(Hagen a.T.W.) The tremendous interest of audience and media proclaimed the news – the black stallion is back. Totilas and his rider Matthias Alexander Rath impressively demonstrated that he has emerged well from his one-year pause and that he is fit for the season. The duo convincingly won the CDI4* at the CDIO Hagen with 80.36%, followed by Anabel Balkenhol with Dablino FRH and Fabienne Lütkemeier with her D’Agostino FRH.
Approached on probable nervousness before his start, the father of a son replied with a smile: “I actually wasn’t nervous. It was at least already the third time that we had to find back into sports after a longer break.” And he was meanwhile accustomed to the enormous interest from media and public. “However, I was nevertheless a bit surprised when I came around the corner with Totilas today to let him graze and saw all the photographers and visitors,” said Rath with a grin.
Rath impressively demonstrated later in the arena why his horse is that popular. “Maybe the one or other point more here and there would have been possible, but after such a long break, it is definitively as important to re-develop a kind of test routine. I am completely satisfied with our performance today and 80% are definitively a fantastic result,” Rath happily said after his ride.
Totilas‘ co-owner Paul Schockemöhle was also full of praise: „I rode quite a lot of championships and tournaments in my life, and I know about the pressure and the expectations Matthias had to cope with today. I haven’t seen both for a longer time and I was really enthusiastic to see in which condition they both were in today. Matthias did an excellent job.”
When being asked about a probable start of the duo at the European Championships, German National Coach Monica Theodorescu quite reasonably replied: “The tournament is not yet over. All candidates of this test with ambitions to participate at the European Championships will compete one more time on Sunday in the Grand Prix Special. The riders from the CDIO still have to accomplish the Special and the freestyle competition. Then the dressage board will discuss and nominate the eight riders, officially presented on Tuesday for the European Championship longlist,” Theodorescu answered the repeatedly arising question about the team for the European Championships in Aachen in August. “But we definitively saw that all German riders maintained their fitness and form or even improved since the German Championships.”
The same applied for the runner-up of the CDI-tour, Anabel Balkenhol. “Dablino has been performing very consistently between 76 and 78% this year. With the exception of some minor details, this was one of my best rounds,” the 43-year-old rider happily said. She returned to the championship squad after the German Championships in Balve.
And Fabienne Lütkemeier was also very happy with the performances of her 15-year-old D’Agostino FRH with whom she had been part of the German gold team in 2013 and 2014. “This was a fantastic round today with highlights in the turns and in the extensions. Of course, no one complains about some more points, but I was very satisfied with our performance.”
Host Ullrich Kasselmann also underlined this summary: „Weather, audience, sport – today everything was simply perfect.“
The Grand Prix Special of the CDIO-Tour will start on Saturday, 8.45 am, followed by the U25 Grand Prix and the freestyle competition of the CDI-Tour.
Photos: Matthias Alexander Rath (GER) & Totilas at their comeback in Hagen. (Photos: Stefan Lafrentz)
