Marc Houtzager & Sterrehof`s Dante Storm to Victory in the €100,000 Amadeus Grand Prix of Salzburg CSI 3*

By Jumper News on 2023-12-11

Salzburg, Austria – December 10, 2023 – The selective course in the €100,000 Amadeus Grand Prix of Salzburg CSI 3* at the 16th Silver Arrow Amadeus Horse Indoors from December 7th to 10th, 2023 led over a height of 1.55 m and demanded full concentration from the first to the last jump from riders and riders horses. In the end, exactly nine of the 48 pairs of participants achieved the long-awaited clear round in the first round, which meant they qualified for the jump-off. Fortunately, there were also three red-white-red pairs among the participants in the jump-off: Lena Binder (AUT), Gerfried Puck (AUT) and Magdalena Margreiter (AUT).

Victory in the world ranking jumping competition in the city of Salzburg ultimately went to Marc Houtzager (NED), who clearly feels comfortable in Salzburg. After the victories in the Championship CSI 3* on Saturday evening and in the 2-star Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon, there was no way around the experienced Dutch championship rider in the 3-star main competition, who already has an Olympic team silver medal to call his own. To the loud cheers of the enthusiastic audience, he completed the eight obstacles in the jump-off in the unbeatable time of 43.33 seconds on the saddle of the experienced Sterrehof’s Dante and secured a prize money of 25,000 euros.

“I’ve been in international show jumping for 30 years, but I’ve never managed to win three competitions in one weekend! Maybe I should stop now,” laughed Marc Houtzager with a wink.

European Championship team bronze medalist Gerfried Puck (AUT) and his self-bred stallion Naxcel V were only 3 tenths of a second apart from victory. To the delight of the home crowd, the two also managed a flawless round, but the clock stopped at 43.63 seconds, which meant an excellent second place and a whopping 20,000 euros prize money.

Third place went to the fifth-place finisher from the U25 European Youngster Cup World Final in Salzburg on Saturday (December 9th, 2023), the 22-year-old Irishman Harry Allen (IRL), who piloted his 9-year-old Westphalian Calculatus to the finish in a flawless 44.48 seconds.

Magdalena Margreiter (AUT), who has been reunited with her 11-year-old Oldenburg sport horse Chappeloup since November 2022, ensured another error-free round in the jump-off (0/48.71 seconds) and took an excellent fourth place.

18-year-old Lena Binder (W) once again delivered a top performance, being the youngest participant to make it into the jump-off on Celina 211 and coming ninth in this strong field.

With one unfortunate time error each in the basic course, Kevin Kazda (AUT/B) and Felix Koller (AUT) also made it into the rankings and took 10th and 12th place respectively.

“The city of Salzburg has already confirmed its sponsorship for next year, so I definitely can’t do it anymore and can hereby announce: The event will take place again in 2024! I would especially like to thank my managing director Christian Steiner and his crew for their work “, with the politicians, who are really exceptionally supportive in Salzburg, and of course the visitors. I’m very pleased that we were able to revive the Silver Arrow Amadeus Horse Indoors and secure it for the future,” assured organizer Wenzel Schmidt with a smile.