Isabell Werth and her Olympic mare, Wendy de Fontaine, competed at the CHIO Aachen for the second time and they clinched the victory of the Grand Prix, the Prize of Family Tesch, for the second time today. Whereby it was a closer race than many had expected today.

As the third pair to go in the Prize of Family Tesch, Isabell Werth and Wendy put in an almost immaculate test with highlights in the piaffes, which was awarded a score of 79.761 percent and top of the table. But it was too early to celebrate yet. Because the final duo, the Belgian rider, Justin Verboomen, and his nine-year-old, self-trained Hanoverian stallion, Zonik Plus, had received plenty of praise before arriving in Aachen.

It is the first Grand Prix season for the beautiful black horse that looks just like his dam’s sire, Hohenstein, and who has been scoring higher and higher marks from show to show. In Lier he was awarded 78.543 percent, which significantly contributed towards his home country winning their first FEI Nations Cup ever. The pair was thus awaited with trepidation in Aachen, ultimately, they scored 78.348 percent, coming second behind Isabell Werth and Wendy. Whereby the judge at E, Katrina Wüst, saw Verboomen and Zonik Plus in first place with a score of over 81 percent.

Frederic Wandres and his reliable sports partner, Bluetooth, came third. After a magnificent round the pair from Hagen were awarded a score of 76.891 percent. Like Werth and Wendy Wandres and Bluetooth formed part of the German team that won Olympic gold in Paris.

Asked about her mare, Wendy, Isabell Werth swarmed: “She is so clear in her mind. She always knows when it is important. She is still very young. She is only eleven. But her whole body has improved over the last year. We are getting to know each other much better.“ Sounds like there may be even more potential there.

The runner-up, Justin Verboomen, is also convinced of that. To the more or less rhetorical question as to whether he was surprised by his result today, the 37-year-old Belgian rider simply answered “No!”, adding “Zonik Plus really is a special horse and I am very proud of him, very happy with the progress I have made with him over the short period of time. He still needs a bit of time and I can’t wait to show what he does at home in the tests.”

It will be exciting to see how the pairs perform in the coming challenges at the CHIO Aachen, the Grand Prix Spécial, the MEGGLE-Prize on Saturday and the Freestyle competition, the Lindt-Prize on Sunday.