200 riders with 350 horses from 25 countries all over the world competed for a prize pool unparalleled in Polish eventing of over 90,000 EUR at the Equestrian Festival Baborówko in Poland
The CCI4*-S class alone offered a prize pool of 70,000 EUR, and it was Germany’s Michael Jung who took the spoils.
Ingrid Klimke led the class with SAP Hale Bob after the dressage but an unlucky fall in the CCI3*-S cross country prevented her from competing in the CCI4*-S show jumping. Luckily, Ingrid was not seriously hurt but injuries from her fall were enough to prevent her from continuing the competition.
On the final day Michael Jung moved his horses up into the two top spots with FischerChipmunk and FicherWildwave taking first and second overall and third place went to Sandra Auffarth with Let’s Dance 73.
Challenging and changeable weather was the order of the day for Saturday’s cross-country day with heavy rain and wet ground but ‘that’s just eventing’ says the winner.
“I am very pleased with of my horses, especially with FischerChipmunk and FicherWildwave who are in a great shape” says Michael
“We had some demanding conditions, but that’s just eventing. It was a hard show, but shows like that are necessary, especially in this season, where we have to take advantage of every occasion to prepare for Tokyo”
“I’ve been to Baborówko two years ago. Now there are new great arenas. To achieve good results, we need good conditions and that’s what we have here.”
The CCI4*-S also hosted this year’s Polish National Championships, held for the third time in Baborówko and taken by Paweł Spisak riding Banderas, taking his ninth career win as the Polish National Champion. Mateusz Kiempa defended his silver with Libertina, and bronze went to the home rider of Baborówko Equestrian Association, Paweł Warszawski with Lucinda Ex Ani 4.
“We are very glad that some of the best eventers decided to visit Baborówko. We’re happy that in these difficult times and after a year-long break we managed to safely carry out the event, taking advantage of the potential of our new and modernized infrastructure” says Henryk Święcicki Jr., the director of the show.
There was a change in the lead after the jumping for the CCI4*-L Lotto Trophy. India’s Fouaad Mirza, who is based with Sandra Auffarth in Germany, was in the first and second place with Seigneur Medicott and Dajara 4 but faults in the show jumping dropped him to second and third while the win went to Aminda Ingulfson (SWE) with Hot Cup VH thanks to their clear round. Fouaad finished second and third.
In the CCI3*-S Trophy of Kuhn, the first three placings also went to German riders. Michael Jung was victorious with Kilcandra Ocean Power, second went to Hanna Knüppel riding Geke Equigrip’s Levinio, and third to Peter Thomsen with Cool Charly Blue.
Lotte Palmgren (FIN) and Geniale 11 took the lead after CCI2*-S jumping in the CCI2*-S for the trophy of Concordia Grupa Generali, and kept her position after cross country. Felix Etzel (GER) was second with Promising Pete TSF, and Esteban Benitez Valle (ESP) with Escara GP was third.
The CCI2*-YH for six-year-old horses, for the trophy of Kunowo Stables, ended with the win of Andreas Dibowski (GER) riding Cristallik. Merel Blom (NED) with Denim took second, and third went to Louise Romeike (SWE) with Madame D’Engelbourg Z.
The leader board of the CCI1*-Intro remained unchanged since Saturday – Jerome Robine (GER) kept his lead with Coby R, Merel Blom (NED) with The Black Swan was second, and Malin Petersen (SWE) went home with the third riding Hulda.
