Monday August 29, 2005

Meredith Michaels Beerbaum Wins Show Jumping Grand Prix of Aachen

On Sunday, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum added a further triumph to her list of successes in 2005: In front of around 50,000 spectators and in the presence of honorary guest, Otto Schily, Federal Minister of the Interior, the 35-year-old rider from Thedinghausen rode to victory in the Prize of the AachenMünchener - Grand Prix of Aachen. Her 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Shutterfly, by Silvio I x Forrest rode the fastest clear round in the jump-off in a time of 41.31 seconds. It is the first time that an amazone has won the most famous Grand Prix in the world, since Anne Kursinski from the USA took first place in the competition in 1991. The winner is rewarded with 76,000 Euros prize-money.

Her husband Markus also competed in the Grand Prix, coming seventh with the Zweibrücker gelding, Le Mans, having collected four faults in the first round.

Four riders reached the jump-off after two exciting rounds. The Belgian rider, Dirk Demeersman (41), fourth in the Olympic Games in Athens, came a close second, only five tenths of a second behind Meredith's time. He also rides a German bred horse: The Holsteiner Corrado x Massetto son, Clinton, a horse with fantastic jumping ability and an extremely popular stud stallion in Belgium, could have won if he had galloped to the finishing line a touch faster (0/41.85). Los Lansink, also from Belgium, rode clear too with the Holsteiner stallion, Cavalor, by Cassini x Landgraf to take third place.

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