Friday, 22 June 2012 Tournament report 22 June 2012Styria wins their sixth team championship title – Georg Hladik of Lower Austria is the big surprise winner in the individual rankings
Immensely thrilling, immensely selective and positively gripping: that was the first round of the 2012 Austrian national championships at the Glock Horse Performance Center. It was not an easy task that course manager Adi Appe of Carinthia had set for the 31 title contenders. A technically challenging course with a maximum height of 1.50 m, it demanded the fullest concentration to the last Glock-oxer and also called for top stamina in this heat. Optimally overcoming all these obstacles not once but twice was the ideal way to reach a good initial position after the first round of the individual ranking.
Today was definitely Lower Austrian Georg Hladik’s day. Hladik, Carinthian Dieter Köfler and Rob Raskin from Vorarlberg were the three riders who turned in clear rounds, but only the equestrian vet on his horse Obora Partano managed to stay without fault in the second round too. He thereby secured the lead in the individual rankings with a great point total and ahead of local hero Dieter Köfler. Riding Glock’s Prince de Vaux, Köfler took only one knockdown, positioning himself ideally for the second round on Sunday.
The Styrian Simon Johann Zuchi shone in third place in the individual rankings with a horse from his own stable, Apollo von Pachern, who splendidly fulfilled the high expectations for him and finished with a total of eight faults. Other riders with eight faults but worse times were Christian Schranz of Lower Austria on Quartz van de Nieuwmolen (4th place), Markus Saurugg of Styria on Texas I (5th place), Alice Janout of Lower Austria on Wodka Lime (6th place) and Christian Juza of Styria on Lady Like 25 (7th place). “For me it’s a dream come true to win in front of such an audience and to be in the lead,” the beaming Georg Hladik said at the victory ceremony. “I’d like to thank the Glock family for everything. It’s unbelievably beautiful here, but I would also like to thank my horse, who performed so well for me. I am, after all, an amateur and entirely dependent on him.”