Stuttgart is simply his tournament: Julien Epaillard won on Saturday evening in the Schleyer Hall, and the quick Frenchman was also the absolute benchmark in the World Cup on Sunday. With the chestnut Le Coultre de Muze (v. Presley Boy), the No. 13 in the current world ranking was one of 12 pairs competing for the victory at the German Masters.
Hansi Dreher had to start the competition with his Vestmalle des Cotis (v. Baloubet du Rouet). Dreher and his fox had shown early on how to complete the difficult course flawlessly. However, in the competition, two errors were added to the result, and the two finished in twelfth place. As second attempt, Stefan Engebers tried his luck with his 1.84m tall chestnut mare Baju NRW (v. Balou du Rouet). They also delivered a flawless round in the course. However, in the competition, they then made a net error, and so they finished tenth. World Cup points were of course still available.
The Brazilian Eduardo Menezes made a strong start in the steeplechase with his H5 Londontime (v. Hummertime). For the ten-year-old KWPN stallion, it was actually his first indoor tournament of his life, because he is always in Europe in the summer and starts at tournaments in South America in the winter. The transition did not seem to cause any problems for the Brown horse; he and Menezes went into the lead with a time of 34.73 seconds. But this did not last long: Julien Epaillard and Le Coultre de Muze left no doubt about their determination to win and galloped over the finish line in a breathtaking 34.10 seconds.
Against this record time, even the superbly-mounted Stargold (v. Stakkato Gold) and his rider Marcus Ehning were powerless. Their flawless time of 36.63 seconds pushed them up to eighth place – with the certainty that Stargold’s comeback on the big stage has definitely succeeded and leaves hope for more, also because it’s just fun to watch the pair.
Peder Fredricson secured third place on the podium in Stuttgart with Alcapone of Carmille (v. Diamant de Semilly) ahead of his compatriot Henrik von Eckermann with his world champion King Edward (v. Edward). The reigning world champions Steve Guerdat and Dynamix de Belheme (v. Snaike de Blondel) finished fifth.
„Stuttgart is my home track. The course was super easy to ride and my horse was very close to me the whole time,“ the winner said afterwards.
The whole result: HERE