Brazil’s Stephan de Freitas Barcha and Chevaux Hex Lup Imperio Egipcio opened their first-ever weekend in Aachen with a victory on Tuesday and had already announced that they intended to do everything in their power to win the Feinkost Käfer-Prize today. The Brazilian rider didn’t let himself be put off by his fall in the Mercedes-Benz Nations' Cup yesterday.

Stephan de Freitas Barcha is limping slightly after his fall in the Mercedes Benz-Nations’ Cup yesterday, when he ended up in-between his horses’ legs. But riding is no problem. As he demonstrated. To the rhythmic clapping and cheers of the packed stadiums at the Aachen Soers, he and Chevaux Hex Lup Imperio Egipcio sped round the course of the speed and handiness competition over ditches and banks in the sensational time of 57.56 seconds. Nobody was able to reach the finish line faster. The Dutch pair, Hessel Hoekstra and his just eight-year-old KWPN-bred mare, Madonna, came the closest on a time of 60.75 seconds. Third place went to the Irish rider, Tom Wachman, who had also saddled a Dutch-bred horse, namely I’m Here. For the pair, the clock stopped at 61.15 seconds.

Stephan de Freitas Barcha was elated about the triumph particularly because of what had happened the day before: “I am really happy – I fell off yesterday and today a victory like this one… It was simply great fun riding in that class. It was unbelievable! I could hear the spectators clapping as I rode through the water. The crowd make it possible for us to hold this sort of a show,” he said praising the horse fans on the stands. But riding in Aachen is much more than purely a pleasure. “It is an honour,” the Brazilian show-jumper stated.