St. Gallen, Switzerland – June 03, 2023 – It was a great evening for the Swiss rider Barbara Schnieper (SUI) in the €80,000 Land Rover Speed & Handiness CSIO 5*. With start number one she immediately created a great atmosphere in the Gründenmoos in St. Gallen by setting a strong first mark with a very fast, faultless round on the gelding Escoffier. It took the winning pair from last year, Hans-Dieter Dreher (GER) and Vestmalle des Cotis, to knock them off the top spot.
By more than three seconds, he improved on Barbara Schnieper’s best time to beat. Can Hans-Dieter Dreher be stopped at all on his mission to defend the title? “Yes”, says his compatriot Pia Reich (GER) and takes the lead on PB Loewenherz by an extremely narrow 0.02 seconds.
The two Swiss riders Bryan Balsiger (SUI) and Romain Duguet also showed fast rounds and still slipped between the German double leaders and Barbara Schnieper. No problem for the forty-one-year-old from Solothurn, because she does not have to be satisfied with the maximum fifth place quite yet.
As the fourth last rider, she started a renewed attack on the victory with her second horse, the ten-year-old mare Inook. She improved her own time with her first horse Escoffier by almost five seconds and also took the highly deserved lead over Pia Reich by one and a half seconds. The remaining three riders could not take the triumph away from her and thus Barbara Schnieper (SUI) was the winner of the Land Rover Speed and Handiness Class at the Longines CSIO St. Gallen 2023.
Final Results – €80,000 Land Rover Speed & Handiness CSIO 5* – 1.50
1) Barbara Schnieper (SUI) & Inook – 0 – 84.37
2) Pia Reich (GER) & PB Loewenherz – 0 – 85.91
3) Hans-Dieter Dreher (GER) & Vestmalle Des Cotis – 0 – 85.93
Source: Press Release from the Longines CSIO St. Gallen
Photos: © Longines CSIO St. Gallen / Katja Stuppia
Categories: English
