The second
highlight of today, Saturday, at the Pappas
Junior Specials was the European Youngster
Cup S* (1.40) category, which was held by
floodlight late evening. Wet and chilly
conditions, with plenty of wind, and a
tricky course, presented extra challenges to
the riders. This was also reflected in the
number of those who went through to the jump
off: a mere 6 of the 44 who had turned out
to compete had finally managed to go clear
in the first round. Among them, much to the
joy of the audience, were local Austrian
riders Theresa Widauer
and Christoph Obernauer, both of them from the Tyrol
region.
Theresa Widauer and her 13-year old mare
Laguna Bay remained cool and clear and, in
the end, came through fast enough with 44.88
seconds to make it to third place overall.
With her second horse,the
Baloube du Rouet daughter Highwood Alpha,
the young Tyorolian had one down but, with a
time of 72.95 seconds, still made it to 10th
place on that horse. Her countryman, Christoph Obernauer, tore the flashy dragon
jump from Hong Kong and this rode his 9-year
old gelding to 5th place with a time of
47.92 seconds.
Truly exceptional today was Patrick Afflerbach's performance. Not only did he go
clear in the first round with both of his
horses, but he also emerged as both winner
and fourth place overall, competing against
himself. With Quando, an only 8-year old
gelding by Quinar, he risked everything and,
thanks to his good eye, came through as the
winner when he remained clear and also fast.
Cool Girl, his 13 year old grey mare by
Carthago Z, then carried her
Königsbrunn/Germany based rider to 4th place
after they had one down at the first jump
during the jump-off. 2nd place in this EYCup qualifier went
to Franz Jun. Steiner, who
rode the 9 year old gelding Shen Shai clear
in the jump-off and came through with 42.66
seconds.
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