Luxembourgish rider Franz Schiltz and horse Frodo raced to victory at the inaugural edition of the FEI World Driving Championships, claiming 1st Place in the seven-year-olds category.
The FEI World Driving Championships took place last month at the Mezöhegyes State Stud, where an international Ground Jury assessed the young horses in competition. The seven-year-old division represented the biggest class of the championships, with 19 starters and a similar competition format to that of the six-year-olds.
Following second place success at the CA13 in Nebanice, Czech Republic, earlier this season, Frank Schiltz of Luxembourg claimed another victors with his Oldenburger gelding and son of Florestan I, Frodo, at the championships with a finishing score of 16.46.
"I am very pleased with my horse Frodo, it was a pleasure to drive him today in the combined marathon," commented Schiltz. "I felt like I was suffering a bit in the second qualification round, but luckily that is not visible in the scores of the judges. My horse went very well in the combines dressage and marathon phase as well, he was easy to drive and I feel that he has good potential for the future. I have been training him for two years now".
The silver medal for the seven-year-olds went to Arie Dibbits of the Netherlands, driving KWPN-gelding Dynamo, whilst Rudolf Pirhofer of Austria went home with the bronze for a score of 14.02 achieved with Austrian warmblood Bambuccat. The final results for other categories were:
Five-year-olds:
1. Enfado P - Jovanca Marie Kessler (GE) 8.27
3. Anni 95 - Willian Slater (GER) 7.43
3. Mezöhegyes Nonius 8 Taksony - Krisztián Németh (HUN) 6.43
Six-Year-Olds:
1. Bazyli – Bartlomiej Kwiatek (POL) 15.16
2. Frezja – Bartlomiej Kwiatek (POL) 14.70
3. Partitur 7 – Claus Quast (GER) 14.29
Photo by FEI/Krisztina Horváth
