The show-jumper Marcus Ehning is not a man of many words. Except when he is talking about a horse. And when he is talking about the 8-year-old Hanoverian-bred beauty, Calanda, he actually starts raving. He won the Final of the Sparkassen-Youngsters-Cup with her today at the World Equestrian Festival, the CHIO Aachen.

Jump-offs can be rather dramatic. The riders race off, suddenly put the brakes on, cut corners and turn on their heels. Marcus Ehning’s jump-offs are different. He cuts corners and turns on his heels. But he is never hectic or heavy-handed with the horses. No matter how fast, Ehning always has a fine hand. And the same was true today. The rider from Borken was of the same opinion: “That was definitely one of my best jump-offs.” And that is saying something. Whereby not only the rider had contributed towards this: “Calanda is a fantastic horse! She is naturally fast and no other horse in my yard has delivered as many constant clear rounds as she has,” raved Ehning. Calanda could be his next big star, he is convinced.

Ehning and Calanda jumped clear in 42.15 seconds. The Irish rider, Bertram Allen, really tried everything to catch his former mentor with the Holstein-bred stallion, GK Casper. In vain. The clock stopped at 42.21 seconds, a close second place. The number one in the world rankings from France, Simon Delestre, came third with Utah d’Aiguilly (42.71).