| Ciaran and Casalla Blue PS win the Grand Prix of Riesenbeck
With a total of 18 horses, Philipp, Ciaran, and James competed at the CSI** on home turf in Riesenbeck last weekend. In a festive, pre-Christmas atmosphere in the decorated event arena in Riesenbeck, the first class of the show already took place on Wednesday evening. In the opening competition of the Medium Tour over 1.35m, Forlee delivered a quick and clear round with Ciaran, placing second right at the start of the show. Dia Chapila PS also remained clear and secured a placement with James in the first class of the weekend.
On Thursday morning, the success continued for Team Beerbaum: with almost two seconds of advantage in the second phase, the 7-year-old Ogana Sitte SR, ridden by Ciaran, won the first Youngster Tour class in her typically confident manner. The 6-year-old Oberon also placed with James after a clear second phase. On Thursday afternoon, the ranking class of the 2* tour was scheduled, in which Philipp and the 10-year-old Karaldo narrowly missed the win, finishing just behind Sophie Hinners and Come away Flamingo Z. Dia Chapila PS, who had already placed in the Medium Tour the day before, also delivered a clear round in the Big Tour over 1.45m under James and earned another placement in the ranking class. In the second class of the Light Tour over 1.20m on Friday evening, the 6-year-old Conrad posted a fast and clear round with James, earning fifth place. In the Light Tour Final on Saturday, the young horse confirmed his form and finished second. Although Little Special in Red M and Ciaran missed the victory in the Small Tour Final by only half a second, they ended up in fourth place.
The Grand Prix of Riesenbeck on Saturday afternoon marked the conclusion of the show weekend. While Philipp and Karaldo narrowly missed qualifying for the jump-off with just one time penalty, James and Elzandor Z had a pole down at fence 10 and also picked up a time penalty. Ciaran and Casalla Blue PS, who entered the arena as the last of the 61 starters, jumped the course with ease and qualified for the jump-off. Sixteen of the 61 combinations remained clear in the first round and advanced to the deciding jump-off. As the last pair to go, Ciaran and Casalla Blue PS were in a strong position. Christian Ahlmann and Applebridge Tag Z set the early time to beat with 35.84 seconds and remained in the lead for quite some time. Philipp Schulze Topphoff and Corny M managed to beat that time by more than a second, taking the lead shortly before the end with 34.78 seconds. This was the time Ciaran and the 9-year-old Casalla Blue PS had to beat, and after fence four in the jump-off, the split time already showed a lead of nearly one second. With two tight turns and eight big strides to the final oxer, the pair crossed the finish line with a 0.71-second advantage over Philipp Schulze Topphoff and Corny M, securing Ciaran his first Grand Prix victory on home soil aboard Casalla Blue PS.
A successful weekend lies behind Team Beerbaum, and we are already looking forward to the next festive CSI** in Riesenbeck from December 9–12. In addition, Christian will travel to Geneva in two weeks, where he will compete for the second time in the Top 10 Final.
