The first competition of the eventing ran successfully for the German team. With a total score of 124.80 the team was lying ahead in the DHL Prize, the eventing competition at the World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen 2007, ahead of Great Britain and Sweden. The German team member, Frank Osthold (32), who competed with his 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games gold medallist horse, Air Jordan, is currently in first place in the individual classification after the dressage with a score of 35.80.

Andreas Dibowski/GER (41) achieved a score of 44.20 points with his Olympic horse from Athens, FRH Little Lemon, and currently ranks tenth. Right behind Dibowski comes Hinrich Romeike, the dentist from Schleswig Holstein, who achieved a score of 44.80 points with his grey Holsteiner Marius Voigt Logistik (13). "Marius was a bit spooky. And because it was still very windy, I decided to ride a safe test," the 44-year-old reported. His team colleague, Peter Thomsen (46), landed in 19th place with his 11-year-old chestnut gelding, The Ghost of Hamish with 52.70 points. "I could have done with a few more minutes warm-up, it wasn't quite long enough," stated the rider from Schleswig-Holstein, who was one of the first to enter the arena.

The British riders, Emily Baldwin/Drivetime, World Champion, Zara Phillips/Toytown, Sharon Hunt/Tankers Town and Francis Whittington/Sir Percival III achieved an overall result of 133.10 points ahead of Sweden (142.90). The Swedish team is made up of Linda Algotsson/Stand By Me, Sara Algotsson/Robin des Bois, Viktoria Carlerbäck/Ballys Geronimo and Anna Hilton/Mr. Dalby. Overall, Linda Algotsson, is presently lying in second place with the 17-year-old Stand By Me with a score of 40.40, ahead of the Italian eventer Roberto Rotatori/Della Malaspina Irham de Vaiges (40.69).

The individual rider Simone Deitermann was the second best German. "I was very pleased with the tour in trot, because we even scored a few nines. We have still got to work on the canter though," explained the 26-year-old who had saddled Flambeau H3, a 14-year-old Westphalian by Funke. Ingrid Klimke's only eight-year-old Trakehner, Seacookie TSF, was somewhat overwhelmed by the dimensions of the Deutsche Bank Stadium, as was the case with many horses . "He has still got to get used to the atmosphere. I believe that Seacookie has even greater potential and I hope that we will be able to develop this soon," explained the 39-year-old eventer from Münster, who scored 50.40 for her dressage test. The remaining individual riders Kai Rüder (35) with Katmandu and Dirk Schrade (29) with Be My Guest attained the rankings 20th and 25th with 53.70 and 55.60 points respectively.

For the eventers the contest continues this evening (Friday, July 6th) at 5.30 p.m. with the jumping competition of the DHL Prize, which will take place in the main stadium. Then tomorrow morning, (Saturday, July 7th) the final competition in the DHL Prize, the cross-country course gets underway at 9.30 a.m.

"The course is a very demanding three-star track. With regards to the obstacles and the quality of the footing, it is comparable to a Championship course. One shouldn't underestimate the degree of difficulty, the riders have to keep their concentration levels up while riding, so that the horses don't run out anywhere," remarked the National Coach for Eventing, Hans Melzer, assessing the cross-country course. "We are very pleased to be here competing in Aachen and hope this remains so in the future."