Louisdor-Final mit ‚V-Effect’

Fabienne Müller-Lütkemeier - Valesco. © Sportfoto Lafrentz

Sunday, December 19, around 4:20 p.m. - then the die will be cast: The last rider-horse pair in the final of the Louisdor Prize will appear in the arena. The last of twelve pairs that qualified for the final, held as part of the second Schafhof edition. One rider made it and secured two final tickets for this hand-picked finalist field of Germany's best Grand Prix young horses: Fabienne Müller-Lütkemeier with her two ten-year-old Vitalis offspring Valencia As and Valesco - the 'V-effect'. "They are so similar and yet again so different, but both just wonderful!" enthused the 2014 World Team Champion. Looking ahead to the final at the Schafhof, she explained with a grin, "My two Vitalis kids are in a very good mood." She says she last competed with her 'dancer' Valencia in Ankum in early October, where she won the Grand Prix with over 74 percent. Valesco was last allowed to show in Aachen in September, where he was victorious in Grand Prix and Special. "Valesco stays true to his line and never ceases to amaze me. You can ride him through a Grand Prix on two fingers and he is all in. Then you put the reins on his neck and he is calm himself, so I can even put my little son on him." As a four-year-old, Müller-Lütkemeier had discovered Valesco and also the Vitalis daughter Valencia As at the same auction, bought them and then trained them herself - six years later she is in the Louisdor Prize Final with both of them. Winning this final is tantamount to a 'knighthood in dressage'. The proof: in 2007, the series was held for the first time as a pilot project. Of the 14 final winners to date, eight alone have subsequently competed at a championship, five of them at the Olympic Games, two of which in turn came home with Olympic gold. An additional example: the final in 2017! Twelve horses competed in the Final then, too; today, four of those twelve are in the German Olympic squad. And one last example from last year. Sandra Nuxoll and Bonheur de la Vie won the Final at the first Schafhof Edition, five months later the pair won the Grand Prix Special at Redefin with over 80 percent. The Louisdor Prize - annual highlight and launch pad for the big sport! The fact that the plan to see the Louisdor Prize as the logical continuation of the NÜRNBERGER BURG-POKAL for young horses on their way to Grand Prix sport is also working out exactly is shown once again by a look at the finalists this year: six of the twelve horses not only competed in the BURG-POKAL, but also proved themselves in its finals - including the winners of the 2019 and 2020 BURG-POKAL, Total Hope under Isabell Freese and Destacado FRH under Matthias Alexander Rath. The future hopefuls have been meeting for their finals in Frankfurt's Festhalle since 2012, and this special series has also been made possible by the Liselott and Klaus Rheinberger Foundation since 2012. It was Klaus Rheinberger's last successful horse, 'Louisdor', that was allowed to give the name to this series. The run-in competition for the Louisdor finalists will begin on Saturday at 12.00 noon, the final will start on Sunday at 14.30 and, as in previous years, will be commented on by the accomplished dressage judge Dr. Dietrich Plewa. Both competitions will also be broadcast live on ClipMyHorse.TV.

The finalists in the Louisdor Prize 2021
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