8 yr old Fortunity S & Nuno Palma E Santo placed 2nd with 78,532% at Guxhagen.
Top field for Louisdor Preis final
Final qualifier for the prestigious Louisdor Preis final took place this weekend during the national event at national event Guxhagen-Dörnhagen. In total a field of 10 combinations are qualified for the finals taking place in December in Frankfurt.
From this years qualifiers in Hagen, Wiesbaden, Kronberg, Donzdorf and Guxhagen following the new young Grand Prix horses coming up it really shows some nice talented high quality horses. This series is for 8-10 year old upcoming Grand Prix horses, and eventhough the talent is obvious it is still a pretty tough challenge for an only 8 yr old horse being not just able to do the exercises but also bringing it all together in a full test.
The absolute highlights from H2R point of view was 2nd placed this weekend Fortunity S by Franziskus / Weltmeyer with Nuno Palma E Santos, super expressive trot, strong passage bouncy of the ground with nice regularity, super sit and activity for piaffe tours, good walk tour and solid canter,not the biggest canter but without any technical issues (78,532%). Winner of Guxhagen qualifier was 8 yr old stallion Frizzantino by Finest / Quaterback with Borja Carrascosa (79,830%) - lot of expression and power with super nice qualities but still a bit to much tensions.
Franziskus is at top of the list as the only sire with 3 offsprings for Louisdor Preis final this year, Fortunity S, SAP Freudentänzer and EQUITANA´S Firlefranz.
History and successes
Denmark´s Daniel Bachmann Andersen and Blue Hors Veneziano won the finals back in 2018 and Danish Warmblood gelding Fendi with Sönke Rothenberger won last year with record score. This year Danish Warmblood has also been represented at the qualifications with Straight Horse Ascenzione & Helen Langehanenberg, Tørveslettens Sunshine & Anna Blomgren and Blue Hors Odin Unik & Mathilde Kofoed-Nielsen
Former famous Louisdor Preis winners ex: El Santo NRW, Dablino FRH, Weihegold OLD, Emilio, DSP Samy Davis jr., TSF Dalera BB and last year with Danish Warmblood gelding Fendi.
8 year old or 9 year old for the Grand Prix
With this excellent series for the young and upcoming Grand Prix horses the age of 8 year old seems fair as the finals are in December and first here they have to do the proper Grand Prix test.
H2R question: “Does the international rules need a change?” Today you have the possibility to debut your 8 year old horse at international Grand Prix level from 1 January in the year they turn 8 year old.
It is the most demanding level and we see more and more often that the only 8 year old talented horses also starts at international Grand Prix level, as the top riders of course also are the ones being able to produce them at that young age. With all eyes on our sport and the welfare of the horse it´s now time to change the rules so that we give our young talented top horses one more year to develop before entering the big international stage.
