitement at the World Equestrian Festival Aachen 2015! There were namely quite a few surprises during this year’s Deutsche Bank Prize. The Swedish rider, Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén, may have been the last to compete in the Dressage Grand Prix of Aachen, which is endowed with 150,000 Euros in prize-money, but in the end she finished first. The 47-year-old was awarded a score of 82.475 with Don Auriello and thus clearly topped her previous year result. In 2014, she came seventh in the Deutsche Bank Prize. She was overjoyed with her victory. “We had a good ride and my horse was very relaxed. I think that was the most important thing,” was the winner’s modest statement.

In yesterday’s PHILIPS Prize, Silfvén finished second behind Isabell Werth. In the Deutsche Bank Prize, they swapped places. The successful duo Werth and the 14-year-old Hanoverian-bred gelding, Don Johnson FRH, fell back into second place at the very last moment (81.200), which meant the exceptional German dressage rider missed out on the chance of winning the famous Deutsche Bank Prize for the 11^th time. She rode to victory in the competition the last time in 2008 with Satchmo. Nevertheless, she was pleased with today’s result: “Of course, it is a shame, when you have been so close to the victory. But I am satisfied. Don Johnson is on the right track and performed consistently at the World Equestrian Festival.”

Aged just 20, Sönke Rothenberger, who was the youngest in the field of the 15 competitors, also caused a stir in this year’s Deutsche Bank Prize competition. After the newcomer and Aachen debutant performed well in yesterday’s PHILIPS Prize, today he succeeded in claiming one of the top placings. The German rider and his Rhineland-bred gelding “Favourit” finished third on a score of 77.375 points. A result that the young dressage rider from Bad Homburg, who is also a successful show-jumper, hadn’t reckoned with: “If anyone would have told me beforehand that I would do so well in my first appearance in Aachen, I probably wouldn’t have believed him.”