Second consecutive home victory

Victoria Max-Theurer and L'Espoir.

Second start, second victory. Following her Grand Prix victory with Abegglen in the four-star tour on Friday, Victoria Max-Theurer also took first place in the Grand Prix of the three-star tour the following day, this time with her sporting partner L'Espoir. The Achleiten duo was awarded a score of 69.891 percent. Isabell Werth followed in second place with Max-Theurer's horse Zeffirelli MT (66.218), while third place went to Juliane Jerich with Quater Girl (65.0).

“It's always challenging, especially with a horse you don't know very well yet,” says Victoria Max-Theurer about the ten-year-old gelding L'Espoir, with whom the 39-year-old Upper Austrian has been working for seven months. “He is an incredibly sensitive horse who, in my opinion, has no weaknesses. We just have to take it step by step and improve lesson by lesson. He is a really cool, lovable and motivated horse. I believe he has a great future ahead of him. I just need to be patient so that we can get to know each other even better.”

Speaking of getting to know each other. “Tomorrow, Zeffirelli MT will compete in his first Grand Prix. Anything can happen,” Isabell Werth predicted in an interview on Friday. And indeed, there was an unexpected incident in the Grand Prix of the three-star tour because Zeffirelli was startled by an umbrella in the corner at F. “The heavy rain was really hard for him, and when he saw the umbrella coming towards him, he was naturally frightened by the little monster. But I give him a lot of credit for not jumping in the other direction. He looked and decided to continue.”

N°11 FEI Grand Prix (CDI3*) 1. Victoria Max-Theurer (AUT) L’Espoir 69,609

2. Isabell Werth (GER) Zeffirelli MT 66,218

3. Juliane Jerich (AUT), Quater Girl 65,0