One Vogel success rarely comes alone – sometimes a Morsink is even faster

He may not be able to perform magic or fly, but he certainly knows what he wants: newly crowned European Champion Richard Vogel won the qualification for the final of the five-year-old jumpers at the Tiemeyer x Hetzel Young Horse Masters in Goch with the five-year-old stallion Maroon. After claiming victory in the Big Tour on the opening day, the German show jumper picked up exactly where he had left off on Thursday. His colleague Katrin Eckermann, who knows host Holger Hetzel's venue like the back of her hand, set the fastest time in the seven- and eight-year-old qualifier aboard the eight-year-old mare Chacoona Cat. Yet by the end of the day, it was Dutchman Gerben Morsink who proved to be just a little quicker than Richard Vogel.

With the World Championships in Aachen and the Bundeschampionate in Warendorf just around the corner, Goch's prestigious young horse event is attracting enormous attention from the international show jumping community. The opening qualifier for the seven- and eight-year-old horses featured an impressive 125 starters, making it one of the strongest fields in the event's history. Spectators repeatedly praised the "exceptional quality" of the young horses competing at the Tiemeyer x Hetzel Young Horse Masters.

Behind Eckermann and Chacoona Cat by Chacoon Blue, Richard Vogel once again finished in second place, this time with United Call JPS. The gelding is by Vogel's European Championship and Olympic partner United Touch S and was also bred by Julius Peter Sinnack, the breeder and owner of the famous stallion. Earlier in the Big Tour, Vogel had already secured second place with the United Touch S daughter Upsala JPS and added third place with Quizas van Hulsbos. Only Dutch rider Gerben Morsink aboard Corthago Z managed to outpace the World Championship contender from Bensheim. Both Katrin Eckermann and Richard Vogel have brought an outstanding group of promising young horses to Goch for Europe's richest young horse show.

The first victory of the day went to Fabienne Graefe (Ober-Castrop) with the six-year-old Holsteiner mare Dalwhinny by Dinken, bred by Timm Peters. Producing a faultless and fast round in 68.65 seconds, the pair claimed a convincing win by almost four seconds over the runners-up. Dalwhinny and her rider will now return on Saturday for the €50,000 final for six-year-old jumpers, which will be decided in an M** jumping competition with a jump-off.