Presseübersicht
(acm/mps) “Stand up for the Champion“, sounded from the loudspeakers of the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle during the price giving ceremony. And the 7.500 spectators in the sold-out arena stood up as one man to honour “Mr. Driving Sports“. For the 10th time, the four-in-hand drivers fought about the desirable Master title at the STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS, the 19th international riding and show jumping competition, and, for the 10th time, Michael Freund (Neu-Isenburg) was again the beaming winner on Saturday afternoon. With Freak FORS, FORS Babalu, Pascal und Pit, the 49-year old drove so smoothly through the obstacles of the SCHENKER GERMAN MASTER 2003, the first World Cup qualification, that his competitors could not catch up. With 254,54 seconds from both rounds, Freund relegated Christoph Sandmann (Lähden/258,83) as well as Chester C. Weber (USA/295,97) to the places. Already at the four-in-hand premiere in Stuttgart in 1983 – which was an invitation competition at that time – Freund left his competitors behind. In the following ten years, he clearly dominated the GERMAN-MASTER rankings and has proven again this year: There can only be one in Stuttgart!
“As always, Michael Freund
is a worthy winner. He has shown that there is no way around him”, Gotthilf
Riexinger, the competition director, was pleased with the champion. “Michel
treats his carriage like a ballet dancer treats his ballet shoes“, explained
Riexinger further. Max E. Ammann, the World Cup director, was also enthusiastic
about the atmosphere in Stuttgart. “This is the pioneer competition of
the indoor driving sports“, said the Swiss. Freund himself was more than
happy about his horses. “Here, I have driven four horses which I have never
had in this constellation“, said the spectators´ favourite who also
praised Christoph Sandmann, his competitor. “It was a hard fight against
Christoph“, said Freund about the second placed. “But it is also time that
someone is coming up so close to me. That will make the whole matter more
interesting”. For the future, Freund announced: “I will try to defend the
title as long as possible, and for me “to defend” means “to attack”.“ Chester
C. Weber was very satisfied with his performance in Stuttgart. “It was
great fun to drive in front of this audience”, said the guest from overseas,
“furthermore, it was good for the sports that I have been here, as due
to my presence, it was a real World Cup and not only a European Cup.”