The master of riding, Ingrid Klimke, received the gold rosette for her victory in the Intermédiaire I, the WOTAX Prize 2018 in a rather unusual outfit for the Deutsche Bank Stadium.

The master of riding, Ingrid Klimke, received the gold rosette for her victory in the Intermédiaire I, the WOTAX Prize 2018 in a rather unusual outfit for the Deutsche Bank Stadium.

The Deutsche Bank Stadium is indeed familiar with eventing riders and horses. But it is definitely the first time that a rider took part in the prize-giving ceremony of a dressage competition donning a safety vest, a jumping saddle and short stirrups. But because the Eventing Olympic gold medallist, Klimke, was to take part in the Lavazza Cup with her Trakehner Parmenides straight afterwards, the judges and sponsors had to congratulate him in place of his stable mate, Bluetooth. And there was the added bonus that during the lap of honour he was able to get used to the atmosphere that was awaiting him in the Main Stadium a few minutes later.

Ingrid Klimke hadn’t actually intended to ride to win in the Intermédiaire I today. “Bluetooth was still very distracted in the Prix St. Georges on Wednesday, and made some big mistakes. So I was planning on just steering him through without any tension today.” The judges obviously liked what they say. The Oldenburg-bred horse that his rider describes as a bit of a baby, very shy and that he needs a little bit longer to be able cope with his amazing movements, was awarded a score of 72.676 percent. She has only been riding him for a few months, but can already say: “He is totally lovable and incredibly eager. He just has to work at his self-confidence a bit more.”

Winning in Aachen should enable him to hold his head up high in any dressage arena in the world. Today he relegated the US American rider, Steffen Peters into second place with Donavan (72.176). Stefanie Wolf came third on a score of 71.441 percent with former World Championships of the Young Dressage Horses finalist, Saphira Royal.