CDIO5* Aachen: Victory in Meggle-Prize for Helen Langehanenberg

29 June 2013

At the moment they are in a league of their own: Awarded a score of 80.667 percent, the World Cup winner, Helen Langehanenberg, also won the Grand Prix Spécial of the CDIO Tour and thus also the MEGGLE Prize at the CHIO in Aachen.  All five judges ranked the 31-year-old with Damon Hill in first place despite them making two small mistakes.

The 13-year-old Westphalian-bred stallion showed slight weaknesses in one of the pirouettes and in a piaffe. Otherwise the pair was often awarded a nine for the individual movements. Langehanenberg and the Donnerhall son were the clear winners of this high-class competition. Three judges went over the 80 percent mark. The judge at E – Dietrich Plewa (GER) – even awarded the duo 82.7 percent. “I am very satisfied regardless of a few small mistakes,” commented the overjoyed German rider.

There was a surprising second place: The Danish rider, Anna Kasprzak, ranked second behind Langehanenberg with her 14-year-old Donnperignon. The reward for the harmonious performance given by the representative of this year’s CHIO partner country was 77.354 percent.  In the past, her gelding represented the German national flag with Christoph Koschel, among others in Kentucky at the World Equestrian Games. Their flying changes and the pirouettes particularly impressed the crowd in the Deutsche Bank Stadium. As such the pair was able to show a clear improvement compared to the Grand Prix.

Curiously enough, two riders finished on exactly the same score: Namely, the German rider,  Isabell Werth with Don Jonson, and the Danish rider, Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein with Digby, were both awarded 76.347 percent – which nicely reflected the Danish/German CHIO partnership.

Source: CHIO Aachen