There was a thrilling finale on Saturday evening at the World Equestrian Festival Aachen 2015: The Winning Round of the show-jumpers remained exciting up until the last minute. A few milliseconds was all that separated the winner from the rider, who came second. 39 pairs contested the main competition endowed with 60,000 Euros in prize-money on Saturday in the Main Stadium, 11 of them – including all five German riders – reached the winning round after jumping clear in the opening round. It was a nail-biting competition. Because, it was the very last competitor, David Will from Germany, who made the top 3 perfect: With a clear round and in the very fast time of 45.61 seconds, he rode to victory with his chestnut mare, Mic Mac du Tillard. He thus knocked the Irish rider, Denis Lynch, who had delivered a perfect ride shortly before, into second place with his stallion, All Star, (46.75). Third place also went to Germany: Denis Nielsen, who competed in Aachen for the first time last year, jumped clear in 47.43 seconds with the 9-year-old grey stallion Cashmoaker.

Will hadn’t really thought he was going to win: “The course was very demanding, as one would expect in Aachen. Since Mic Mac du Tillard is a very fast horse, I had to slow her down a bit at the beginning, so that I remained in control,” commented Will. It is the third competition in Aachen for the 27-year-old and this year he has already succeeded in notching up a victory. Tomorrow, the show-jumper from Pfungstadt will be riding again. However, he will be saddling Colorit for the Rolex Grand Prix, the Grand Prix of Aachen. And how does he rate his chances of winning? “Well, we will simply have to wait and see,” he said with a grin, “but I think Kent Farrington is going to be one of the favourites.”