UPPER MARLBORO, Md.--Rene Dittmer of Germany dominated the opening night of jumpers on Thursday, Oct. 26 at the Washington International Horse Show, winning both the $78,000 Welcome Stake, and then winning again in the $40,000 International Jumper Accumulator class.
Rene Dittmer on Corsica X (Photo by Shawn McMillen)FEI Level 4 Course Designer Bernardo Costa Cabral of Portugal, assisted by Nick Granat, designed the challenging track for the 23 starters representing eight countries in the Welcome.
Nine were clean to advance to the jump-off.
“I was very happy with my first round,” said Dittmer. “Corsica did everything how I wanted it. I was first thinking I should go inside to the last line, but the time wasn’t so short today, so it all worked out fine.”
Jad Dana of Lebanon on Caro W was the first to go in the jump-off and set the time to beat in a speedy and clean 31.42 seconds.
Just two horses later, Dittmer shaved almost two seconds off the time with Corsica X, stopping the clock in 29.58 seconds.
Four rides after that, Shane Sweetnam of Ireland on James Kann Cruz couldn’t quite catch Dittmer's time, finishing in 30.61 seconds to place second, and Dana was third.
“Corsica is a naturally fast horse and usually when I catch everything quite well, I have a good chance to be in the top three, and today it was enough for the win,” said Dittmer of his ride with the 10-year-old Holsteiner mare. “She really knows where the top rail is. She’s so smart. In a class like today, I was a little deep to the one vertical in the middle, but she’s so smart to get out of the way. To be honest, she can be a bit mareish in the stable, like a lady, but in the course she’s just on it.”
DITTMER has had the ride on Corsica for about a year and half and has developed a strong partnership, racking up numerous top finishes.
Matt Williams as Taylor Swift (Photo by Shawn McMillen)Now, he is looking for qualifying points for the Jumping World Cup Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April, so he hopes to make his Washington debut a winning one. Clearly, they are on the right track.
“I’ve heard a lot about Washington before, so I was really excited to come here,” said Dittmer. “That it went like this on the first day, it’s the best feeling ever. When you come down the ramp and there are so many spectators and they’re all clapping and cheering for you, you have goosebumps when you get in there. This is a super, super great show. I love to be here. It couldn’t be better.”
In the $40,000 International Jumper Accumulator class, riders earned points for each clear fence they jumped in the course plus an additional 20 points for the final fence.
Dittmer once again came out on top, this time on Burlington Riverland, with a perfect score of 65 and a fast time of 44.32 seconds.
“He has been doing really great recently,” said Dittmer. “He has been in really good form, and he kept going like that here today. He can also do some big classes, but I have to switch it around sometimes, so today he had to be the speed horse, and he did a really good job.”
Burlington Riverland is known as “Burli” at his barn in Germany, but in the States he is called “Brian.”
Dittmer’s girlfriend, Chloe Reid, was riding Burli, but Dittmer took over the reins two years ago when the horse stayed in Germany with him while Reid was riding in the U.S.
“I was lucky that I got to keep him so far,” said Dittmer. “He has quite a funny character. He’s super nice to be around, super friendly. Burli is like a good friend, like a buddy. He always wants to do a really good job. He has such a good mind. He really gave his best and made it work tonight.”
For the class, Dittmer was modeling his Oktoberfest finest, a costume selected by Reid.
“She went to the costume store and thought, ‘Well I have a German boyfriend, so he gets the beer costume,’” joked Dittmer. “At first when I walked into the arena for the course walk and I had the beer hat on, it was very hot, but now I put it over the helmet, which was better. I was really completely fine. I could ride like this every day.”
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” he said. “I can’t believe it yet. I hope it keeps going like that.”
Second place in the Accumulator, in a time of 45.58 seconds, was the "unicorn" Aaron Vale on Elusive, and "Dracula", better known as Conor Swail of Ireland, was third in a time of 46.32 seconds with his spooktacular mount Casturano.
The $3,000 Best Costume Award, was Matt Williams of Austraila , riding as Taylor Swift on Travis Kelce,the horse Fayuri AWR.
Williams added long blond locks and bright red lipstick and quite looked the part.
In this class, a clea round raised money for the Jump for a Cure initiative,and $5,000 was donated to the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention.
